Gears of War: E-Day takes place across "multiple days" in-game and and is about sticking with the characters through "every minute" of the Locust invasion

(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)

Gears of War: E-Day takes place across more than just one day, confirms Gears creative director Matt Searcy.

Speaking to GamesRadar+ during Summer Game Fest 2024, Searcy revealed that, while the focus of the prequel is the Locust Horde invasion itself, the story of E-Day also includes some setup and, presumably, aftermath, stretching it beyond the confines of a 24-hour day.

"It's not a day, it's multiple days," Searcy said. "But it is about the event, like it's about sticking with these characters from the moment, you know, setting up the moment it happens, and being with them every minute, through the days that play out of the city and really experiencing it through their eyes, both what's happening to them, and also what's happening to the city around them, the people around them, the other characters."

In case you missed the big reveal during the Xbox Showcase at SGF, The Coalition revealed the next mainline game in the long-running third-person shooter series is a prequel taking place 14 years before the events of the original Gears of War. It'll explore the game's Emergence Day event, in which the Locust Horde rose from its underground civilization and invaded the Earth-like planet of Sera, killing billions of humans and kicking off the Locust War that serves as the backdrop to the series' narrative.

It's reasonable to assume Gears of War: E-Day might go a Black Hawk Down route and make the whole in-game storyline last 24 hours, but it's good to know we'll see some of the preceding events that led up to the invasion and ensuing battle.

Searcy also told us Gears of War: E-Day will "absolutely be doing more" linear levels instead of Gear 5's open-ended maps.

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