After seven years, the Gears of War series is back, and this time we're experiencing Emergence Day in full. The appropriately titled Gears of War: E-Day arrives on October 6, and in the meantime, the devs have revealed what you can expect in the shooter's initial months.
In a news post on the official site, developer The Coalition breaks down the first couple of seasons and what's coming in each. Season 1 actually started in the beta period, has all the launch basics like modes and maps, and will run until December 1. There are three events therein: Halloween, 20 Years of Gears, and Thanksgibbing.
Each one comes with a special Versus mode, a Horde mission, and special rewards, and they'll all run for two weeks. Ranked play on Versus launches on October 13, a week after the game's release, so experienced players can jump right into the deep end of competitive multiplayer.
Season 2 is a special one, because it's dubbed Legacy and covers the franchise's 20th anniversary. I know, I know - I can't believe it's been that long since a friend brought me over just to show me the first Gears of War in motion. Anyway, a "special birthday gift" is coming for all players on November 7, the anniversary of Gears of War's launch.
"Crafted as a love letter to the franchise and you, our fans, you can expect a ton of new content inspired by the franchise’s most memorable moments," reads the tease for Season 2. Exciting.
We only get the titles for the following three seasons: Infiltration, Pendulum, and Devotion, respectively. Not much to go on, but I'm sure all three will deliver chaos in their own way.
Following up on the multiplayer beta, The Coalition provides some insight into the feedback received. This includes series-first changes to The Gnasher. "To improve hipfire, E-Day is the first Gears title to introduce a hybrid between muzzle and camera-oriented shooting," says the blog. "When you fire on a target, we check both the camera and muzzle shots and apply the one that better matches what the player would expect. This means a shot that looks like it should hit, will hit."
On top of this, some mechanics are actually absent at launch, due to how E-Day has been built from the ground up. "Including every legacy feature from Gears of War was not possible for launch," The Coalition says. "Those features, like Meat Shields, Chainsaw Duels, select weapons from the franchise’s past, and online work like Private Lobbies and leaderboards – are not gone from the franchise."
It's noted the devs are working on bringing them all back in, it just may take some time. Included, then, is a list of bug fixes and tweaks. There's a lot going on to ensure E-Day runs as smoothly as possible. We'll need it to deal with the encroached Locust.
