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Classic features such as taking enemies hostage as “meat shields” and dueling with the chainsaw attachments on Lancer assault rifles won’t be in Gears of War: E-Day at launch. According to a developer blog from The Coalition, it wasn’t possible to build these features out for launch because this prequel was built from scratch, rather than on the bones of previous Gears of War titles.
“We started E-Day with an empty hard drive building our entire gameplay sandbox from scratch to ensure a more unified gameplay experience across Campaign, PVE and PVP,” The Coalition said. “This new sandbox also allowed for innovation in cover, combat and enemies. The trade-off being that including every legacy feature from Gears of War was not possible for launch.”
The developer said it is working hard to deliver these features, along with Private Lobbies and leaderboards, post-launch or in its next title. If The Coalition makes another one, I hope they call it Gears of War: Bidet.
E-Day’s first Season kicks off with the Early Access release (today at 8am PT / 11am ET) and runs for eight weeks until December 1. The Season includes all launch maps, modes, and cosmetics, as well as three seasonal events: Halloween, 20 Years of Gears, and Thanksgibbing. Ranked modes arrives later, on October 13.
Elsewhere, the blog talks about big changes to the Gnasher, Gears of War’s iconic shotgun that turns other players into giblets.
In previous games, hip firing the Gnasher resulted in a blast in whatever direction your character was facing. In E-Day, this system blends camera aiming and muzzle position to give players more control over those last-minute boomstick blasts.
Last month, Xbox laid off a further 268 members of staff, with the story director of E-Day among those cut. In June 2024, Microsoft pledged to continue the story of Gears of War and wrap up the cliffhanger posed by Gears 5’s ending, despite creating a prequel first with E-Day.
Whether that still comes to fruition or not likely depends on the success of E-Day, with developers at The Coalition reportedly already concerned they’ll face cuts as soon as the upcoming game launches. “It’s hard to believe anything they say anymore,” a The Coalition developer told Eurogamer.
