In the near future, Xbox and PC players will return to the brutal conflicts of Gears of War with The Coalition’s upcoming title, Gears of War: E-Day. Here, players will dive into the beginning of the Locust War on Emergence Day as they play as a younger Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago.
While the release date and overall plot of E-Day are currently unknown, The Coalition could help expand upon the Locust War era before eventually developing Gears of War 6 by developing a spiritual successor to a five-year-old spin-off. This hypothetical Gears of War game could be an RTS successor to Gears: Tactics.
What Gears Tactics Could Mean for Gears of War: E-Day's Story
Since Gears Tactics takes place one year after the events of Gears of War: E-Day, it could be a sign of what's to come for the latter's narrative.
The Development and History of Gears Tactics
Development on Gears Tactics began around 2016, near the release of The Coalition's first Gears of War game, Gears of War 4. The choice to adapt Gears of War into the turn-based tactics genre was made in an effort to introduce the franchise to a wider audience and potentially attract new fans, particularly PC players. Gears of War’s cover-based combat appeared to be a perfect match with turn-based tactics gameplay, with Gears Tactics’ executive producer Alex Grimbley even explaining that the teams at Splash Damage and The Coalition simply moved Gears' third-person camera up to mirror a common tactics view. While Tactics’ development was hindered by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the developers did receive some advice from 343 Industries, which developed the RTS spin-off series Halo Wars from the mainline first-person Halo games.
Gears Tactics was announced at E3 2018, alongside Gears 5 and Gears Pop!, and first officially debuted on April 28th, 2020 for Windows computers, with the game later being ported to Xbox consoles in November that year. However, this wasn’t the first Gears of War project connected to a tactics title. Around 2011, Epic Games began testing several Gears of War-themed projects to utilize the Xbox 360’s then-new Kinect accessory. One of these projects was Gears of War: Tactics, an RTS game wherein players used their voice and hand gestures through the Kinect to control and direct COG troops. Gears of War: Tactics never went beyond the alpha stage, but screenshots and footage of the game were later leaked in 2013.
Gears Tactics’ Story Explained
While Gears Tactics and Gears of War: Tactics may share similar nomenclature, the two games are not directly related. The narrative for Gears of War: Tactics is unknown, but Gears Tactics’ story is set one year after Emergence Day and 13 years before Gears of War 1. Here, players controlled COG Sgt. Gabriel Diaz as he is ordered by Chairman Richard Prescott and Major Sid Redburn to assassinate the Locust scientist Ukkon. Along the way, Diaz and Redburn recruited stranded civilians to help fight the Locust and discovered that the COG was responsible for their creation. In response, the two staged their deaths and killed Ukkon with help from a young woman named Reyna, Diaz’s future wife, mother to Kait Diaz, and daughter of the Locust Queen Myrrah.
Gears Tactics is the only Gears of War spin-off game to not feature the series’ traditional third-person shooter gameplay, aside from the non-canon Gears Pop!
Gears of War: E-Day Should Give Dom the Characterization He Has Long Deserved
E-Day gives Gears a rare chance to fully explore Dom Santiago’s origins, offering long-overdue depth to one of the series’ most emotional characters.
The Potential of a Gears Tactics RTS Successor
While Gears Tactics received largely positive reviews, it didn’t sell as well as its third-person counterparts, primarily due to its tactical gameplay. With Gears of War: E-Day returning players to the beginning of the Locust War, however, The Coalition could use the events from Tactics to set up a new RTS Gears game focused on several battlefronts in the early years of the war. This game could function similarly to 343 Industries, Ensemble Studios, and Creative Assembly’s Halo Wars games, with commanders and other leaders of various factions commanding troops. It could additionally build on gameplay concepts drafted in Gears of War: Tactics and the vehicular focus originally designed for early versions of Gears of War 1.
In terms of the story for this Gears of War RTS, it could follow up on the events from Tactics with some of Ukkon’s Imulsion-mutated Locust and Hollow creatures still running rampant, and Diaz and the stranded continuing to survive against the Locust threat on their own. Meanwhile, a portion of the game could follow a new COG general as they plan to defend a couple of cities from Locust attacks by General RAAM and other Locust leaders. Diaz and this COG general could be the main protagonists, with Diaz’s forces being primarily infantry-based, and the general would have access to ground and air vehicles.
Potential Multiplayer and DLC for a Gears of War RTS
Similar to Halo Wars 2, this Gears of War RTS could eventually feature story DLCs, with one potentially focusing on a UIR remnant fighting the Locust, while another could have players command Locust forces, akin to how players got to command Banished forces in Halo Wars 2’s Awakening the Nightmare DLC. Gears Tactics didn’t have co-op or multiplayer modes, which restricted its lifespan and extended relevance among players. However, a Gears RTS could feature both a co-op and a multiplayer mode, with the multiplayer allowing players to command leaders from the campaign and Gears expanded media, such as Colonel Hoffman, Skorge, and Queen Myrrah. Each leader could deploy unique, new troops and vehicular units as players struggle to collect Imulsion and resources to power their bases.
Gears Tactics
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 83 /100 Critics Rec: 85%
- Released
- April 28, 2020
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Splash Damage, The Coalition
- Publisher(s)
- Xbox Game Studios
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 4
- Genre(s)
- Turn-Based Strategy
