Arguably the second biggest franchise under the Xbox belt, Gears of War has been rather hit or miss among many players since Gears of War: Judgement, the more or less expansion of Gears of War 3, starring the mouthy Baird. After that release, we got the next numbered entry, Gears of War 4, but this time development was performed by The Coalition. Gears 4 did well enough, scoring above 80% on OpenCritic, but it didn’t seem to be the system selling beast of the previous entries. While we know of three Gears games from the E3 2018 announcements, there is confidence being shared by the man who brought the legendary Dominic Santiago to life.
Carlos Ferro, who has voiced several video game characters over his career, has shared some insight on his Twitter for those that have been looking to him for hints at what to expect in the Gears franchise. He admits that he’s unable to answer the specifics but claimed that “This is the Year of Gears.”
Again, we know of three upcoming Gears games. Gears of War 5 will continue the narrative, focusing on Kait Diaz and her connection to the Locust race of creatures that have been on the receiving end of COG weaponry since the first title. Gears Tactics was also announced as a PC-exclusive with many making comparisons to the look of the modern X-COM series. Finally, Gears Pop!, a mobile game, takes the designs of the Funko Pop! line of collectibles for a more lighthearted approach to the brutal action hallmarking the games. We don’t have many details on the two spin-off games but we do know that Gears 5 is slated for 2019 with many rumors pointing to an early September date.
With Ferro’s claim, we could potentially see all three games come out this year. Regardless of release date though, it seems that Ferro has a ton of confidence about the future of the Gears franchise.
Even personally, I have lost interest in Gears of War, the reason I picked up an Xbox 360 back in the day. At the outset of the Xbox One, I was hoping to see Gears of War 4 spark my interest in the system. Unfortunately, my Xbox One S (which I really only got due to a good deal and my writing endeavors) sees only occasional use when the Xbox used to be my platform of choice. Of course, my taste has returned to games that are more narrative driven, rather than my online shooter cravings as a teen, but I still miss those days of loading into a Gears lobby to unleash shotgun blasts on other players.
I hope to see Xbox hit it hard with their software over the next couple of years. There seems to have been tremendous resources put into the services and hardware offerings with Xbox Game Pass, backwards compatibility, Xbox Live heading to other platforms with rumors for more cross-platform integration, the Xbox One X, and the Adaptive Controller. It’s almost sad to see the platform struggle with a slew of lackluster releases that just didn’t live up to the expectations and hype.
Either way, Gears of War is a definite for E3 2019 and there is bound to be more information on the upcoming titles. Let’s hope these titles hold up when they release. For more Gears content from the Marooners’ Rock team, check out our review of Gears of War 4 and don’t forget that General Raam is a fighter in Killer Instinct. Featured image credited to Microsoft.
