The announcement ofGears of War: E-Dayin June 2024 came as a pleasant surprise to many fans of the longstanding franchise, with the project causing a lot of clear anticipation that is only set to grow over the coming months. While fans are still yet to see things like a solid gameplay overview of the project, its core characters have been enough to get players on board, withE-Daycrucially putting the likes of Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago back in the franchise hot-seat.
As a prequel,Gears of War: E-Daywill have a lot of breathing room away from the modern storyline and events of recent franchise releases, with the game’s development seemingly being focused around the series' traditional roots, much to the excitement of long-term fans. The narrative prospects of exploring the earlier days of Marcus Fenix following the emergence of the Locust threat are truly fascinating, and crucially give the character the love he deserves beforeGears of Warhas to move on completely.
.Gears of War: E-Day Will Likely Be a Swan Song For the Franchise’s Most Iconic Characters
Gears of War: E-Dayis currently aiming for a late-2026 release window, being set to end a seven-year wait since the release of the franchise’s last mainline entry. The originalGears of Warreleased almost two decades ago, and the series has built up a huge reputation that has come with its own lofty expectations. Epic Games and The Coalition have introduced a wide range of core gameplay and narrative changes over the years to keep things fresh, to varying levels of success.
2019’sGears 5marked a bold new direction forGears of War, with its much larger explorable levels and focus on Kait Diaz as its major protagonist, creating a distinct identity that brought praise as well as divided opinion. Of course, many fans had become used toMarcus Fenix as the face of theGears of Warfranchiseover the course of three mainline games, thoughGears of War4had already set a new precedent by instead featuring Marcus' son J.D. as its main character.
Almost three in-game decades have passed betweenthe story of the firstGearsandGears 5, and, while Marcus was not present as the protagonist of the 2019 title, he still appeared as a strong narrative presence at 63 years old. The passage of time throughout the mainlineGearsfranchise makes the focus on a new generation of fighters a logical and inevitable aspect of the series' evolution, yet the prequel premise of the upcomingE-Daywill give one crucial last glimpse into Marcus' character before he is phased out of the franchise entirely.
Gears of War: E-Day Can Add a New Dynamic to Marcus Before He Exits the Franchise
As the name suggests,Gears of War: E-Daywill cover the immediate aftermath ofthe Locust horde emerging onto the surface of Seraand devastating the planet. This fascinating and deeply important aspect of theGears of Warstory is more than deserving of its own release, and seeing Marcus and Dom 14 years before the events of the first game seems like a perfect way to further flesh out these longstanding characters before the IP’s story extends too far into the future.
The story ofGears of War: E-Daywill reportedly take place over the course of a few days, with a renewed focus on horror thanks to the lack of human experience in terms of dealing with the invading Locust armies.
It seems very likely that the next mainlineGears of Wargame will ultimately have to address Marcus' deathor removal from the series' major events due to his age, and while this will bring a sad close to such an iconic era of storytelling,E-Dayadds an excellent final surge of representation for the character. Despite the potential division that might still linger within future mainlineGearsprojects that move completely past the original characters, the upcomingE-Dayseems like a title that can fully embrace the roots of the franchise while making its next era sting a little less.
