Blizzard has released the weekly This Week in WoW post, and this edition goes over Midnight's next content update and Forever class deep dives.A new week brings even more to discover across World of Warcraft. Explore the latest WoW: Forever class spotlights featuring the Hunter, Druid, Priest, and Warrior, and tune in for episode 2 of the WoW: Forever Podcast. Then, see what’s on the horizon for Midnight with the 12.1.5 content update. Discover it all in this week’s WoW Weekly.

Watch Now! WoW: Forever Podcast Ep.2

Curious about Classes in WoW Forever?

Host Countdown To Classic sits down with Senior Game Designers Josh “Aggrend” Greenfield and Aidan Moon, Principal Game Designer Kris Zierhut, and special guest and content creator Sodapoppin to explore the strategies, challenges, and choices around Class design philosophy in WoW: Forever.

World of Warcraft: Forever Class Deep Dives

Every class in World of Warcraft: Forever is being revisited with an approach rooted in the original World of Warcraft, keeping the foundation players remember while making thoughtful updates that open up more choice, identity, and room to experiment.

Hunter and Druid

Answer the call of the wild and take on nature’s many forms in World of Warcraft: Forever.

We’re sharing Development Team insights on Hunter and Druid, including how these classes are evolving through talent updates, class-defining abilities, and new ways to play.

 

Click to Learn More

Priest and Warrior

Priests and Warriors in WoW: Forever have updates that build on the roles, rhythms, and class-defining tools players know.

Take a look at new and adjusted baseline abilities, refreshed racial Priest spells, Rage and stance updates for Warriors, and talent changes across Discipline, Holy, Shadow, Arms, Fury, and Protection.

 

Click to Learn More

Midnight’s 12.1.5 Content Update Arrives 14 October

Midnight’s next content update raises the stakes with new challenges and richer rewards. Face Kith’ix in a flexible single-boss raid, brave the nine-chamber Labyrinth of Kindo’jan, and push further with the Season 2 refresh and Keystone Myth. A new story campaign, The Promise of Tomorrow, and the Aqir Invasion outdoor event round out the adventure with powerful gear, cosmetics, titles, and more.

Click to Learn More

Let us journey alongside you, regale you with tales of adventure in faraway places, map out roads less traveled, and direct your gaze toward the legendary challenges that await. Return each week to the World of Warcraft news site, where we'll uncover your destiny together.

Contents

The Marvel Rivals roster of beloved heroes and villains is already huge with 33 characters in Season 0. But a pool of iconic characters is yet to make their debut through future Seasons, so who are they?

Marvel Rivals is a free-to-play 6v6 multiplayer shooter like Overwatch. What makes it special is its appeal to comic book lovers as they can play as their favorite Marvel heroes and villains. Considering it was released on December 6, 2024, it’s still in a very early stage.

As a result, several leaks have started to surface online about the characters that can join in the future. So, here’s a rundown of all the leaked characters rumored to be coming to Marvel Rivals.

All leaked Marvel Rivals heroes and villains

• Blade
  
  
• Emma Frost
  
  
• Human Torch
  
  
• Invisible Woman
  
  
• Jean Grey
  
  
• Mr. Fantastic
  
  
• The Thing
  
  
• Ultron
  
  

Quote:Ultron releases Season 1 and he’s a Strategist https://t.co/4gL8qZkIkE

— Marvel Rivals – Leaks & Info (@RivalsLeaks) December 19, 2024

Liquid Max has revealed that Liquid and Echo are currently in talks about doing fewer characters and splits for the Race to World First!Update (9:21 AM PT) Meeres from Echo has reached out and said the times mentioned in the video weren't directly asked for by Echo. He also mentioned that they are in further talks at this time, as Liquid declined this original deal.

One of the major criticisms of recent Race to World Firsts has been splits. In this tier, it took Liquid five and a half days before they entered Mythic Venomous Abyss, and we have even seen Mythic splits in the last few tiers. The Race to World First guilds have around 15 characters and run many, many splits to make sure they have all the gear that they need, which is not interesting to watch, or fun for some of the players themselves.

In a recent stream and highlighted in a video, Liquid Max talks about some of these discussions.

Max comments that they have discussed helper splits, raiders in the guild, AFK Mythic+, and Mythic splits, and implies both guilds are willing to do that. However, there are some things regarding raiding time that they are not in agreement on at this time.

Further talks are apparently in progress, and we'll have to see what changes the next Race to World First has in store.

We developers know just how fast computers can be, and we want to feel that speed in our tools. Waiting for language support to load, builds to complete and tests to run is time we could better spend in other ways.

As part of .NET 11, C# Dev Kit has been completely rearchitected to deliver huge improvements to performance and memory usage. It also has some great new features.

This is the first in a series of blog posts covering the improvements in C# Dev Kit 11.0. In this post we will cover the improvements at a high level, and future posts will dig into the details for those who are interested.

We are aligning C# Dev Kit’s version with the current release of .NET. The new extension version is 11.0, and the previous was 3.3.

Let’s see what’s new.

Faster loads

We measured load times on two real solutions: Orleans (155 projects) and Aspire (407 projects).

Solution
Projects
What’s ready
C# Dev Kit 3.3
C# Dev Kit 11.0
Faster by

dotnet/orleans
155
Active file
up to 50.3 s
0.53 s
up to 95×

Whole solution
50.3 s
2.3 s
22×

dotnet/aspire
407
Active file
up to 84.1 s
0.47 s
up to 180×

Whole solution
84.1 s
3.0 s
28×

The table shows two moments during load. Active file ready is when language support is available in the file you are editing, with completions, diagnostics, go to definition, and quick fixes. This is the point at which you can do real work. Whole solution ready is when every project has finished loading, so language support works in any file, tests across the solution are discovered, and find all references works across all projects.

C# Dev Kit’s new project caches contribute to this faster loading. It no longer rebuilds its understanding of every project on every open, so language services, tests, and launch targets are available almost immediately. It now loads the active file first, so you can start working there while the rest of the workspace loads in the background, with performance that’s constant, regardless of the project count. The previous implementation loaded projects in a fixed order, so load times depended on where the file fell in that order.

A project’s cache is built the first time that project is loaded. Every load after that is served from the cache, and is fast. If you commit your cache files to version control, then fresh clones and new git worktrees will have fast tooling support immediately, which is great when working with agents.

We also shortened load time by consolidating several processes into a single one. The previous version launched six managed processes that each had to pass AV checks, load images from disk, perform JIT (minimised via ReadyToRun), then connect to each other. All of this had to happen before they could answer a single question about your code.

This consolidated

Unity 7 is one step closer to reality today with the release of Unity 7 Alpha. While there are a number of new features coming in Unity 7 no doubt the biggest feature Unity developers have been waiting for (and most likely why it got the Unity 7 moniker) is FINALLY we have support for CoreCLR. Unity has been stuck using an antiquated version of the Mono runtime and thus an outdated version of the C# programming language. A move to CoreCLR will fix that… eventually. As you can read below though, the initial Alpha release is much more limited in scope.

Details of the CoreCLR migration in Unity 7:

Quote:Unity 7.0

[/url]CoreCLR Editor

For the initial 7.0 Alpha release, available today in the Hub via ‘Pre-releases’ we will be providing the first CoreCLR-powered Editor without Mono. This version still targets C# 9 and .NET Standard 2.1. This is the very first alpha release, and we do not recommend this for production use, only as the first available version to test project compatibility.

While we still fully intend to deliver a CoreCLR Editor that targets C#14 and .NET 10, we will need to incrementally build towards this over time as we get closer to the Beta and then supported release of Unity 7.0.

Core CLR Player

We will be building upon the experimental CoreCLR Desktop Player and releasing a non-experimental version that we continue to work on and improve over time.

IL2CPP Players

Carrying on from the experimental iOS player in 6.7, all platforms are being migrated to an updated IL2CPP. Platforms will be migrated and released as each is ready, and we will continue to make updates to this thread and future threads if needed as they come online. Enabling each platform to target a modern .NET runtime paves the way for the entire ecosystem to move forward.

Migration to .NET 10 & C# 14

Work is continuing steadily towards bringing .NET 10 and C# 14 to the CoreCLR Editor in the Unity 7.0 lifecycle. We continue to work on, and track internal CoreCLR Editor builds across Windows, macOS, and Linux to ensure cross-platform stability, package compatibility, and memory management before we can make a public release.

We cannot commit to a public date yet for when we will release Unity 7.0 with .NET 10 or C#14. We’ll keep you updated as we add new capabilities with each release.

Performance later. For the first supported 7.0 release, we will be focused on parity with Unity 6.7LTS in terms of functionality and stability. We will focus on performance improvements in the next Unity 7.X LTS.

MSBuild Integration

A fundamental piece of our Unity 7.0 scripting architecture is standardizing project definitions and build workflows around MSBuild.

Our engineering teams are working toward two key initiatives:

• Project Generation & IDE Tooling: Transition to a modern, customizable MSBuild-based compilation workflow to allow better IDE integration and extensible build pipelines.
  
  
• Compilation Workflows: Streamline assembly references, package dependency resolution, and incremental compilation steps directly through MSBuild.
  
  

Allow us to set the scene. Three corners from the finish line, another racer shunts your repulsorcraft into an adjacent boulder, sending you careening into the toxic wastes of Sentinel I. You try to correct your course. Too late. The vehicle that took you 4 tours and 23 races to tune is now scattered across the track, your League Token is forfeit, and the tour is over.

These are the moments that are instrumental in your journey to become Champion of the Galactic League, and the moments that the team built around STAR WARS: Galactic Racer — available today for XBOX Series X|S.

“We’ve got a history of trying to make failure fun,” says Creative Director at Fuse Games Kieran Crimmins. “Failure can be this big, spectacular, exciting, interesting and rewarding experience in the game. Our wreck-out system is meant to be the ethos of how Fuse approach game making. Crashing isn’t just a big spectacle; it has consequence as well as mechanical rewards so you can learn something for your next run.”

“Failure is fuel, which is where our runs-based mechanic comes into play,” adds Co-founder and Head of Content at Fuse Games Steve Uphill. “It’s the opportunity to try again, and when you get the right combination of builds, parts and upgrades, failure makes winning feel hard earned, but so much more rewarding and creates a powerful and unique player story.”

Kieran Crimmins (left) and Steve Uphill (right).

In STAR WARS: Galactic Racer, player persistence is the key to success. Kieran explains what runs-based actually means, and how Fuse Games adds their own spin on the widely used term: “For us, runs-based is a replayable loop that allows you to experiment with a new way to play every time, see how far you get with it, and if you fail, you still get some great rewards to go again so you can try with a new combination of parts and abilities.”

“From start to end, the process looks like this: the player starts by choosing which vehicle you want to attempt that run in, whether it be a skim speeder, speeder bike, or landspeeder. They all have slightly different playstyles and attributes. Then, you pick a Racer Style, which gives your build a baseline direction. So, if you wanted to make an afterburner build or a cooled build for example, you start with that Racer Style, then select which abilities, parts and upgrades complement it at the end of each race.

Depending how well you do in the races, you’ll also get financial rewards that you can spend at the shop in between planets. There’s always going to be the temptation to try out new abilities or upgrades, but these are rewarded randomly, so there’s an element of luck involved. Most will be able to synergise with your build in some way, so it’s up to your knowledge and creativity for that limited set to find a path to success. If you’re lucky, you’ll win the league. If you don’t win the league, however, the path to success is filled with challenges, rivals, and events to test you. Crash too many times and you’ll ‘wreck out’, or you fail a high-stakes event, then you’ll lose a League Token and be back to the start.”

Failure is an important part of the game’s mechanics, which is why ‘wrecking out’ is so instrumental to gameplay: “You have a certain number of crashes that you’re allowed to do in any race,” says Kieran, “not all events have it, but a lot of them do. If you use all your crashes, then you’ll ‘wreck out’ and have to start from the beginning of that tour. Crucially, we wanted there to be an element of consequence in the gameplay. Your decisions matter across every part of the game, so you need some sort of finite failure state for your decisions to matter, and wrecking out felt like a great manifestation of that. Every corner matters, every interaction with another racer matters. It forces you to think about what choices you make and what you’re doing, rather than driving with abandon.”

It’s this element of player agency and choice that makes the runs-based loop in STAR WARS: Galactic Racer so satisfying. Kieran expresses the importance of player choice: “If you think about playing in its most base form, it isn’t someone tells you what to do then you do it. That’s a job, that’s instruction. Instead, we provide a play space full of fun things. Play is the choice to arrange them in the way that you want, and creating your own moments and journeys. The power of a good player story is the absolute power of play in general.”

And that agency doesn’t end when the run does. Kieran continues: “There are two important progression routes for a run. The first is your stat build-up, where you get temporary stats for each vehicle like cornering, resilience, ramjet, afterburner etc. This allows you to dial into your playstyle as well as your build, and you can add points to make those base stats different. The second one is your combination of parts. As standard, you’ll get to install up to five parts. Each of those parts have different rarity, and you build those up as you go through the different events, either from the shop or as event awards. They all do vastly different things and synergise in different ways, some even develop faults that change builds even further. The combinations in the parts system is so vast, I’m not even sure we’ve seen every single combination yet!”

“You also get permanent progression outside of each tour that you can put into one of your vehicle types. So, it’s the same set of stats, but they’ll stay there for the rest of your enjoyment of the game. Once you beat a tour, you open up a larger pool of parts. You’ll also unlock new ‘favors’ that you can equip to further modify the rules for the next run. Another form of permanent progression is the ability to upgrade your Racer Styles, so you can unlock all sorts of different ways to play.”

These features carry over to multiplayer, too: “In multiplayer, we wanted to create a runs-based system that worked. They’re not exactly the same, because it’s a shorter session time, and we wanted people to move through it much faster. Similarly to campaign, you pick a Racer Style, upgrade your vehicle with parts, upgrades and abilities, but you gamble it all on the final knockout event in the multiplayer tour. Winning the multiplayer tour nets you vast amounts of XP so you can unlock new characters and customization. And, even if it hasn’t been your best run, you can still gain XP by voting on the player you think is going to win so you can still have an engaging final race. Because there is an element of luck and skill involved, we wanted to reward racers for playing, even if sometimes getting shunted into a wall could mean the end.”



The element of crashing and consequence in campaign and multiplayer is also what makes it dramatic to watch. Steve spends his time on the moment of impact itself, making sure each crash the player caused reads as such. “Having such a breadth of player choice and decisions meant that they’ll see crashes a lot. That’s why it was so important to us to not simply use pre-canned animations for the crashes. We wanted to generate a system that made every shot feel cinematic but was also procedural, so every time a crash happens you see it differently. 

We’ve got four different vehicle types, and each one behaves completely differently. The speeder bike is smaller than the other vehicles, so it rolls, the podracers have separate engine units to the cockpit, which has its own logic. We needed a crash system that worked across all of them, and made sure every crash told a story instead of just blowing up. The speeder bike hitting a tree on Endor is iconic to “STAR WARS: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi,” so that stays an instant hit. Bigger vehicles roll and come apart over time, extending the spectacle and creating impact.  And even then, if the same crash repeats, it loses the impact and emotion we want the players to feel. Timing was the real constraint throughout, show the impact and spectacle but keep the racing flow.”

“Podracing crash sequences in “STAR WARS: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” can be up to thirty seconds long. We’ve designed our maximum to be up to eight seconds. That’s the real challenge!” Steve laughs. “If I had it my way, they would be much longer. But the team was right. Longer cinematics slowed gameplay down too much. But that was a creative constraint: How do you build the vehicles and the camera system to make the most of eight seconds, cinematically and procedurally, when you don’t have long to play with?”

Vehicles were one half of that problem. The camera was the other, because a crash that isn’t framed right loses spectacle and instead, becomes noise: “The camera system might seem simple, but they’re incredibly hard. A crash is instantaneous and the system has to work out where the vehicle is, where it’s heading, how fast, what’s blocking the shot, all before it can even decide how to frame it. The whole sequence has to feel believable and weighted, or it falls apart.”



“If the weight feeling’s gone, the vehicles just feel like toys, like something that’s made of wood or plastic bouncing down the track. And we’ve got four vehicle types, all a different size and mass, so getting that sense of weight across all of them is genuinely hard. Sometimes they didn’t land… they bounced.” 

“The answer ended up being a mixture of iteration,” Steve continues, “as well as creating a system that allows the camera to intelligently read the environment. At the moment of the crash, we introduce some unique geometry to the scene that ensures the camera is always placed in the optimal position, whilst also triggering the right VFX, audio and various other elements to make the crashes immersive and satisfying to watch.”

“It’s kind of a modern marvel when you think about it,” adds Kieran. “If you were to film that for a movie sequence, you’re talking three to six months of planning and a day of shooting to get one fixed camera where you knew everything that was about to happen. This does it in milliseconds.”

Put the systems and the spectacle side by side, and you get something that’s easy to describe but hard work to build: a crash that feels earned and unique, not scripted.



This takes us back to that moment on the track, three corners from the finish. 23 runs of tuning, gone in half a second and exactly the kind of moment the team spent years making sure would land.

That’s the whole idea: the systems that give the crash meaning, the craft that gives it weight. Put those together and a racing game stops being about who crosses the line first, and instead about everything you’re willing to risk to get there.

STAR WARS: Galactic Racer is available now for XBOX Series X|S and is available for purchase on the XBOX Store.





STAR WARS: Galactic Racer Deluxe Edition

Secret Mode

☆☆☆☆☆

★★★★★

$79.99

Get it now

Pre-Order now to get the following digital content:
• Exclusive Pre-Order Bonus Livery for your repulsorcraft
• Exclusive Pre-Order Bonus Player Banner for multiplayer modes
Note: Pre-Order Bonus content may be made available for purchase at a later date.

​​​The STAR WARS: Galactic Racer Deluxe Edition contains three exclusive vehicles, a unique Livery, three Arcade Events, a deluxe Player Banner, and a Digital Art Book.
• Three exclusive vehicles: Become the envy of the paddock and pilot the Kor Sarun: Ciza T speeder bike, the Kor Sarun: Darc X landspeeder, and the Kor Sarun: Rak S skim speeder
• Unique Livery for pilots who need to race in style. Coat any of your speeders with an exclusive Livery inspired by the Naboo N-1 starfighter
• Three Arcade Events for the fearless racers. The Galactic League challenges you to three exclusive Arcade trials designed specifically for your Kor Sarun repulsorcraft
• Deluxe Player Banner containing an exclusive Insignia and Background for multiplayer modes
• Digital Art Book showcasing never-before-seen character, vehicle, and location artwork from the development of STAR WARS: Galactic Racer*

​​​​​STAR WARS: Galactic Racer is a ​​runs-based​​, high-stakes reinvention of racing born in the lawless Outer Rim of the ​​STAR WARS​​​​ galaxy.​​​​

The Empire’s grip on the galaxy has finally broken, and with its fall comes a new obsession: speed. As the New Republic struggles to rebuild, gambling, entertainment, and glory fuel a booming underground.

Out of this chaos, the Galactic League is born: an unsanctioned racing circuit where syndicates sponsor pilots, fortunes are won and lost in seconds, and only the bold survive.

No Force. No prophecy. Just skill, strategy, and the will to rise.

COMPETE IN HIGH-STAKES RACES
Slam, shunt, and takedown rivals across varied circuits as you pilot landspeeders, speeder bikes, skim speeders, and podracers. The greater the risk, the greater the reward.

SURVIVE A DANGEROUS UNDERGROUND SPORT
Join The Galactic League – an unsanctioned racing circuit born in the lawless Outer Rim. Become Shade, a lone racer chasing revenge and glory.

BUILD AND CUSTOMIZE YOUR CRAFT
Pilot different classes of repulsorcraft each with distinct physics and playstyles. Build a ride that showcases your style and gives you a competitive edge.

BATTLE RIVALS IN MULTIPLE GAME MODES
Ride solo through a story-driven campaign of shifting alliances or brave strategic PvP grudge matches where reputation rides with you.

CLIMB THE RANKS AND EARN REWARDS
Prove yourself through intense rivalries and escalating challenges. Every choice shapes your prospects as you build your status in The Galactic League.

*Internet Connection required. Digital Art Book available for viewing and for download from starwarsgalacticracer.com/digital_art using the in-game redemption code.

The STAR WARS: Galactic Racer Deluxe Upgrade add-on must be installed to access the Digital Art Book redemption code.





STAR WARS: Galactic Racer

Secret Mode

☆☆☆☆☆

★★★★★

$59.99

Get it now

Pre-Order now to get the following digital content:
• Exclusive Pre-Order Bonus Livery for your repulsorcraft
• Exclusive Pre-Order Bonus Player Banner for multiplayer modes
Note: Pre-Order Bonus content may be made available for purchase at a later date.

STAR WARS​​: Galactic Racer is a ​​runs-based​​, high-stakes reinvention of racing born in the lawless Outer Rim of the ​​STAR WARS​​ galaxy.​​​​

The Empire’s grip on the galaxy has finally broken, and with its fall comes a new obsession: speed. As the New Republic struggles to rebuild, gambling, entertainment, and glory fuel a booming underground.

Out of this chaos, the Galactic League is born: an unsanctioned racing circuit where syndicates sponsor pilots, fortunes are won and lost in seconds, and only the bold survive.

No Force. No prophecy. Just skill, strategy, and the will to rise.

COMPETE IN HIGH-STAKES RACES
Slam, shunt, and takedown rivals across varied circuits as you pilot landspeeders, speeder bikes, skim speeders, and podracers. The greater the risk, the greater the reward.

SURVIVE A DANGEROUS UNDERGROUND SPORT
Join The Galactic League – an unsanctioned racing circuit born in the lawless Outer Rim. Become Shade, a lone racer chasing revenge and glory.

BUILD AND CUSTOMIZE YOUR CRAFT
Pilot different classes of repulsorcraft each with distinct physics and playstyles. Build a ride that showcases your style and gives you a competitive edge.

BATTLE RIVALS IN MULTIPLE GAME MODES
Ride solo through a story-driven campaign of shifting alliances or brave strategic PvP grudge matches where reputation rides with you.

CLIMB THE RANKS AND EARN REWARDS
Prove yourself through intense rivalries and escalating challenges. Every choice shapes your prospects as you build your status in The Galactic League.

The post STAR WARS: Galactic Racer — Crashing with Consequence in Runs-Based Racing appeared first on XBOX Wire.

It hasn’t been long since the AMR Mod 4 joined Black Ops 6 and players are already deeming it as the successor to one of the franchise’s greatest sniper rifles.

BO6 snipers have fared well across multiplayer and Warzone, with the LR 7.62 and SVD being the standouts. The latest addition to this list is the newly-released AMR Mod 4 as the semi-automatic sniper is incredibly lethal at all ranges.

Released as part of the Archie’s Festival Frenzy event, the high kick, high damage weapon all but guarantees one-shot kills above the waist. Its pre-attached scope offers excellent visibility, and with a few attachments, you can bump up the ADS speed, turning it into a quickscope machine.

Clips of players racking up kills with the weapon are slowly flooding social media, each play more impressive than the last.

Activision

These qualities make the AMR Mod 4 feel overpowered to a degree, especially on smaller maps like Nuketown. In fact, its strength has drawn comparisons to the equally OP Barrett .50 Cal from Modern Warfare 2 (2009).

When it comes to the most memorable snipers in the series, the Barrett .50 Cal stands alongside beasts like the Intervention (MW2), M40 (MW 2007), and the DSR 50 (Black Ops 2). The weapon offered a fast fire rate, excellent ADS times, and destructive power. Despite the punch it packed, the sniper had easily manageable recoil. These qualities meant that it could wreck lobby after lobby, and all you had to do was aim above the legs.

While the AMR Mod 4 doesn’t feel as mobile or stable, it remains a worthy heir to the Barrett’s throne, a sentiment echoed by streamers and players alike.

Quote:BEST NEW GEN BARRETT HANDS DOWN pic.twitter.com/DfaSDNHRy6

— FaZe Scope (@FaZeScope) December 20, 2024

The post appeared first on XBOX Wire.

Today marks the worldwide launch of Gears of War: E-Day, now available on XBOX Series X|S, XBOX on PC, Game Pass and Steam. One of XBOX’s most iconic sagas returns to where it all began, taking players back to the opening hours of Emergence Day and the catastrophic event that changed the world of Sera forever.

Emergence Day is a defining moment for the Gears of War universe – the catastrophic event changed the world of Sera forever, but the story of that fateful night has never been fully told, until now.

Gears of War: E-Day transports us back to the opening hours of the Locust invasion, where an unsuspecting world is ruthlessly plunged into chaos as monsters erupt from underground. Across three harrowing days and nights, Marcus Fenix, Dom Santiago and their fierce new squad mates fight desperately to survive the onslaught consuming the city of Kalona, while uncovering the true scale of a threat unlike anything they – or humanity – has ever faced.

From the moment the prologue opens, Gears of War: E-Day showcases a masterclass in action-horror. This is not the Locust enemy you’ve fought before. They’re equally cunning as they are violent, and frankly, you should be terrified to face them. If this is your first deployment, or you’re coming out of retirement to fight the war ahead, we’ve got you covered. Before you step out onto the streets of Kalona, here are a few things every Gear should know.

Learn When to Push Forward, When to Hold Your Ground, and When to Get Out of the F**ckin’ Way

Gears of War is famously a cover-based shooter, and you’ll rely on it to stay alive as you push through the Locust. Keep your head down and dip from cover-to-cover – and avoid walking out into the open unless you’re rushing an enemy with a melee attack. Even a handful of Drones can deal massive damage while you’re exposed, which can be trouble for both you and the squadmate that may have to come and revive you. Sometimes, the best course of action is to hold patiently and pick off enemies as they come, and there’s no shame in that strategy.

Sometimes, you’ll just need to haul ass and stay as mobile as you can, which I quickly learned during an early fight with a Brumak wielding a horrible chain weapon. There’s no peace to be found in cover for that situation – fan out, keep it distracted, and pray that it doesn’t decide to charge you while your gun is jammed.



Know Your Loadout

Each weapon you’ll find in E-Day is deeply situational, which makes for a great tactical experience. The Chainsaw Lancer is a great all-rounder, offering close-to-mid range firepower and a big ol’ (upgradeable) mag to chew through. The Gnasher is a stellar shotgun, fantastic for devastating point-blank damage. The Longshot Sniper, one of my personal favorites, pops a slick, long-range slug into unsuspecting foes from a great distance. Not only is that incredibly satisfying each time, but it lets you get a stack of damage into a tankier enemy – like a Boomer, before it gets close to you. There are caches dotted around Kalona that let you switch up your loadout, too, so don’t feel like you’re locked into a specific style of play forever. Mix up your strategy, swap roles with your friends, but above all – experiment!

Melee is a Gear’s Best Friend

I know I said this is a cover-based shooter, but sometimes you’ll need to resort to more personal measures. Before E-Day even lets you look at a gun, it hands out a crash course in melee – one of the most useful, life-saving abilities for a Gear. Spend some time getting to grips with how it works when wielding a metal pipe and the Snub pistol – figure out the weight of the swing, and how it feels to hit enemies in front, and more importantly, behind you. Later, melee becomes even more fun with the Chainsaw Lancer, and you’ll feel extra confident with it once you’ve got the basics of backhanding down.



Blind Shooting is Back, and Remains Effective

As soon as you pop your head up to aim a shot, you’re a giant bullet magnet, effectively inviting every weapon-wielder on the map to pop you like a balloon. Fortunately, Gears can shoot blind from behind cover, which is a superb way to dish out additional damage to something getting too close for comfort. If you don’t have the health to rush out for a melee takedown, or you need a few seconds of recovery time, blind fire from cover is a clutch move to get the job done.

Look Out For Side Missions, And Their Rewards

While E-Day‘s campaign is primarily linear, Kalona has large pockets of open space with multiple pathways towards the next objective, as well as side paths that may lead to side missions. These are smaller, optional objectives that let you support other squads, help civilians, and otherwise contribute to saving the city. Not only do they offer additional insight into the wider story, you’ll also get a nice reward for doing it, often a weapon mod.



Audio Chime Means Collectables

While you’re exploring, keep an ear open for a sharp chime whenever you enter a new area of the city – anywhere from inside a building to a side street. That means there’s a collectable nearby. These range from familiar items like COG armor and tags, to esoteric pieces like… a can of soup. They all come with great little lore entries too, some written by the squad members themselves. It’s a wonderful added insight into their stories, and the wider world, so pick them up when you can.

Now that you’re equipped with the basics, there’s only one thing left to do – get out there. Gather your squad, load up, and uncover the world-shattering event that started it all. Gears of War: E-Day is available today on XBOX Series X|S, XBOX on PC, Game Pass and Steam. Play it on both console and PC at no additional cost with XBOX Play Anywhere.







Gears of War: E-Day

Xbox Game Studios

☆☆☆☆☆

★★★★★

Get it now

Emergence Begins

Pre-order Gears of War: E-Day, get an XBOX gift card and unlock the Exfil Dom Character Skin and the Exfil Weapon Skin Set in-game at launch.* more details here https://aka.ms/Gears26

Experience the horror and brutality of Emergence Day. Fourteen years before the original Gears of War, join Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago in a gripping origin-story campaign as the Locust Horde first erupt from below, igniting a desperate fight for survival. Rally your squad and fight on in multiplayer with a reimagination of Gears’ iconic PvE mode, Horde Siege, or go head-to-head with a refined Versus PvP.* Built from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5, Gears of War: E-Day delivers the most immersive Gears yet.

The Story of E-Day

Fight through the chaos of Emergence Day in a gripping origin story campaign.

Battle alone, side by side in two-player split-screen, or rally up to four players online across Campaign, Horde Siege, and Versus.*

Horde Siege PvE – Back and Bigger Than Ever

Survive a city under siege in an evolved take on Gears’ iconic co-op wave survival mode built for larger maps, more players, and bigger battles.

Choose your class – Assault, Marksman, Medic, or Breacher – then drop in as a 4-player squad to fight back the Locust.

Team up with multiple squads to conquer shared objectives and take down world bosses. Survive to earn rewards, unlock customization and improve your loadout for the next match.

Versus Returns – Refined and Focused PvP

Battle across all-new maps and refined fan-favorite 4v4 modes.

Choose your level of competition. Lock in and climb the ranks in Ranked or jump into Social playlists for a more relaxed match.

Modernized controls and movement make combat feel more fluid while retaining Gears’ signature cover-based feel. Jump, vault, slide, and flank with intent.

A Terrifying Threat from Below 

A darker, grittier tone and reimagined enemies restore fear and dread to the series.

Atmosphere and detail are pushed further than ever. The world feels more grounded, believable, and dangerous.

Familiar enemies are more threatening, joined by all-new creatures and villains that reestablish a true sense of horror.

Feels Like Gears. Plays Like New.

Iconic cover‑based combat returns, enhanced with modernized movement and traversal that add freedom and verticality.

Fan‑favorite weapons return and are reimagined, alongside all‑new weapons built for brutal, close‑quarters combat.

Rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5

A new technical foundation for Gears. Built for modern performance with 4K resolution and up to 60FPS across Campaign and Multiplayer.*

*Important Information

Pre-Order Offer: valid with pre-orders made before October 6, 2026 (7:59 am PT) except early access to the Open Beta requires pre-order before the end of the Open Beta early access period (expected to be from August 6-10, 2026; dates may vary by platform and subscription). At participating retailers while supplies last. Pre-order benefits may require redemption of a single-use code. Consult your retailer for details. Limit: 1 offer per person/account.

Online Multiplayer: Online campaign co-op, Horde Siege, Versus and other multiplayer features require a Game Pass subscription that includes online multiplayer, sold separately.

2-Player Split-Screen: is available for console only.

4K and 60FPS: require a compatible display.

Game requires initial download. May require future updates (additional storage may be required). All downloads and updates require significant storage and broadband internet connection (ISP fees apply). You must accept the Microsoft Services Agreement (microsoft.com/msa). May require additional hardware and subscriptions. Content, features, services, online play (if applicable), and support not available in all regions (xbox.com/regions) and may vary, change, or terminate. Microsoft Account required.

WARNING: Some people may experience a seizure when exposed to flashing lights or patterns in video games. (xbox.com/healthandsafety).

The post Gears of War: E-Day – Surviving the First Night of Emergence appeared first on XBOX Wire.

It’s time for the next Epic Games bi-monthly asset giveaway on the Fab marketplace, with 3 free assets from October 6th to October 20th. Once “purchased” the assets are yours free to keep forever. This giveaway contains 3 Unreal Engine assets, of course you can also expert many assets to work in other game engines, we showcase one such asset exported to the Godot game engine, check out the guides below for details how. We also have several other free assets today, detailed below.

Fab Marketplace Giveaway [Oct 6 – Oct 20]

• Ready Map Vol 2 – Bridge Environment / Nature
  
  
• AdaptivePathfindingSystem: AI Navigation Plugin
  
  
• Stylized Harvest Farm Environment
  
  

• Complete Vehicle Pack Vol#1 – Stylized Environment Mega Bundle
  
  
• 3D Environment 6+ Hour Tutorial – Massive 3D Art Tutorial Learning Bundle
  
  
• Learn Unreal Engine Blueprints – A Beginner’s Guide to Visual Game Development
  
  
• The Classical Music Pack – Background Music Mega Bundle
  
  

• Is It Legal to Export from Unity or Unreal Engine?
  
  
• New Unreal To Godot Export Plugin
  
  
• Exporting From Unreal to Unity/Godot/Blender/etc
  
  
• Unity to Godot in Seconds
  
  
• Exporting from Unity to Other Game Engines
  
  
• Move From Unity to Unreal in Minutes
  
  
• Moving From and To The Unity Game Engine