Gears of War 4 Released and Information | What's new

Gears of War 4 is a third-person shooter video game developed by The Coalition and published by Microsoft Studios for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One. It is the fourth main installment in the Gears of War series, and the first entry not to be developed by Epic Games.

Gameplay

Many gameplay elements from the previous games are reintroduced, along with new elements such as the Dropshot weapon that fires explosive drills and the Buzzkill that fires ricocheting sawblades. Players can also perform a short distance shoulder charge, knocking enemies off balance and enemies can also pull players out of cover and perform their own takedowns. The game features 4 categories of weather: from heavy breeze (trees, leaves, dust kicking up) and grow into violent category 3 windstorms that can affect combat and weapon usage.



Story
Setting

Gears of War 4 takes place 25 years after the Imulsion Countermeasure weapon destroyed all Imulsion on the planet Sera, taking the Locust and the Lambent with them as well. Unfortunately, this also knocked out the use of fossil fuels, forcing humanity to adapt new ways for survival. The countermeasure also brought the advent of "Windflares", powerful windstorms that form across the planet. Following the aftermath of the Lambent Epidemic, the reformed Coalition of Ordered Governments estimated that only hundreds of thousands of humans are left on Sera. To prevent the population from declining, walled-off cities were built to protect the citizens from the dangers outside. The COG also declared martial law, preventing any travel from outside of city walls. Some human survivors rejected the viewpoints of the COG and formed a group called the "Outsiders" that live outside of the COG jurisdiction, conducting raids on COG territory to gather resources.



The game focuses on the son of Marcus Fenix and Anya Stroud, J.D. Fenix (Liam McIntyre), who, alongside his friends Delmont "Del" Walker (Eugene Byrd) and Kait Diaz (Laura Bailey)[6] deal with a new threat to humanity's survival.

Synopsis

The leader of the reformed Coalition of Ordered Governments, First Minister Jinn (Angel Desai), commemorates the 25th anniversary of humanity's victory over the Locust. Meanwhile, an elderly Hoffman who is present at the ceremony recounts past battles at Aspho Fields, Emergence Day, and Anvil Gate.



Meanwhile, J.D. and Del have recently deserted the COG after disagreeing with Jinn's hardline policies and join a group of Outsiders led by Reyna (Justina Machado). In order to help their village, J.D. and Del decide to raid a nearby COG settlement under construction to steal a special fabricator. They are accompanied by Kait, Reyna's daughter, and her uncle Oscar (Jimmy Smitts), a former Gear and Locust War veteran. Though they are forced to battle the COG's new robotic DeeBee soldiers, J.D. and his group manage to successfully steal the fabricator and escape back to their village. They are then confronted by Jinn (broadcasting via a DeeBee), who accuses them of kidnapping her people, much to their confusion, before launching an all out assault on the village. J.D. and his friends manage to repel Jinn's forces and get to work repairing the village's power generator. However, in the midst of repairs, unknown creatures raid the village, capturing everybody including Reyna and Oscar. As her last act, Reyna locks J.D., Del, and Kait inside the power station to protect them.



Dubbing the unknown attackers the "Swarm", J.D. reluctantly asks his father Marcus Fenix (John DiMaggio) for help. Marcus, who is still angry at J.D. for joining the totalitarian COG and then endangering himself by abandoning it, is reluctant to help J.D. until he shows him that the Swarm is not human. Suspicious, Marcus decides to lead the group to Fort Reval, where thousands of Locust corpses were buried to dispose of them. After escaping another attack by Jinn's forces, the group reaches Fort Reval, where they are ambushed by a Snatcher that captures Marcus. As J.D. and his friends pursue the Snatcher, they find evidence of the Swarm being responsible for the abduction of COG citizens, whose bodies are being harvested to create more Swarm creatures. They also hypothesize that when the Locust were hit by the Imulsion Countermeasure, they did not die. Instead, their bodies underwent a long term metamorphosis over the last 25 years until the Locust evolved into the Swarm. J.D. eventually manages to track down Marcus and free him. Marcus reveals that the Swarm operates on a hive mind and that he was briefly connected to it. Reyna is still alive and being kept at another Locust burial site, but none of the other villagers survived.



Determined to save her mother, Kait demands that Marcus lead them to her. He takes the group to Tollern Dam, where they discover that the burial site has been converted into a Swarm hive. Realizing that the hive's defenses are too formidable for them to breach on their own, the group fights their way to a radio antenna, where Marcus calls for the assistance of Augustus Cole (Lester Speight), Baird (Fred Tatasciore) and Sam (Claudia Black), with the latter two now being lovers. Baird, now a famed industrialist and the creator of the DeeBees, brings a pair of mech suits that J.D. and Kait use to fight their way into the hive. Inside, they find Reyna has been forcefully integrated into the hive's network, and removing her would result in her death. Despite this, Reyna requests that Kait end her life, which she tearfully does. She then inherits her mother's amulet, which had belonged to Kait's grandmother. However, upon closer inspection, it bears a resemblance to the symbol of the Locust Queen Myrrah - implying that Reyna was her daughter.



In a post credits scene, it is revealed that Oscar managed to survive his abduction by the Swarm by cutting himself out of the Snatcher that had captured him.