Skip to main content

Gears of War: E-Day is a prequel, not Gears 6

Summer Gaming Marathon Feature Image
This story is part of our Summer Gaming Marathon series.

Gears of War E-Day cityscape Sera
The Coalition

During the June 2024 Xbox Games Showcase, The Coalition announced Gears of War: E-Day, a prequel to the Gears of War series. The game takes place 14 years before the start of the first game, and is built from the ground up with Unreal Engine 5. However, there is no release date, but it will presumably launch for PC and Xbox Series X/S.

Recommended Videos

The trailer starts with a protagonist Marcus Fenix as a younger man fighting against a big Locust enemy. When he barely manages to win, he gets pulled up by his friend, Dominic Santiago. The camera then pans out to show a city in ruins. Players are used to a seasoned veteran in Marcus, but E-Day explores a time when he and his comrades were ill-prepared for the Locust threat upon their home planet Sera.

Gears of War: E-Day | Official Announce Trailer (In-Engine) - Xbox Games Showcase 2024

The trailer also brings back the song “Mad World,” the Tears for Fears track covered by Gary Jules that was used for the original Gears of War game that was released in 2006. This time, the track is reimagined for the E-Day trailer, making it darker and grittier.

The Coalition has also confirmed that even though Gears of War: E-Day is a prequel, the studio is not abandoning the stories told in Gears of War 4 and Gears 5. However, The Coalition didn’t want to pass on the chance to tell an origin story, including one regarding Marcus’ famous iconic Chainsaw Lancer weapon. It’s also not a spinoff like Gears of War: Judgment is, but a new entry and mainline title.

George Yang
George Yang is a freelance games writer for Digital Trends. He has written for places such as IGN, GameSpot, The Washington…
Everything announced at the Panic Games Showcase 2024
The main character of Thank Goodness You're Here is hoisted into the air.

Panic, the Portland-based game publisher behind the Playdate and hilarious games like Thank Goodness You’re Here, held a showcase today. It gave us a deeper look at recently released games like Thank Goodness You’re Here and Arco, and confirmed a Nintendo Switch port of Nour: Play With Your Food while also teasing a strong 2025 lineup for the publisher filled titles like Despelote, Time Flies, and Okamotive’s Herdling.

The show kicked off with a Thank Goodness You’re Here segment that delved into the game’s development at Coal Supper. If you’re interested in learning more about how some of its jokes came to be, how Coal Supper settled on its distinct art style, and how one of the main voice actresses involved in the project was found, then you’ll enjoy its segment. Thank Goodness You’re Here is quickly building buzz as one of the year’s best indie games, so it’s amazing to get an inside look at its development like this.

Read more
Spongebob’s Patrick Star is getting his own video game this fall
Patrick Star stands in front of Biking Bottom in The Patrick Star Game.

SpongeBob Squarepants ™: The Patrick Star Game – Announcement Trailer – Nintendo Switch

Patrick isn't playing second fiddle to SpongeBob in the latest game set in Bikini Bottom. Spongebob Squarepants: The Patrick Star Game was revealed during the August Nintendo Direct as a full game starring the pink starfish. It will arrive on October 4.

Read more
I played Monster Hunter Wilds, and it’s already a thrill
A hunter runs through a lightning storm in Monster Hunter Wilds.

I've always seen Monster Hunter as a cinematic game, though perhaps not in the way that many gamers picture when they hear the word. I'm not talking about big-budget cutscenes. Rather, spectacle is baked into its world. There's no greater thrill than watching on as the titanic beast I'm tracking suddenly gets attacked by another creature. It's like watching a kaiju battle unfold organically.

With Monster Hunter Wilds, though, Capcom is upping the ante. In a 90-minute demo, I played through the upcoming action RPG's first two missions. They were standard hunts against towering beasts, but something was different this time. A larger emphasis on thrilling cutscenes and cinematic set pieces took center stage between my normal hacking and slashing. That makes for a sequel that takes Monster Hunter to the next level, unlocking its blockbuster potential.
More cinematic
When my demo begins, I'm sailing on an ocean of sand with a crew of ragtag characters. After getting briefed on a monster in the area, the dreaded White Wraithe, I'm treated to an action-packed sequence. I see sandworms chasing a character in the distance, as if I'm watching a scene out of Dune. My hero leaps from the side of the ship and lands on a Seikret and gives chase. As I gain control of my character, I'm suddenly in a chase sequence. Worms leap around me, and I have to knock them off my trail with my slingshot. It's positively dazzling.

Read more