The Coalition spoke last year about the sheer visual fidelity we could expect in Gears of War: E-Day, but it’s another thing entirely to see it in motion. More detailed environmental destruction, including entire buildings crumbling before your eyes; fully dynamic ray-traced lighting; native HDR10 support and Ultra HD textures – it’s a lot to take in, and the fact that the developer rebuilt everything from scratch is pretty insane.
Thankfully, performance doesn’t seem to be an issue with 60 FPS in the campaign, hardware ray tracing included. Multiplayer also runs at 120 FPS, though it’s more than likely only for the competitive aspect. Another interesting tidbit is the amount of detail, with the developer touting more in Marcus’s eyelashes than in his original model from Gears of War 1 on the Xbox 360.
Among other new features, the gore system has been upgraded for meatier damage, right down to the bone – quite literally, especially with dismemberment. Bullets will tear chunks out of flesh, but something like the Gnasher will lop a Locust’s limb clean off. And for those who want new weapons, the Incinerator could become an instant fave with its searing rounds. Of course, that new grenade launcher with its rapid fire and delayed explosion functions also looks very nasty.
Gears of War: E-Day launches on October 6th for Xbox Series X/S and PC. Unlike last year’s Reloaded, it’s an XBOX console exclusive, though you can still play it on day one with Game Pass.