The Coalition finally took the wraps off Gears of War: E-Day’s multiplayer offerings, namely Versus and Horde Siege, but it also provided some dates for the beta. Early access runs from August 6th to 10th for pre-orders, while the open beta is available to all players from August 13th to 17th.
Horde Siege looks very ambitious with three squads of four players each battling across the “biggest” maps yet. You have four classes to choose from: Assault leans into mid-range weapons, Marksman favors precision damage, Breacher takes point in frontline combat, and Medic is the healer. However, they each have unique equipment. For instance, the Medic has a stim that instantly revives all downed allies, including from other squads, while the Marksman’s Pulse Drone can tag enemies, even if they’re behind walls.
While a lot of the gameplay revolves around hunkering down and defending R.I.G.s spread across the city, there are plenty of objectives that encourage exploration. Diffusing bombs, delivering a Power Core to a R.I.G., taking out High Value Targets – all of these grant rewards, and as you keep playing, Energy is accrued to unlock new traps, change your loadout and more. Meanwhile, Weapon Parts can help upgrade your current weapon.
You also have Supply Drops which multiple squads can benefit from (though the first gets the best stuff); bosses like the Corpser that present huge challenges; and Invasion Modifiers to mix things up, like turning off Supply Caches. Once you’ve had enough, the option to extract will become available. The more players extracted, the better the rewards, so keep that in mind.
Another big hallmark for Horde Siege is the ability to mod weapons for the first time in the series, putting bayonets on Gnashers or enabling specific effects with Perfect Reloads. For those who want something more old-school, Horde Missions let you fight through 10 waves of enemies while remaining in one area.
Gears of War: E-Day launches on October 6th for Xbox Series X/S and PC. Stay tuned for even more details on multiplayer, namely Versus, in the meantime.
