The collectible tags from the original game return in Gears Of War: Reloaded, and are a requirement for unlocking the comic book pages and multiple trophies/achievements. The COG Tags are in precisely the same spots as they were in previous iterations, as is the blood red Crimson Omen spray-painted graffiti that you can use as a visual cue to discover each tag.
This Gears Of War: Reloaded guide is a complete listing of all 33 COG Tag locations, spread over 19 Chapters between the five story Acts.
Act I: Ashes
Chapter: 14 Years after E-Day
- No matter which path you choose, you will find the first Tag immediately
- The room where the Locust breach the door
- Through the breached door, bear left and up some stairs, and left again
Chapter: Trial By Fire
- The open space after the entering the first building
- At the exit of the next building, on the left
Chapter: Fish in a Barrel
- At the fountain
Chapter: Knock Knock
- Towards the front end of the white van abandoned on the stairway
Chapter: Hammer
- In the first building with the Wretches, go up the stairs, then down the corridor till the very end
- In the next building after using the Hammer of Dawn, through the sprayed door, then down
Chapter: China Shop
- Right around the starting location
- Near the exit of the final room during the Berserker sequence
- Out in the open from the previous location, bear left
Act II: Nightfall
Chapter: Grist
- Go down stairs, and over the stone barrier
- Descend the stairway and look around underneath it
- On the left sidewalk just in front of the settlement
Chapter: Lethal Dusk
- In a shed, immediately after learning about explosive tanks
- At the end of the spotlight sequence, scan around the starting location
Chapter: Dark Labyrinth
- Outside the exit of the building, to the front of the sprayed car on the right
Act III: Belly of the Beast
Chapter: Downpour
- Look for a building marked with a ‘3’ on the right and head down its right to the very end of the path
Chapter: Evolution
- In the wooden floorboard section, bear right at the entrance and around the generator
- Go downstairs, before pushing the button
Chapter: Darkest Before Dawn
- Head right instead of left, after the platform section
- The building on the right, after sliding downhill
- At the entrance of the cave before the Corpser encounter
Act IV: The Long Road Home
Chapter: Campus Grinder
- Post-combat, return to the starting location and check around the short stairs
Chapter: Bad to Worse
- Right at the start, near the truck wreck
Chapter: Imaginary Place
- In the destructible wooden desk in the library
Act V: The Long Road Home
Chapter: Comedy of Errors
- Through the partially open gate in the gardens
Chapter: Window Shopping
- Head in the opposite direction, to the bottom of the stairway in the parking structure
Chapter: Jurassic Proportions
- At the start of the Brumak encounter, near the barriers around the other side
Chapter: Train Wreck
- Plainly visible on the ground on the other side of the breached train door
- In the third train carriage, just prior to climbing the ladder
- In the fifth train carriage, press the second button then head through the now cleared platform area and back inside the sprayed carriage, following the path down to the far end where another button awaits
If you have missed out on any COG Tags during a previous run, you can simply load up the relevant chapter with chapter select and play long enough to acquire the missing Tags.
Three of the related trophies/achievements are gained after collecting 11, 22, and 33 COG Tags, and are “Time to Remember”, “Honor-Bound”, and “For the Fallen” respectively. “G-reader” is earned for simply reading the entirety of a comic.
Those are the locations of all 33 COG Tag collectibles in Gears Of War: Reloaded.