Gears of War: Ultimate Edition is imbibing a lot of the later Gears of War games into itself, injecting the first game in the franchise with the better storytelling sensibilities and mechanics that came with the later games in the series. So it wasn’t all that unreasonable to expect that the series’ famed Horde Mode would be included in the Ultimate Edition too, even though the original Gears of War itself never had it (Horde Mode was introduced with 2008’s Gears of War 2).
However, speaking at San Diego Comic Con during their panel today, The Coalition confirmed that Horde Mode would not be included in Gears of War Ultimate Edition- which is sure to come as a disappointment to the millions of players who are still playing it to this day. Personally, I know that most of my play time for Gears of War 2 comes from Horde.
At least The Coalition have a good reason for not including the mode, though. According to Fergusson, Gears 2 introduced a variety of new enemy types and without those different enemies in the first game, Horde Mode would feel super limited by comparison. So, it makes sense, I guess.
Just bring it back for Gears of War 4.