Gears Tactics Devs Talk About Why They Went With A New Protagonist

Gears of War fans are used to playing through the perspective of different characters, having played as Marcus Fenix, JD Fenix, Kait Diaz, and more over the years. When Gears Tactics launches later this month, we will once again be stepping into the shoes of a brand new protagonist- Kait’s father, Gabe Diaz, as he fights against the Locust twelve years before the beginning of Gears of War 1.

But why exactly did the developers choose to go with a fresh protagonist rather than a familiar face for this game. Speaking to IGN, Gears Franchise Narrative Director Bonnie Jean Mah and Gears Tactics’ Design Director Tyler Bielman spoke about the matter, among other things.

According to Bielman, while developers The Coalition and Splash Damage could have gone with a story set in the time periods we’ve already played through with a focus on characters we’re familiar with, setting Gears Tactics as a prequel with a new character suited the game much better.

“We could have done this with Kait and her timeline, but we didn’t feel like that was right, given there was so much to tell of her story in Gears 5,” said Bielman. “We could have set it with Marcus and the Delta team, but we felt like we wanted our [Gears Tactics] hero to be unique and have a different take on the world. And while the Delta squad are an amazing set of characters, there wasn’t one that we thought fit the bill for what we were trying to do.”

“It all started with our desire to make Gabe a different kind of Gears hero, for a different kind of game, with a different kind of story, for a different kind of player,” Bielman added. “All the while, though, he’s still got that Lancer with a chainsaw on the end, so he could definitely kick ass.”

Gears Tactics launches exclusively for PC on April 28- check out its system requirements through here. An Xbox One version is also in the pipeline, but doesn’t yet have a release date. Ahead of its imminent release, Microsoft released a launch trailer for the game yesterday, sharing many new details on its story, combat, progression, and more. Take a look through here.