Gears of War

• 1. Introduction

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  Gears of War begins its fiction with a death toll. The event is called Emergence Day. In only 26 hours, the Locust Horde, a race of subterranean creatures, kills 25% of the population of the planet Sera. From that catastrophe grows a franchise built around third-person shooter video games. It became one of the best-selling franchises on the Xbox 360, and its story now stretches well beyond the console screen.

  The questions are easy to ask and hard to answer. Where did the creatures come from, and what had humanity done to deserve them? Who are the soldiers sent to stop them? And how did a game about taking cover behind walls become a sprawling saga? Its history has changed owners, spilled into other media and chased a film for years.

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• 2. A World Built on Imulsion

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  Imulsion is the substance that saved Sera's civilization and then helped to wreck it. Sera is an invented planet much like Earth, and its people had survived a conflict lasting thousands of years that left humanity close to extinction. When Sera's leaders finally brokered peace, scientific advances and a cultural renaissance followed. The population boomed. It soon needed more energy than fossil fuel, nuclear power and renewable sources could provide.

  Scientists then found a naturally occurring liquid in underground caverns known as the Hollow. Refined, it became a potent energy source, and it was named Imulsion. The new fuel ended the energy crisis, but it also created great economic disparity between nations that could reach it and nations that could not. Those without access fell into financial turmoil.

  The Coalition of Ordered Governments, or COG, and the Union of Independent Republics, or UIR, emerged as citizens divided into warring camps. Their struggle, the Pendulum Wars, lasted 79 years and claimed millions of lives. Both sides stayed locked in a virtual stalemate. The UIR developed the Hammer of Dawn, a system of satellites that can fire precise and destructive laser strikes from orbit to the ground. A band of COG commandos led by Marcus Fenix, Dominic Santiago and Victor Hoffman raided a UIR stronghold at Aspho Fields to steal its schematics. The UIR surrendered after the weapon, completed by Marcus's father, Professor Adam Fenix, devastated one of its naval vessels.

  Six weeks into the armistice, the Locust Horde rose from Sera's depths and attacked human cities. The battle-worn COG forces were overwhelmed and withdrew to the Jacinto Plateau, whose granite bedrock the Locust cannot dig through. To halt the Horde, the COG reluctantly turned the Hammer of Dawn on its own cities. That scorched earth tactic destroyed much of the planet's urban centers and its human population. The COG kept operating from its capital in Ephyra and from plateau cities such as Jacinto. Survivors beyond its reach, called the Stranded, wandered the charred ruins. The Locust returned and began occupying plateau cities as stepping stones.

  Ten years after Emergence Day, the Locust overran Ephyra. In the chaos, Marcus Fenix led an unauthorized mission to rescue his father. A helicopter was shot down and crashed into the Fenix Estate, apparently killing Adam. The COG leadership court-martialed Marcus and sentenced him to 40 years in prison. The rest of the COG retreated to Jacinto City, where the first game picks up the story four years later.

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• 3. The Original Trilogy

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  Fourteen years after the Locust first emerged, the imprisoned Marcus Fenix is pulled back into uniform. The COG has settled on a last-ditch offensive, which is to detonate the Lightmass Bomb inside the Locust tunnels. Marcus is reinstated to fill its depleted ranks and joins Dominic Santiago in Delta Squad. Their mission is to map the tunnel network for the bombing. An ambush leaves the unit with heavy casualties. Marcus is repromoted to Sergeant and leads Delta alongside Augustus Cole and Damon Baird.

  Their Sonic Resonator fails to map the tunnels, but Delta discovers mapping data that Adam Fenix had already made. Marcus retrieves it from his father's lab, where Adam had been studying the Locust. The Lightmass Bomb is deployed, and many Locust die. Their ruler, Queen Myrrah, pledges to keep fighting.

  Six months after the Lightmass Offensive, Gears of War 2 opens on a humanity sick with Rustlung. This respiratory illness comes from breathing Imulsion that the bombing evaporated. The Locust return with a force able to sink whole cities, and Tollen and Montevado are destroyed. Chairman Richard Prescott answers with Operation: Hollow Storm, which sends thousands of soldiers into the Hollow to find the Locust stronghold. Delta learns that the Locust have been sinking cities with a gargantuan worm, the Riftworm, and kills it.

  At New Hope, a decommissioned COG research facility, Delta finds genetically altered humans called Sires. They came from experiments on children ill with Rustlung, and those experiments led to the creation of the Locust. Files show that the New Hope scientists fled to Mount Kadar after the COG shut them down. The Locust later built their capital, Nexus, there. As the COG invades, it learns that the Locust are mutating into the Lambent, organisms infected with Imulsion. The Lambent have been driving the Locust out of the Hollow and toward the surface.

  On advice from Adam Fenix, Queen Myrrah plans to sink Jacinto and let seawater flood the Hollow. That would drown the Lambent and deny humans their last safe city. The COG sinks Jacinto first, before the Locust can evacuate, drowning them in their tunnels and ending their civilization. A radio transmission then reveals that Adam Fenix is alive.

  The island of Vectes, untouched by the Locust War, becomes the survivors' refuge. Stranded gangs there threaten the COG, but the two groups agree to a ceasefire when the Lambent begin to overrun the island. The flooded Hollow has also let Imulsion pollute the surface, causing a pandemic that aims to turn all life into Lambent. Prescott, believed to be hiding the origins of the Locust and Lambent, loses the population's trust. He abandons the COG, which disbands into nomads.

  Eighteen months after Jacinto sank, Prescott returns to the COG and confirms to Marcus that his father lives. Adam, rescued after the helicopter crash, has spent seven years at a secret island facility called Azura. There he has built the Imulsion countermeasure, a targeted radiation weapon meant to neutralize both Lambent and Locust. Myrrah's remaining forces are besieging the island. Adam, it turns out, knew of the Locust before Emergence Day. He had worked with Myrrah on the Lambent problem so that the Locust would not invade the surface, but he could not deliver a solution in time.

  Delta locates Azura, frees Adam and releases the countermeasure. The radiation wave kills Adam, who had been exposed to Imulsion while developing it. It vaporizes every Lambent organism and encases the Locust in an impenetrable shell. Marcus kills Queen Myrrah, and humanity is finally free to start rebuilding.

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• 4. A New Generation

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  Anya Stroud, wife of Marcus Fenix, leads the reformed COG as First Minister after the Locust War. With robotic DeeBees created by Baird, the COG builds New Ephyra and other walled cities called Settlements. Anya gives birth to Marcus's son, James Dominic Fenix, known as JD. She dies from complications during the pregnancy. Under First Minister Mina Jinn, the COG grows more authoritarian, and many civilians leave to live off the land as Outsiders.

  In Settlement 2, soldiers JD and Delmont Walker, known as Del, are forced to execute civilians during a protest. Both leave the COG and become Outsiders. They join Fort Umson, a village led by Reyna Diaz and her brother-in-law Oscar. Reyna's daughter, Kait, grows close to JD and Del.

  Gears of War 4 takes place 25 years after human victory, and it opens with creatures called the Swarm ambushing Fort Umson. Reyna and the other villagers are captured. With JD, Kait and Del left, they recruit Marcus to save their people. The COG pursues the group, wrongly believing it is behind a string of kidnappings.

  At a Locust burial site, the four learn that the Imulsion countermeasure caused the Locust to evolve into the Swarm. The Swarm has been capturing humans and transforming them into soldiers for a new army. With help from Baird and Cole, the group fights through to the Swarm's hive. There they find Reyna forcefully integrated into the network. At her request, Kait separates her from it and euthanizes her. Kait receives a necklace that belonged to Reyna's mother, and it bears the symbol of the Locust Horde.

  Kait, JD, Del and Marcus rejoin the COG and offer their intelligence to Jinn. Soon Kait suffers nightmares and visions tied to the Swarm. Their source is Queen Myrrah, whose consciousness is still alive and linked to Kait's mind. Kait hides this out of fear. Meanwhile, Marcus and Baird want the Hammer of Dawn back online, and Baird finds intel on more satellites at Azura.

  Gears 5 begins with Delta returning to Azura to launch those satellites as the Swarm attacks the COG's Settlements. Kait is captured and connected to the hivemind, where she controls the Swarm army, and her uncle Oscar dies as a result. After her rescue, she admits her visions and treats them as messages from the Locust. Marcus sends her to the New Hope facility and to the secret lab at Mount Kadar.

  There Kait learns that the Locust came from genetic experiments on human children sick with Rustlung, mutated with the DNA of creatures from the Hollow. The Sires were used to fertilize the stem cells of Myrrah, who was genetically immune to Imulsion. Myrrah was Reyna's mother, which makes Kait the next in line to be queen. Kait disconnects from the hivemind, and Myrrah is forced to possess Reyna's reanimated body. The strengthened Swarm attacks New Ephyra, and the COG repels it with the Hammer of Dawn. Kait vows to kill Queen Reyna before she can strike again.

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• 5. Prequels and Spin-offs

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  Gears of War: Judgment, released on the 19th of March 2013, goes back to the early months of the Locust War. It centers on Damon Baird and Augustus Cole, who serve in Kilo Squad with cadet Sofia Hendrick and former UIR soldier Garron Paduk. The squad disobeys orders and launches the Lightmass Missile at Locust forces occupying Halvo Bay. A new character, Ezra Loomis, puts them on trial. They are court-martialed but acquitted, because their actions produced a victory. A separate campaign, Aftermath, follows Baird, Cole and Paduk in the hours before the Imulsion countermeasure is activated, as they prepare for the battle of Azura.

  Nine years after Emergence Day, High General RAAM besieges Ilima City as a stepping stone toward Ephyra. That is the setting of RAAM's Shadow, a secondary campaign for Gears of War 3 offered as downloadable add-on material. Zeta Squad is ordered to find civilians and evacuate them before the city falls. Its members are Lieutenant Minh Young Kim, Tai Kaliso, Michael Barrick and Alicia Valera. The Locust succeed in occupying Ilima, which leads to the fall of Ephyra. The story is told partly from the viewpoint of RAAM himself.

  Gears Tactics, a turn-based strategy game made by Splash Damage and released on the 28th of April 2020, is set a year after Emergence Day. Sergeant Gabriel Diaz, Kait's father and Oscar's brother, and Major Sid Redburn are sent to assassinate the Locust scientist Ukkon. Ukkon is physically immortal because he regenerates any damage. Redburn confesses that he was a guard at New Hope and was responsible for creating the Locust and Ukkon. He can replicate the chemical that New Hope used to suppress Ukkon's healing. Diaz frees Reyna, Kait's mother, from a Locust prison camp, and she uses the chemical to kill Ukkon. Prescott then tries to kill Diaz and Redburn for learning about New Hope, so they abandon the COG. Reyna joins their hunt for Ukkon's creations.

  Gears Pop!, a mobile game based on Funko's POP! toyline, launched on the 22nd of August 2019. It was discontinued on the 26th of April 2021. Gears characters have also wandered into other franchises. Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago are playable in the Xbox 360 version of Lost Planet 2. General RAAM was announced for Killer Instinct: Season Three at Microsoft's E3 press conference on the 13th of June 2016, and he became playable as soon as the presentation ended.

  The newest chapter returns to the day it all began. Gears of War: E-Day, an upcoming prequel announced on the 9th of June 2024 during the Xbox Games Showcase, is set fourteen years before the first game. It follows Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago on Emergence Day itself.

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• 6. Cover and Chainsaws

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  Three older games supplied the core ideas of Gears of War's gameplay. Resident Evil 4 provided the over-the-shoulder perspective, Kill Switch provided the cover system, and Bionic Commando provided the swinging action that inspired moving between points of cover. The series asks players to fight tactically from behind cover to avoid damage. A player behind cover can fire blindly and inaccurately, or lean out to aim carefully while exposed to enemy fire. Players can slide along cover, run between nearby cover, or vault over it to reach a new position.

  The Crimson Omen is the series' health gauge. It appears on the screen display and becomes more defined as the player nears low health. Health regenerates after a short time out of harm's way. A player who takes too much damage is incapacitated until a teammate revives them. Depending on the mode, the player may recover alone or die after a short time. Enemies can finish a downed player with a curb stomp or other brutal methods, and explosive damage kills outright. The first two games each have five acts, and each act is divided into chapters.

  The Lancer Assault Rifle is the series' signature weapon. A mounted chainsaw bayonet lets it instantly kill a standard foe in close combat. Most games let players carry four weapons: two primary guns, a pistol and a slot of up to four grenades of one type. The fourth game is an exception. Grenade types are Fragmentation, Smoke, Ink and Incendiary. Primary weapons include assault rifles, shotguns, a sniper rifle, grenade launchers and an explosive bow. In Gears of War 2 and Gears of War 3, grenades can be planted on any reachable surface and detonate when an opponent comes near. A foe who spots one can set it off from a safe distance by shooting it.

  Active Reload adds a small skill test to most weapons. When a magazine empties, or when the player starts a manual reload, a meter appears on screen. Stopping it inside the marked area completes the reload faster. Hitting a specific section of that area also brings a temporary slight damage boost. Missing the area jams the gun and slows the reload.

  The Gnasher Shotgun is among the most used weapons in multiplayer, and also the most divisive. It is inefficient at long distances, but it is small and easy to aim, which makes it exceptionally useful at close range. Like many weapons, it can also bash opponents in melee.

  Every campaign can be played cooperatively with a second player, who takes the role of either Marcus Fenix or Dominic Santiago. Gears of War 3 raises the limit to four players. At points where the campaign offers a choice of paths, the first player picks one and the second player is forced down the other. In the third game, the extra players are split between the two paths. In these sections, one player might provide covering fire while another opens a switch that lets the first proceed.

  Competitive multiplayer in the first game supports 8 players, and Gears of War 2 allows up to ten, split between COG and Locust forces. Warzone and Execution resemble a typical deathmatch. In Annex and King of the Hill, teams fight to control a marked zone on the map. Guardian, found only in Gears of War 2, names one player on each team as leader. While that leader lives, teammates respawn indefinitely, and once the leader is executed they cannot return. All six main installments offered multiplayer on Xbox Live, where players could face each other or team up against AI opponents.

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• 7. Makers and Reception

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  Cliff Bleszinski, who had previously worked on Epic's Unreal Tournament games, served as lead game designer on the first three installments. Rod Fergusson guided the series as executive producer and director of development at Epic Games until 2012. The first four installments ran on a modified Unreal Engine 3. The franchise was created by Epic Games, is now developed and managed by The Coalition, and is owned and published by Xbox Game Studios.

  The first game reached the Xbox 360 in North America on the 7th of November 2006 and in Europe on the 17th of November. A Windows version followed on the 11th of June 2007. Gears of War 2 launched worldwide on the 7th of November 2008 and used a heavily upgraded Unreal Engine 3. A PC version of the sequel was planned and then cancelled, with the developers citing poor sales of the first game's PC release and concerns about piracy. Gears of War 3 was originally set for the 6th of April 2011. It was moved to the 20th of September to anchor Microsoft Studios' holiday lineup for the Xbox 360.

  In January 2014, Microsoft acquired the rights to the franchise from Epic Games. The Coalition, a Canadian studio, developed Gears of War 4 for the Xbox One and Windows 10, and it was released on the 11th of October 2016. Gears 5 followed on the 10th of September 2019 for Windows and Xbox One. The Coalition also remastered the first game as Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, released for Xbox One and Windows between August 2015 and March 2016. A second remaster, Gears of War: Reloaded, arrived in 2025 on Xbox Series X/S, Windows and PlayStation 5, made with Sumo Digital and Disbelief.

  On the 3rd of August 2015, Microsoft revealed that four Xbox 360 titles run on the Xbox One through backwards compatibility. They are Gears of War, Gears of War 2, Gears of War 3 and Gears of War: Judgment. In 2021, all four gained 60 FPS support on Xbox Series X and Series S through the Xbox FPS Boost program.

  Kevin Riepl composed the music for the first game. He had earlier worked with Epic Games on the soundtracks for Unreal Tournament 2003, Unreal Tournament 2004 and Unreal Championship 2. Steve Jablonsky scored Gears of War 2 and Gears of War 3. Ramin Djawadi scored Gears of War 4 and continued with Gears 5.

  As of January 2014, Microsoft reported that the series had sold over 22 million units and earned over US$1 billion in revenue. All of the titles have been received positively, and the original trilogy is critically acclaimed. IGN ranked Gears of War 3 as the 22nd best Xbox 360 game on a list of 25. In 2010, Lasse Pulkkinen of Techno Buffalo called Gears of War 2 the best-looking game on the Xbox 360. In 2011, readers of Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition voted Augustus Cole the 46th top video game character of all time.

  In January 2017, former American football player Lenwood Hamilton sued Epic Games, Microsoft and voice actor Lester Speight. He argued that the character Cole Train borrowed his likeness and voice. His list included being African-American, having played professional sports and details of the character's clothing. He also cited voice analysis comparing Speight's delivery with his own. Hamilton said Speight had approached him around 1998 about a video game, and that he declined because of its violence. The district court granted summary judgment to the defendants on First Amendment grounds, finding that free expression outweighed Hamilton's right of publicity. The Third Circuit upheld that ruling. The Supreme Court declined to review the case in June 2021.

  Former Naughty Dog developer Lucas Pope has said that the Uncharted franchise drew inspiration from Gears of War. According to him, the first Uncharted game was delayed after the first Gears of War released, so that certain core gameplay and technical elements could more closely resemble it.

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• 8. Beyond the Console

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  In 2011, Fantasy Flight Games released Gears of War: The Board Game, designed by Corey Konieczka. It is cooperative for up to four players and includes a solo option. Each player controls a pre-painted red COG miniature and fights through randomly generated maps filled with light gray Locust figures. A deck of AI cards controls the Locust. After each player's turn, they draw a card and act for every Locust creature. Players use cards and dice to take actions and to resolve shooting and defense. There are seven missions. The game has received one expansion, Mission Pack 1, which added more weapons, two missions and new enemies, including General RAAM.

  Karen Traviss wrote the first five Gears of War novels, beginning with Gears of War: Aspho Fields in 2008. That book had been expected to open a trilogy. It tells the story of the Aspho Fields battle that changed the course of the Pendulum Wars. It also fills in the history between Marcus Fenix, Dominic Santiago and Dom's brother, Carlos. Jacinto's Remnant followed in 2009, Anvil Gate in 2010 and Coalition's End in 2011. The Slab, from 2012, covers Marcus's imprisonment after he deserted a battle to try to save his father. It dwells on the backstories of Marcus, Adam Fenix and Victor Hoffman.

  As the video game franchise grew, Jason M. Hough took over the tie-in novels. His Gears of War: Ascendance, from 2019, bridges the gap between Gears of War 4 and Gears 5. Gears of War: Bloodlines, from 2020, adds a flashback to Lieutenant Colonel Gabriel Diaz during the Pendulum Wars. Its ending hints at Gears Tactics through a mention of Ukkon. Michael A. Stackpole's Gears of War: Ephyra Rising, from 2021, covers the period immediately after Gears of War 3. Together, the books total eight novels.

  In December 2008, DC's Wildstorm imprint published Gears of War: Hollow, the first comic book series. Joshua Ortega wrote it, with art by Liam Sharp. It ran six issues and ended in May 2009. The story follows Jace Stratton, a young Delta Squad recruit, and Michael Barrick, a solo Gear found by Delta. Issue 7, The Quickening, followed the life of Tai Kaliso from his home in the South Islands to a Locust torture den. It was released on the 9th of June 2009.

  Another stand-alone story, Harper's Story, expands on collectibles in Gears of War 2 that describe the end of Sergeant Jonathan Harper. Captured by the Locust, he escaped, then took bullets into his own body to help a family reach safety. The series then began a new arc, Barren, with its first part released in September 2009. It shows birthing creches, breeding farms where women exist only to give birth, because humanity needs new soldiers. Alex Brand was declared barren at the age of 18, expelled from the farm where she was born and trained as a Gear. She joins Delta and Sigma Squads to investigate a mysterious beacon from her birthplace, which was thought destroyed by the Locust.

  Gears of War: The Rise of RAAM, another comic series, is a prequel told from the viewpoint of General RAAM. Years before Emergence Day, the Locust are losing a war with the Lambent in the Hollow. RAAM, then a lieutenant, urges the Horde's leaders to invade the surface and exterminate humanity. High General Sraak refuses to listen and tries to have RAAM assassinated with a Corpser, with help from Ukkon. RAAM instead wins over High Priest Vrol and Karn, and then pleads his case to Queen Myrrah. She promotes him to High General and demotes the humiliated Sraak to Lieutenant. On Emergence Day, RAAM leads the attack on the human city of Jannermount. Sraak, now crazed, attacks him, and RAAM executes him by ripping out his heart.

  In July 2007, NECA announced it would make Gears of War merchandise, including action figures. The first series, due in the second quarter of 2008, included Augustus Cole, Anthony Carmine, Baird, a Locust Drone, a Locust Sniper, Dom Santiago and Marcus Fenix. TriForce Sales obtained a license from Epic Games to make full-scale replicas of the game's armor and weapons. It worked with the sculptor Sid Garrand of Nightmare Armor Studios. Mindzeye Studios made statues a foot high.

  In March 2007, New Line Cinema bought the rights to make a Gears of War film. Stuart Beattie was to write the script, with Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey producing. Godfrey said he was "not a gamer" but was blown away by how the game captures "the mythology of a war mission". Cliff Bleszinski was named executive producer and consultant. Len Wiseman signed on as director in June 2008, with Chris Morgan rewriting the script. In April 2010, New Line considerably scaled back the $100 million budget and the story, and Wiseman moved on to other projects.

  In April 2013, Variety reported that Creative Artists Agency wanted to set the project up elsewhere. By October 2016, at the launch ceremony for Gears of War 4, Rod Fergusson affirmed that a film was in development for theatrical release at Universal Pictures. Scott Stuber and Dylan Clark would produce it under Universal's Bluegrass Films division. Shane Salerno was hired to write the screenplay with Fergusson in May 2017, with the promise of a new story set in the universe rather than an adaptation of one game. That film was not to share a universe with the video games.

  In November 2022, the film moved into development for streaming on Netflix, in collaboration with The Coalition. On the 7th of November 2022, Netflix announced an adult animated series based on the franchise. In March 2023, Jon Spaihts was reported to be writing the film. On the 15th of May 2025, The Hollywood Reporter announced that David Leitch will direct and co-produce the movie.

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