STACK #264 October 2026

GAMING FEATURE

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thing we get to do with E-Day is every time an enemy shows up, it’s the first time Marcus and Dom have seen them. So, we get to go from seeing the first Wretch in the game to the first Drone, and up and up and up, until you’re seeing Brumaks with armour. Can you tell us more about E-Day ’s big bad,Vraahk? He basically embodies the brutality of the Locust. Even when you’re not facing him, when you’re facing his elite troops, you’ve got all the vibes of Vraahk coming through in the brutality that you face. What surprises have you packed in for more intrepid players? The game is a linear game overall, and it weaves back and forth between sections like the bridge, and places where we give you access to a few city blocks at a time. You’re still on a mission, but as you go to your mission, it’s up to you how you get there. When you look around the corners, you can come across another squad trying to fend off the Locusts, maybe a family that’s trapped in a building, and each of those gives you a little narrative reward. If you decide to help them, it’s up to you. We also expand our gameplay sandbox, so for the first time in a campaign game, you can mod your weapons. Some of the things people have seen in Horde, they come into the campaign as well, and so it really pays to explore. There’s a ton of narrative storytelling. There’s a ton of environmental storytelling. We have these side objectives you can do if you choose. We have hard cases you can find that give you additional gameplay progression and stuff. What excites you most about launching Gears of War: E-Day ? We’re telling the origin story of Marcus and Dom and their bond... this is the bond that defines the franchise. They’re not the characters we know from Gears 1 to 3 . They don’t have ten years of fighting the Locust between them.

GENRE: Shooter MULTIPLAYER: Yes

FORMAT:

After a wait of some seven years, Gears of War returns this month, taking us back to where it all began. Matt Searcy, creative director on the game at The Coalition, tells us more about Gears of War: E-Day . Words Bec Summer E-DAY TO REMEMBER!

Why did you make the choice to create a prequel to Gears of War ? We realised that a lot of the words we use to describe the franchise were what our fans also use, phrases like brotherhood, brutality, pathos, awe. Why E-Day ? That’s the moment it all comes together. It’s the heart of the

Gears universe. Everything that happens is shaped by this day.

DYK?

Why did you set E-Day in Kalona? The reason was to make this very intimate battle inside the larger event. It’s such a huge event on Sera. Two thirds of the population are wiped out. It’d be easy to look at this and be like, well, we

Actor John DiMaggio has voiced Marcus Fenix since 2006’s original Gears of War . We also know him as the voice of Futurama ’s Bender.

know what happens. We know most of the population dies. We know all this stuff. But by placing it in a single city and following these people, we do get to play with what it means to try to pull out some sort of victory on the first two days, to have some sort of hope. Obviously, there’s so much loss in this game. But to do it in a way that touches on themes about loss and brotherhood and loyalty was really important to us. While much that is encountered in-game we’ve seen before, being a prequel it’s all new for our heroes... Yeah, I think for us, without getting into spoilers too much, I think it’s kind of obvious the cool

When the game opens, there’s supposed to be peace on Sera, and they’re trying to figure out life without this person they both loved. People are going to see the formation of this brotherhood that is so iconic to Gears .

• Gears of War: E-Day is out Oct 7

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10 OCTOBER 2026

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