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The April 2016 cover story for Game Informer is for none other than Gears of War 4. Of course, it wouldn't be a huge game announcement and reveal if there weren't a bevy of fresh details to go along with it, right?Thankfully, neoGAF user shinobi602 compiled a list of details from the Game Informer cover story. The following obviously contains some spoilers both for Gears of War 4 and for the earlier entries in the series. Consider yourselves warned.
-2 player couch co-op (Online TBA)
-Set on Sera 25 years after Gears of War 3
-Imulsion weapon set off at the end of GOW3 killed off all fossil fuels
-Humanity has become an endangered species huddled in walled cities seeking shelter from devastating wind storms (as a result of the bomb & intense war aftermath)
-Called "windflares", sort of a melting of a hurrican and volcano
-4 categories of weather in the game: Start out as heavy breeze (trees, leaves, dust kicking up) and grow into violent category 3 windstorms that can affect combat and weapon usage
-Category 4 windstorms have you just trying to survive, super violent, dodging lightning strikes, etc
-Think of the wind when fighting: Putting the wind behind could help projectile travel, but fighting directly against the wind could throw bullets back at you
-Enemies also affected by the weather (which you could exploit and use strategically)
-"Outsider" camps outside of COG
-Heavy inspiration on the setting from Northern Italy (forests, forts, etc)
-Want to get back to the "intimacy" and "boogeyman" feeling of the original Gears
-Team settled on story that features 3 protagonists and stretches across a 24 hour span in game
-JD Fenix (main character) is Marcus Fenix's son
-JD: Joined the COG militia, classified incident forced him to AWOL
-Del: JD in the campaign, befriended him at boarding school (deep bond)
-Kait: Outsider, capable survivalist, shares Outsider perspective with JD/Del
-Story begins as their Outsider village is invaded by a mysterious new force; kidnapped
-The trio goes into the forest in search, wondering why only they were spared
-New enemy is called "The Swarm"
-After the war, too many Locust to bury so many were tossed into mass graves (our trio believe this new threat may be linked)
-First mission sets off with the trio in the forest, discovering giant cocoon-like pods, pale monstrous creatures erupt looking almost human
-These enemies are dubbed "Juvies" (harkening to their seemingly first evolutionary stage of a new enemy)
-Juvies can eventually evolve into "Drones" (homage to the trilogy), able to use weapons, seemingly the main enemy type
-Also experimenting with new enemies like the "Pouncer" (E3 demo)
-Pouncer switches tactics based on player (if you run out in the open, it shoots poisonous quills; stay in cover and it comes after you)
-New weapons like "construction based" tools repurposed for combat
-Wanted to revamp the cover system; can more easily mantle kick over any piece of cover & perform knife kills
-Can also perform a short distance shoulder charge, knocking enemies off balance
-Enemies can also pull players out of cover and perform their own takedowns
-Implementing dynamic cover (for example shooting enemy pods from ceilings in an otherwise open area)
-Big emphasis on multiplayer, saying original Gears development was 90% SP, 10% MP
-Want to meet needs of recreational players and esports players
-Acknowledges love for horde mode and promises fans won't be disappointed
-Set on Sera 25 years after Gears of War 3
-Imulsion weapon set off at the end of GOW3 killed off all fossil fuels
-Humanity has become an endangered species huddled in walled cities seeking shelter from devastating wind storms (as a result of the bomb & intense war aftermath)
-Called "windflares", sort of a melting of a hurrican and volcano
-4 categories of weather in the game: Start out as heavy breeze (trees, leaves, dust kicking up) and grow into violent category 3 windstorms that can affect combat and weapon usage
-Category 4 windstorms have you just trying to survive, super violent, dodging lightning strikes, etc
-Think of the wind when fighting: Putting the wind behind could help projectile travel, but fighting directly against the wind could throw bullets back at you
-Enemies also affected by the weather (which you could exploit and use strategically)
-"Outsider" camps outside of COG
-Heavy inspiration on the setting from Northern Italy (forests, forts, etc)
-Want to get back to the "intimacy" and "boogeyman" feeling of the original Gears
-Team settled on story that features 3 protagonists and stretches across a 24 hour span in game
-JD Fenix (main character) is Marcus Fenix's son
-JD: Joined the COG militia, classified incident forced him to AWOL
-Del: JD in the campaign, befriended him at boarding school (deep bond)
-Kait: Outsider, capable survivalist, shares Outsider perspective with JD/Del
-Story begins as their Outsider village is invaded by a mysterious new force; kidnapped
-The trio goes into the forest in search, wondering why only they were spared
-New enemy is called "The Swarm"
-After the war, too many Locust to bury so many were tossed into mass graves (our trio believe this new threat may be linked)
-First mission sets off with the trio in the forest, discovering giant cocoon-like pods, pale monstrous creatures erupt looking almost human
-These enemies are dubbed "Juvies" (harkening to their seemingly first evolutionary stage of a new enemy)
-Juvies can eventually evolve into "Drones" (homage to the trilogy), able to use weapons, seemingly the main enemy type
-Also experimenting with new enemies like the "Pouncer" (E3 demo)
-Pouncer switches tactics based on player (if you run out in the open, it shoots poisonous quills; stay in cover and it comes after you)
-New weapons like "construction based" tools repurposed for combat
-Wanted to revamp the cover system; can more easily mantle kick over any piece of cover & perform knife kills
-Can also perform a short distance shoulder charge, knocking enemies off balance
-Enemies can also pull players out of cover and perform their own takedowns
-Implementing dynamic cover (for example shooting enemy pods from ceilings in an otherwise open area)
-Big emphasis on multiplayer, saying original Gears development was 90% SP, 10% MP
-Want to meet needs of recreational players and esports players
-Acknowledges love for horde mode and promises fans won't be disappointed
On paper, this certainly sounds fantastic. You can find out more all this month by visiting the Game Informer Gears of War 4 hub. They'll have new reveals in the coming weeks alongside the cover story in the April 2016 issue.
