'We really wanted the city to feel like a character in our game' Gears of War: E-Day studio creative director says the game will make you 'care' about the city's fall through environmental storytelling

Date:
Tue, 23 Jun 2026 16:10:21 +0000

Description:
The Coalition wants players to "care" about Gears of War: E-Day's singular city location by deepening exploration and environmental storytelling.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Gears of War: E-Day studio creative director Matt Searcy says players will "care about the fall of" the game's singular city setting Searcy says "environmental storytelling" deepens the game's gameplay and exploration The game is linear, but players will have some freedom in how they explore and complete missions The Coalition wants players to "care" about Gears of War: E-Day 's singular city location by deepening exploration and environmental storytelling.

That's according to studio creative director Matt Searcy, who dived into all the juicy details about the prequel's new mechanics and city setting of
Kolana in an interview with TechRadar Gaming at Summer Game Fest 2026 . He said the team wanted E-Day to be different from previous Gears entries in terms of location, explaining that in order to make players care about a city that is going to be destroyed by the Locust Horde invasion. Latest Videos
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"One of the big differences between E-Day and other Gears titles, especially Gears 5 , is that rather than going from one different location to another to another, from the desert to the forest to the ice glaciers, the whole game takes place in one city, so that has a lot of advantages now," Searcy said.

"There are a lot of distinct districts in the city, so there are tons of varieties, so don't worry, some of them won't look the same. But we really wanted the city to feel like a character in our game. For the first time in a franchise, you're gonna watch something get destroyed, because it's always already destroyed [...] and for you to care about the fall of the city, you have to care about the city, of that place, and to make the stakes higher, we have to be able to go deeper." You may like The Coalition says Active Reload is an 'iconic feature' that has been updated for Gears of War: E-Day, and
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To translate this: E-Day is restricted to one location, the city, allowing
the studio to "go way, way, way deeper" in terms of world-building and "environmental storytelling."

For instance, players can travel through several areas of the city, such as the Downtown, Historic, and Military districts, and encounter things like abandoned apartments and unfinished meals, showing that people left in a hurry. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Players will also explore areas before they're destroyed, and then when they revisit them later, they will be visually different, with certain environmental assets and items that clue players in if they don't recognize them.

"Throughout the whole game, you start to feel the feeling that the characters are feeling, which is the city falling apart around us, and it's sad," Searcy said.

He later confirmed that the game is still linear, and players can't go off
and do whatever missions they choose, but environmental storytelling helped deepen exploration and gameplay in this "intimate journey." What to read next 'It's only fitting' Sorry PS5 owners, Gears of War: E-Day will be an Xbox console exclusive when it launches in October The Xbox Games Showcase 2026 airs in June and will be followed by a 'deep dive' into the Gears of War franchise with the E-Day Direct here's when you can tune in and what to expect Why space was the perfect setting for the long-awaited new horror
game, Directive 8020

"You're supposed to go over to this place and do this thing that someone's telling you to [do]," he said, "but how you make your way there, across that neighborhood, what you come across; other people fighting, surviving, [you can] help them out on your way through.

"Just what you see in the wreckage in the city, the environmental storytelling, it allowed us to get way more variety in our gameplay than the way that you play the game, but also tell all these stories about Kalona that you might not have otherwise [seen] if we were doing hallway to hallway to hallway."

Gears of War: E-Day l aunches on October 6 exclusively for Xbox Series X and Series S . Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source
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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/gaming/we-really-wanted-the-city-to-feel-like-a-char acter-in-our-game-gears-of-war-e-day-studio-creative-director-says-the-game-wi ll-make-you-care-about-the-citys-fall-through-environmental-storytelling


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