[0:00] Uh, we got to see some of this stuff
[0:02] behind closed doors. Let's start with
[0:04] Gears, that's where I was That's where I
[0:05] left off here before my my crazy
[0:07] tangent. Miranda, you and I got to see
[0:09] this thing, um, sort of. We didn't
[0:11] actually see any additional footage,
[0:15] but we got We basically we talked to the
[0:17] developers in group interview settings
[0:20] for an hour.
[0:21] So, what are your thoughts with that
[0:23] additional context, additional detail?
[0:25] Cuz we did learn a few extra things in
[0:27] those Q&A sessions.
[0:29] >> Yeah, so I guess this is a a little
[0:30] promo for myself. Um, I put together I
[0:35] I was in a curse. I'm like, "I didn't
[0:36] curse. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, video
[0:37] editors." It's a huge interview like
[0:40] overview, um, and I try to keep it
[0:42] really focused on things that It's
[0:44] always hard, right? Cuz like they they
[0:45] only want to show so much, and they've
[0:47] been pretty tight-lipped on a lot of,
[0:48] um, aspects of Gears. But, we learned a
[0:51] lot about how they're approaching lore,
[0:53] the new movement mechanics. Like,
[0:55] obviously they keep telling us like,
[0:56] "You know, we're built this from the
[0:57] ground up." They're They're big thing is
[0:59] they have an empty hard drive, so
[1:01] everything is brand new, completely
[1:03] custom for this game. Um, and that of
[1:06] course means that they're going to make
[1:07] a lot of changes.
[1:09] Um, and and my concern there was like,
[1:12] "Hey,
[1:14] how do I ask if this is a restart of the
[1:16] franchise without saying it like asking
[1:18] explicit if it's a restart of the
[1:19] franchise, right? Cuz like they they
[1:21] might not want to get into that, and
[1:22] especially like they they'll never They
[1:24] have declined to answer both times
[1:26] you've asked about Gears 6. Like,
[1:28] basically, "No, this is what we wanted
[1:29] to make. We're focused on this. Like, if
[1:31] we're starting with an empty hard drive,
[1:32] this is what we wanted to do." Um,
[1:35] and so Gears 6 is just like
[1:37] who who knows what's going to happen.
[1:39] However, so kind of how I went about
[1:41] asking about this without saying Gears 6
[1:44] was like, "Hey, is this like an
[1:46] Star Wars Episode 1 approach where
[1:48] something is going to fundamentally
[1:49] change in here that will change the view
[1:51] of the entire series? So, like yes, the
[1:53] the episode, uh,
[1:56] 4, 5, and 6 are still classics. We love
[1:58] those.
[1:59] They're great, but they're also
[2:00] fundamentally wrong now because of what
[2:02] they did in one, two, three. Like
[2:03] there's just like a part of It's just
[2:04] not It's not wrong. It's just different.
[2:06] Like the perspective of it is different.
[2:09] Um,
[2:10] basically they're like, "No. No. No. No.
[2:11] No. No. Like we're preserving the lore.
[2:13] Like what comes after this moment is
[2:16] still there and if anything it's
[2:17] enriched cuz you're getting more time
[2:18] with Marcus and Dom to learn more about
[2:20] them, more about like
[2:23] the approach to E-Day, of course, like
[2:25] what what this place suffered, which is,
[2:27] you know, massive losses, and then also,
[2:30] um, getting into some
[2:32] I think they said that this is like the
[2:34] most lore-rich game they think they've
[2:36] ever made because it is also just set in
[2:39] one setting, so it is just set in the
[2:41] city of Colonna and they're like, "Yeah,
[2:44] because of that we were able to get like
[2:45] really crafty in like what we included,
[2:48] whether it's posters or graphics or just
[2:50] different kinds of art from comics, from
[2:52] books, from other things that you've
[2:54] seen before
[2:55] and bring them to life in a new way,
[2:57] which I was like, "Okay, that's actually
[2:58] really sick." And like even in the
[3:00] trailer, if you look at the back of the
[3:02] bar, there there's a cool train poster
[3:04] cuz it's like he's a he's a superstar.
[3:06] He's a like just a
[3:08] superstar athlete, so it's like makes
[3:10] sense that he's there.
[3:11] Um,
[3:13] I could go on. For Ryan, do you want me
[3:14] to continue or
[3:15] >> Can [laughter] I give you my
[3:18] baseless like tin foil hat theory about
[3:21] why what why they're doing this prequel?
[3:23] Cuz
[3:24] >> Yeah.
[3:24] >> Uh, so I I'm going to preface this. I
[3:26] have This is I have zero factual basis
[3:29] in any of this. This is pure
[3:32] unadulterated like hook it to my veins
[3:34] kind of speculation, but cuz it like
[3:37] can either of you think of a time ever
[3:41] where a main line game franchise that
[3:43] has it like a an evolving game-to-game
[3:46] continuous narrative has ever stopped
[3:49] [snorts] after a cliffhanger
[3:51] and gone back and done a prequel as the
[3:53] next main line [laughter] game. Like
[3:55] that I don't think that's ever happened.
[3:57] >> I mean Halo Studios is kind of weirdly
[3:59] doing that. Not really, but also they're
[4:00] following the same path. It's [laughter]
[4:02] not It's not a main line, but they have
[4:05] three new prequel chapters technically.
[4:07] >> [laughter]
[4:07] >> So I guess I guess there's Although this
[4:10] would probably Halo would probably fold
[4:13] into this tinfoil hat theory. And so
[4:17] We Everybody knows Miranda and I love
[4:20] Gears 4 and 5. We combined reviewed it
[4:23] single-player, multiplayer. I but I know
[4:25] there's not as much love for 4 and 5
[4:27] kind of generally speaking in the
[4:28] community. My theory is again baseless
[4:33] pure speculation theory is that
[4:36] uh that 5 did not sell super well
[4:40] and the the number was trending down on
[4:43] the sales chart and they had started to
[4:45] make their internal pivot towards
[4:47] multi-platform and they went, "Okay, we
[4:50] can reset this thing. We can get
[4:52] PlayStation 5 players in here at the
[4:55] ground floor with a prequel. Everybody
[4:57] loves Dom and Marcus. This will sell way
[5:00] better and we'll we'll go back and do
[5:02] this."
[5:03] And there's and of course again, I don't
[5:06] know the sales numbers. Microsoft
[5:08] doesn't give that stuff out. The the as
[5:10] Miranda you said, they insisted in the
[5:13] behind closed doors session that well
[5:14] this is what we wanted to make which I'm
[5:16] sure is also true. I'm not saying
[5:18] they're lying. But I I have to think
[5:22] that it's it's just so odd that they
[5:24] would leave the Kate story completely
[5:27] hanging with no apparent plan to ever
[5:31] resolve it which I'm not like super mad
[5:34] about. Like I I've loved those games,
[5:37] but if they end up resolving that in a
[5:39] book or a graphic novel or something,
[5:41] okay. But I just think it's and it's
[5:44] this is like a little maybe crumb of
[5:47] anecdotal evidence by the fact that like
[5:50] there was some leak of of was it a store
[5:53] page or something that had the
[5:54] PlayStation logo
[5:56] attached to to Gears of War E-Day and so
[5:59] that the scuttlebutt is that this pivot
[6:01] to Gears E-Day being a a total console
[6:04] exclusive was a last-minute thing. So,
[6:06] anyway that's
[6:08] it I guess it doesn't matter, right? It
[6:10] is it is what it is, but um that's my
[6:13] sort of tin foil hat conspiracy theory
[6:15] on maybe why they just completely bailed
[6:19] on on Kate's story and the Gears 5
[6:22] cliffhanger and are coming back to uh to
[6:25] a prequel.
[6:26] >> I think also part of it is that they
[6:28] narratively wrote themselves into a very
[6:31] difficult spot for how they will format
[6:34] the next game. So,
[6:38] like if
[6:39] your choice has to carry over in some
[6:40] way and it's very consequential.
[6:43] And so, but it's going to change the
[6:45] game for like depending on what you did
[6:47] for everybody. And like
[6:49] >> Who did you save, Miranda? Remind me.
[6:51] >> I saved Del. I let I let JD go because I
[6:55] I really wanted
[6:57] I don't know. I wanted to see the drama
[6:59] with Marcus. Like I'm so sorry.
[7:01] >> his poor heart.
[7:02] >> you, but I want to hurt you more.
[7:05] >> [laughter]
[7:05] >> This is an abusive relationship.
[7:08] Um
[7:10] yeah, I But but that's like huge, right?
[7:13] Like whatever they would do next, but I
[7:16] that was my other main theory is that
[7:18] they just didn't They were like
[7:20] let's just hold off on this and figure
[7:22] it out later kind of thing. Future
[7:23] problem. But they've also been like the
[7:25] Coalition's been pretty clear and the
[7:27] various people I've talked to who have
[7:29] been there and some of them have moved
[7:31] on at this point, but
[7:32] every time I talk to them, they're
[7:34] pretty adamant about like wanting to
[7:35] like explore different stories within
[7:37] the franchise. I mean, we saw that that
[7:39] like their detour with like Hivebusters,
[7:40] right? We also had Gears
[7:42] Yeah, they do such a great job like
[7:45] exploring these other parts of the
[7:47] series that even though this is that
[7:50] detour, I don't I think to your point, I
[7:53] don't feel too too sad. I think at this
[7:55] point because they they've really sold
[7:57] me on E-Day as a story.
[7:59] Um
[8:00] >> I can't help but do the
[8:02] the gamer thing of like looking too far
[8:05] ahead instead of enjoying what's right
[8:07] in front of me.
[8:08] >> Yeah.
[8:08] >> But I can't help but wonder, but where
[8:10] do they go after E-Day? Like
[8:13] I I don't know. Cuz Gears of War 1 like
[8:17] how isn't it like was it 14 years or
[8:19] something, Miranda? It's some
[8:21] >> Yeah, there's there's a quite a bit of
[8:23] time between now and Gears 1. And
[8:26] there's like Judgment in there kind of
[8:28] like or Judgment's part like
[8:30] weirdly in there somewhere. But um
[8:33] I think
[8:35] or I hope at least
[8:37] that they don't just sit in this period
[8:40] in between E-Day and 1.
[8:42] But again, like we'll see, right? Like
[8:44] it it just really
[8:46] it's really hard to say where they'll
[8:47] go, but I think
[8:49] I kind of need to get back on like why I
[8:51] was sold on this cuz when this was
[8:52] announced, I think it was pretty like
[8:53] obvious. I was like rather bummed cuz I
[8:55] love Kate's story. I love Kate so much
[8:57] and I think that uh her relationship
[8:59] with Marcus is really interesting and
[9:01] they have something cool going there. Um
[9:04] but the the moment that sold me like I
[9:07] was locked in during the direct like Uh
[9:11] they're trying to like set up our
[9:12] headphones and I was like, "Don't don't
[9:13] talk to me."
[9:14] >> [laughter]
[9:14] >> Like I don't want to talk to you right
[9:16] now. Leave me alone.
[9:17] Um I felt so bad, but there's this
[9:19] moment in the bar like kind of early on
[9:22] where Dom and Marcus are
[9:26] just just in the bar and Dom is on the
[9:29] phone and he's obviously talking to
[9:31] Maria and he's like, "Love you, baby."
[9:33] And he's just so happy and I'm like,
[9:35] "Okay, this is the reason. This is
[9:38] This is such a like a good reason to
[9:40] have E-Day cuz obviously this is within
[9:43] like the first part of the game, but it
[9:47] is not the beginning of the game. Like
[9:48] you can tell that we're going to get
[9:49] some moments with them when they have
[9:52] like This is what kind of what I wrote
[9:53] at the interview of like, we have
[9:55] relative peace. Like we've never really
[9:56] seen that in old Sarah. Like we've seen
[9:58] Marcus being really sad and grumpy and
[10:01] in peace
[10:03] quote-unquote as an [laughter] old man
[10:05] and it's really sad and he's really
[10:07] bitter. Yeah, it's tomatoes.
[10:10] Thank you.
[10:11] Um
[10:12] But so like this is such a unique spot
[10:14] and of course they're like grieving
[10:16] Dom's brother, but even still like
[10:18] they're not
[10:19] stressed about
[10:21] the entirety of humanity's future and
[10:23] how it's collapsed and other things.
[10:24] Like it's going to be just such a unique
[10:26] perspective to see these two and and
[10:28] that's made me really excited basically.
[10:31] >> Well, yeah, I'm I'm with you. Like I'm
[10:33] I'm all in on this, too. I mean, I'm I'm
[10:35] super excited about Again, would I have
[10:38] loved to have seen the as you noted the
[10:40] choice that the coalition would have had
[10:42] to make about how to resolve the the the
[10:46] choice in Gears 5. That that would have
[10:48] been quite an interesting thing, but but
[10:50] yeah, I mean,
[10:52] I'm thrilled to have Dom back. I'm
[10:54] thrilled to be exploring E-Day.
[10:57] Um I I can't wait for this. And so and
[11:00] it and you know, it's I'll I'll be
[11:02] completely honest and I mean, I said
[11:04] this to you guys in the room just
[11:05] privately but
[11:07] it in the initial showcase,
[11:10] I was like, this doesn't look as amazing
[11:14] visually as I
[11:16] expect from Gears, but then when we got
[11:19] the behind closed doors thing and they
[11:21] kind of showed some more scenes and
[11:23] stuff. I it started to it started to
[11:25] click for me and I'm I'm
[11:27] I'm kind of curious where it's going to
[11:29] ultimately land. Like cuz this series
[11:30] has always visually set the bar. I mean
[11:32] it's always been like the Unreal Engine
[11:35] game. I mean it it was the original of
[11:37] course was 100% that. It was it probably
[11:40] sold a lot of Unreal Engine licenses
[11:42] when the first one came out. But um
[11:45] yeah, I mean October 6th can't come soon
[11:48] enough. And for anyone that hasn't
[11:49] heard, there is going to be a a beta
[11:52] weekend for starting August 6th. So
[11:55] that's coming up.
[11:57] >> I'm so excited.
[11:57] >> you want to give that there's a couple
[11:59] of we got a couple of quick little like
[12:01] we didn't see multiplayer, but they gave
[12:02] us a like top level bit of multiplayer
[12:05] information.
[12:06] >> Yeah, so one big thing that I wanted to
[12:08] highlight for folks in the competitive
[12:10] scene who get like really deep in um
[12:13] wall bouncing's changed. So obviously
[12:14] the way they do running has changed
[12:16] pretty significantly. Like it's not the
[12:17] classic roadie run in the way that we
[12:19] know it. Like they don't punch in, their
[12:21] screen doesn't shake, they pull out. Um
[12:23] I guess also that's changed with sliding
[12:25] and how cover works. So uh they said
[12:28] that wall bouncing does not work the
[12:30] same way. You can still cancel on
[12:32] specific ways that work, but it's just
[12:35] not going to be like exactly as it was
[12:37] before. Um
[12:39] they also we didn't talk too too much
[12:43] about multiplayer. It's more like
[12:44] movement cuz they were like, well, at
[12:46] least in my sessions like weird type of
[12:47] sessions to be clear. Um
[12:49] they're like, we're going to
[12:51] learn more multiplayer later. But that
[12:54] that was kind of part of it. And of
[12:55] course the four player thing just being
[12:57] central to all facets of this. So you're
[13:00] going to play four player multiplayer,
[13:01] four player in horde even though it's 12
[13:04] people. So you'll be in a squad of four.
[13:06] So like things like that is going to be
[13:08] there.
[13:09] Um I guess some other like mechanical
[13:12] stuff the
[13:14] active reload bar that pops up that you
[13:17] see in the
[13:18] in the demo and I guess in the trailers
[13:20] and stuff in the gameplay, you can move
[13:22] that back up to the top right. Like you
[13:24] don't have to keep it in the middle.
[13:26] Yeah, I was like at first I was just
[13:28] like wait, what is happening? Why is
[13:30] this just right in front of me? Like I
[13:32] think that is a great as I said like
[13:34] onboarding for new people or if you're
[13:36] trying to learn some of the active
[13:37] reloads, I think that is helpful. But
[13:39] for like folks like you and I, Ryan,
[13:42] like we
[13:43] move it up, please. Move it up. Like
[13:45] [laughter] I don't I don't need that
[13:46] here.
[13:47] Um, and then some other like quick
[13:49] nuggets on the silly about multiplayer
[13:51] that I just wanted to highlight before
[13:52] we have to move on.
[13:53] I could talk about Gears all day. We did
[13:55] this whole podcast [laughter] about
[13:56] Gears.
[13:56] Um, but I will spare you guys. Um,
[13:59] they said that the campaign is still
[14:01] linear, but that some levels feature a
[14:03] larger areas to explore. Like this is
[14:04] not an open world sandbox, which you
[14:06] know, makes sense for Gears. But that,
[14:09] you know, as they showed that there
[14:10] going to be other things to do in some
[14:12] of the larger levels. So for instance,
[14:15] like there are people they they showed
[14:16] where there's like a survivor out there
[14:18] that you need to go help or you can
[14:20] help. Um, obviously there'll be
[14:21] collectibles. They said this is the most
[14:23] collectibles they've had in the game. Of
[14:25] course we're going to have cog tags.
[14:27] They said that this is longer, quote
[14:29] unquote, longer than any campaign
[14:31] they've built
[14:32] um, at over 14 hours. So
[14:35] we got some like meat there. And that
[14:37] also all four members of Bravo squad are
[14:40] playable right from the beginning and
[14:41] that you don't have to play as Marcus.
[14:42] So if like if you just want to play Dom
[14:44] as as Dom the whole game, you can.
[14:46] >> Oh, I'll just add um, for cuz it's
[14:50] people may be wondering four player
[14:52] co-op, two player split screen. Yes. So
[14:55] that that's I know that's a lot of
[14:57] people are always curious if it's if
[14:59] it's all four on one console. Not not
[15:02] for this one. Two, you can go two and
[15:04] two if you want or two and one and one I
[15:06] guess, but um, yeah, that was that was
[15:09] the only other nugget. So
[15:12] yeah [snorts]
[15:13] uh, so that means in less than two
[15:15] months we'll be playing multiplayer and
[15:17] then what? What are we like four months
[15:19] away from the game? So
[15:21] um, from the whole thing. Yay.
[15:24] >> Yay.
[15:25] >> Michael
[15:26] >> yeah.
[15:26] >> Let's talk about Fable.
[15:28] >> All right.
[15:28] >> Fable time. Well, actually well, quickly
[15:31] I want to say I am this is the most
[15:33] excited about him I've been about Gears
[15:35] and talking to Miranda at the Xbox
[15:38] event. I have so much respect for
[15:40] Miranda's love for Gears.
[15:42] She was dropping mad lore on me and you
[15:44] basically looked at me he's like,
[15:45] "People say that Gears doesn't have
[15:47] story and they're wrong." And I was
[15:49] like,
[15:50] "That's you know what, Miranda? You have
[15:52] convinced me." But, I am looking forward
[15:54] to E day and I'm also looking forward to
[15:56] Fable.
[15:57] >> Thanks for checking out this clip from
[15:59] Unlocked, IGN's weekly Xbox show. If you
[16:01] enjoyed it, don't forget to watch the
[16:03] full episode at youtube.com/igngames.
[16:07] New episodes of Unlocked drop every
[16:09] Thursday on IGN Games, ign.com and your
[16:13] favorite podcast platforms. Thanks for
[16:15] watching and we'll see you next time.
[16:17] >> [music]