Skip to main content

Report: Gears of War 4 picks up 25 years after the last game

Gears of War 4 Game Informer Coverage Trailer
Some basic details about the story of Gears of War 4 were released in a report from
Recommended Videos
Game Informer Tuesday, in advance of a major feature on the game in its April, 2016, issue.

According to the report, Gears of War 4 picks up 25 years after the conclusion of Gears of War 3, and will feature a “largely new” cast. The game’s story will revolve around JD Fenix, son of the series original protagonist, Marcus Fenix. According to the report, the younger Fenix joined the COG army in his youth, but goes his own way after a “classified incident” that will be revealed during the game. Spartacus star Liam McIntyre will serve as the voice of JD Fenix.

Fenix will reportedly fight with two other — presumably playable — characters. Del Walker, Fenix’ childhood friend who both joins and runs away from the COG army with him, will be voiced by Eugene Byrd, who has played recurring characters on shows such as Bones and Arrow. Kait Diaz, played by veteran game voice actress Laura Bailey, is from a group of Outsiders — survivalists who live independently and without the protection of the COG army — but becomes friends with Fenix.

The report also suggested that the game will feature a gameplay mechanic involving windstorms, which will “radically change the field of battle.”

Rod Fergusson, producer of Gears of War 4 developer The Coalition, and Xbox marketing chief Aaron Greenberg primed the pump for Gears of War 4 hype last week; Fergusson tweeted that Greenberg had recently seen the game, prompting Greenberg to reply that his “mind was blown.”

Gears of War 4 will come to Xbox One (and possibly Windows 10) in Fall 2016. Players who opened Gears of War: Ultimate Edition before March 1 will have access to the game’s as-yet-unscheduled pre-release beta.

Mike Epstein
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Michael is a New York-based tech and culture reporter, and a graduate of Northwestwern University’s Medill School of…
Best gaming PC deals: Lenovo Legion, ASUS ROG, Acer Predator
young woman playing video games on a PC

If you don't really have the patience to build a gaming PCs from scratch, buying a pre-built one is an excellent option that will take out a lot of effort and time. While it's true that you could potentially build a cheaper PC, there are a lot of excellent desktop computer deals that more than make up for it, especially from big names like Lenovo and Dell. Luckily, there are a lot of great options out there, although it can be a bit hard to find something good, which is why we've gone out and collected some of our favorite options, including some that can play the best PC games on the market.

Once you've grabbed a pre-built, check out gaming monitor deals for a chance to save on a nice display. If the machine you pick up needs some upgrades, you can save with GPU deals, SSD deals, and RAM deals.
Best gaming PC deal for entry-level gamers
Lenovo Legion Tower 5 -- $850 $1,330 36% off

Read more
How long is Dragon Age: The Veilguard?
A vista in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

BioWare RPGs are known for being lengthy adventures. Whether it is one of the Mass Effect games or older Dragon Age titles, you can expect a hefty playtime full of adventure, charming companions, and side content. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the first game in the series in 10 years and is far more action-heavy than previous entries, but does that mean it will lean on the shorter side? Or is this game a return to the old BioWare and something you can easily sink 40-plus hours into? There are a few ways to answer that question, and it will vary slightly from person to person, but here's about how long you can expect it to take you to beat Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
How long is Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

While it isn't quite an open-world game, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is still huge, with expansive hubs full of side content to explore. It also features incredibly customizable difficulty settings that can vastly influence your playtime. All that being said, if you were to take a balanced approach to exploring, doing side content, and playing on a difficulty level that challenges you a bit, expect the game to last you around 40 hours. You can probably shave off around 10 hours if you mainline the story, and maybe a bit more if you set the difficulty to the lowest level to just experience the story.

Read more
How to respec in Dragon Age: The Veilguard
A character draws a bow in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

You can spend a long time making your character in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Between their race, appearance, background, and class, there are a lot of ways to customize the game to your liking. Once you do make your choice and get into a few battles, you will earn your first skill point and be prompted to spend it in the skill tree. That's all basic stuff for an RPG, but even seasoned veterans of the genre might get a little overwhelmed by the size of the skill tree here. It's more like a bush, and you will begin at the center and can carve any path you want toward the edges, where the specializations are. However, you will never have enough points to unlock them all. In fact, you will only be able to reach a single specialization at one time. While you could spend an hour reading and mapping the perfect upgrade path, why not just have fun and try things out and respec your points later? Here's how to reset your skill points in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
How to respec in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Respecing in Dragon Age: The Veilguard is easy, free, and can be done as many times as you like. When you want to refund your points after you've unlocked the skill tree and spent your first points, you have two options. The first is to simply select the individual skills you want to refund (as long as they aren't connecting two nodes) and refund them one by one. Or, you can start from a clean slate by pressing Y or Triangle on the controller to refund every single point you've spent.

Read more