Gears of War

Gears of War is a third-person cover-based shooter developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios, released for Xbox 360 in November 2006 and for Windows PC in 2007. It was the debut entry in what became one of Microsoft's flagship franchises and a defining title of the seventh generation of home consoles.

Set on the planet Sera, the game follows Marcus Fenix, a disgraced soldier reinstated from prison to lead Delta Squad against the Locust Horde, a subterranean enemy that emerged from below the planet's surface on a day known as Emergence Day and nearly wiped out humanity in the years that followed. The game drops players into the war fourteen years after that initial invasion, with civilization already reduced to isolated fortified cities.

Gears of War was built on Epic's Unreal Engine 3 and became one of the engine's most prominent showcase titles. Its cover system, which allowed players to snap to obstacles and blind-fire or aim over the top, became highly influential and widely imitated across the action game genre in the years that followed. Close-range combat centred on the Lancer Assault Rifle, equipped with a functioning chainsaw bayonet that became the game's most recognisable image.

The game supported two-player co-op throughout the full campaign and competitive multiplayer, both of which were significant selling points on Xbox Live. Critics praised its visual fidelity, co-op design, and atmosphere. It sold over three million copies in its first five weeks and anchored Xbox 360's early library alongside Halo 3.

Epic Games developed the first three mainline entries before selling the franchise to Microsoft in 2014. Development then passed to The Coalition, a studio Microsoft formed specifically to continue the series. Gears of War: E-Day (2026), a prequel set on Emergence Day itself, is the most recent entry.