Aryan Hanbeck

I just finished Gears E-Day tonight with the final two Acts in one sitting, and wow, I spoke too soon when I called it a masterpiece. It somehow got *even better* in these final few hours of the campaign. It was one of those rare-air sessions of gaming where the immersion and intensity completely take over. Once again I was brought to chills by the horror and despair that was presented in the immediate aftermath of Emergence Day. I never saw any trailers or gameplay besides what was shown at the Showcase in June (I don't watch trailers for anything ever) so I didn't know at all what to expect. I can't recall a game that ever nailed such a mix of epic action, horror, and utter loss. I remember them saying in the Showcase that the city itself would feel like a character, and it truly does. It's no surprise that it takes an absolute beating, and you see that over and over again with increasing depravity by the Locust The visceral, disgusting, hateful war between Human and Locust starts off at 100 in the first seconds and never lets up. 22 years ago, as Halo 2 was about to launch, I was finally reading the few Halo novels that existed at the time after playing the original since 2001, and I went into the sequel with a passionate "dislike" for The Covenant, and in my mind was expecting the sort of warfare to transpire on Earth that we see in Gears E-Day. Of course Halo 2 went a different way with things and it is still one of my all-time favorites, but at first I was a bit thrown as a kid expecting just absolute carnage in the fight for Earth. Gears E-Day is the first game ever to give me that experience that I was expecting decades ago: a merciless, existential battle against the shocking invasion of a foe that wants anything and everything dead. Along with all of this praise for E-Day is the incredible visuals, audio, and gameplay. It was surreal at times to be playing such an epic game and even when 20+ hours deep be in awe of what I was seeing, or getting chills from the music or even a gameplay moment. There were the hits of nostalgia along with it all too, of course. Twenty years ago exactly we were mere weeks away from Gears of War, Zune, and even the HD-DVD accessory for the 360 all launching days apart from each other. I look back fondly on that fall, despite it feeling like lifetimes ago, and I cherish those launch purchases of mine to this day. To have E-Day release, and be such a polished masterpiece that finally shows us a prequel to that magic that we received in the fall of 2006. . . It is truly an honor to be here to play it. There are countless fans of this franchise who never lived to experience this game, and they were on my mind as I went through the campaign. They would have loved it. I hope I am lucky enough to be here for many more years of Gears launches and I hope that for anyone reading this as well. We are lucky to even have the opportunity to experience such a work of passionate art by this team at The Coalition. They should be so proud of what they accomplished here! Thank you @GearsofWar. ❤️