Marcus Fenix was imprisoned for abandoning his post to try and save his father, but after his escape at the start of the first game, he’s back to being a dedicated soldier. Dire situations lead Dominic Santiago to pull his closest friend out of jail and back to the military. Things are no less desperate for the central characters. Buildings are dilapidated, graffitied with anti-government messages, and convey the sense that life isn’t getting easier any time soon.
Desperation is apparent within every inhabited environment, while people hide in blocked-off buildings and starve in the streets. This aspect of life on Sera is even more resonant now than it was a decade ago. Many people have been uprooted from their homes and left to fend for themselves, simply referred to as The Stranded. The humans’ only means to fight back are soldiers in the Coalition of Ordered Gears (or COG, if you’re into thinly-veiled commentary on the machinations of war). From the game’s introduction, players are thrown into a continuous war with an alien species known as the Locust. The action takes place on an Earth-substitute planet called Sera, complete with its own architectural aesthetic and fractured political climate.
Gears of War actually examines real-world issues like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), euthanasia, and refugee displacement within the staples of classic sci-fi storytelling. But while revisiting the main trilogy of Gears of War games for the first time in five years as preparation for Gears of War 4, I saw the characters and their world in a new light. The Gears of War series’ reputation as the definitive ‘bro-shooter’ precedes it, thanks to an excessively gory emphasis on its competitive multiplayer and cooperative-focused Horde mode. Images and links may have changed slightly from the original. This piece previously appeared on ZAM/ReadySet, our ancient self.
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