Highlights

  • Gears of War: E-Day takes players back to the beginning of the Locust War in a prequel setting.
  • Jacinto, a key COG stronghold, could play an important role as players face the Locust attacks in the game.
  • The game focuses on a young Marcus and Dom as humanity battles the Locust Horde.

The Coalition’s upcoming mainline entry in the Gears of War series, Gears of War: E-Day, will bring players back to the beginning of the Locust War. Throughout E-Day’s announcement trailer, teases are woven in to set up themes and events players will encounter in the game, such as Gears getting acclimated to fighting the Locust drones.

By the end of the trailer, Marcus is almost swallowed up by an Emergence Hole before being saved by Dom as they overlook a city being consumed by E-Holes and attacked by Locust forces. While this city has not been identified, it may be the city of Jacinto, a location familiar to Gears of War 2 fans that could play a pivotal role in Gears of War: E-Day.

a (7)-2
Related
Gears of War: E-Day Makes One Cliffhanger Worse

Gears of War: E-Day will be a prequel rather than the expected Gears 6, making the cliffhanger for Gears 5 even more extreme.

Gears of War: E-Day, COG Cities, and Jacinto

When the Locust first attacked the surface, all human organizations were ill-prepared for a military attack coming from underground. Queen Myrrah and Locust High General Raam specifically targeted the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) and remnant Union of Independent Republics (UIR) nations and cities to begin their culling of the human race. It’s estimated that 25% of all humans on Sera were killed on E-Day. However, some cities were protected by natural elements, such as island-based cities or cities built on top of thick bedrock.

Jacinto was one such city spared by its natural defense of bedrock in the Jacinto Plateau. It was located in the nation of Tyrus and served as a COG stronghold for most of the Locust War. Despite these natural defenses, many cities in Tyrus and the plateau were attacked on E-Day, including the former COG capital city of Ephyra. A portion of Ephyra’s Locust invasion can be seen in the prologue of Gears of War 4, with the player defending the House of Sovereigns alongside Corporal Minh Young Kim.

The Fall of Jacinto

14 years after E-Day, Jacinto became the new COG capital following the fall of Ephyra. In Gears of War 2, the Locust planned to use a giant riftworm to sink the city into the nearby sea to destroy both the COG and Imulsion-infected Lambent in the Locust Hollow. Marcus and Delta Squad managed to evacuate most of Jacinto’s forces and sink the city before the Locust could evacuate the Hollow. This event crippled both the COG and the Locust military.

Jacinto’s Potential Roles in Gears of War: E-Day

While Jacinto was largely unscathed from the Locust invasion on E-Day, The Coalition could still have a few E-Holes appear on the edge of Jacinto in Gears of War: E-Day. With the game’s emphasis on horror and the surprise attack of the Locust, even a few Locust squads could cause chaos in the city in E-Day. This small Locust force may serve as a simple scouting party for Raam and could illustrate how destructive even a small Locust force can be to ill-prepared Gears. If portions of Locust lore or perspectives are shown in E-Day, having an attack on Jacinto could set up Queen Myrrah’s plan to tame the giant riftworm and eventually destroy Jacinto and other cities.

While Jacinto City first appears in 2008’s Gears of War 2 , Dom actually breaks Marcus out of Jacinto Maximum Security Prison at the beginning of 2006’s Gears of War 1 .

If the city shown in the trailer isn’t Jacinto, the city could still play a pivotal role in the game. Marcus and Dom could begin the game in Jacinto and watch news reports of the Locust invasions across Sera in the city. Perhaps the pair could encounter some civilians claiming that the Locust attacks are fake or that they’re a scheme made up by UIR remnants before they’re deployed to another city to address the Locust invasions. This could provide players with some beneficial world-building for the state of the COG after the Pendulum Wars. It could further contrast the peaceful lifestyle of civilians in Jacinto to the horrors inflicted on other cities in Tyrus and the Jacinto Plateau in Gears of War: E-Day.