Highlights

  • Gears of War: E-Day will showcase the early days of the Locust War with an emphasis on horror and friendship between Marcus and Dom.
  • The game needs to feature classic Locust forces like the kryll, wretches, and berserkers in new and unique ways to increase the scare factor.
  • A potential recurring boss battle against a berserker could provide Gears of War: E-Day players with a thrilling and horrifying experience.

The Locust, the classic, subterranean mutant Seran race, will finally return to Xbox consoles in Gears of War: E-Day. Set at the beginning of the 17-year-long Locust War, E-Day will focus on the emerging friendship of series protagonists Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago as they struggle to fight against the sudden Locust threat.

With Gears of War: E-Day’s new emphasis on horror in the early days of the Locust War, E-Day needs to feature three classic forces of the Locust Horde in new, unique ways to be truly horrifying. These types include the kryll, wretches, and berserkers, each of which could really increase the game's scare factor.

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How Gears of War: E-Day Would Benefit From Focusing on Jacinto

Gears of War: E-Day will bring players back to the beginning of the Locust War and may feature the city of Jacinto seen in Gears of War 2.

The Horrifying Creatures of Sera’s Hollows

The world of Sera is home to dozens of unique subterranean creatures, many of which would be tamed, altered, and forced to fight humans alongside Locust forces. E-Day’s announcement trailer has already showcased one such creature, the gigantic spider-like corpser which the Locusts use to create many of their emergence holes. Besides the corpser and common Locust drones, it’s currently unknown which of the classic Locust ranks and creatures will return or how they’ll appear in E-Day. One creature that should return to help set a more horrifying tone is the kryll.

Kryll are small bat-like creatures that often fly in massive groups containing up to a million kyrll in a single kryllstorm. Given that the kyrll are subterranean in nature, they are extremely sensitive to light and can often burst into flame if they come in contact with ultraviolet light. However, once nightfall begins, the kryll will descend on any living creature and rip them to shreds instantaneously like flying schools of piranhas. The locust even managed to use kryll in conjunction with the flying, ink-seeping nemacysts to protect the kryll from light and put entire cities in perpetual darkness.

The Human-eating Wretches

While the kyrll and nemacysts dominated the skies in the early years of the Locust War, other creatures dominated the ground — particularly the chimpanzee-like wretches. These roughly three-foot-tall creatures may seem weak at first glance, but the wretches' strength comes from their sheer numbers. Wretches will often attack COG soldiers and civilians in massive packs which could easily overwhelm even the most skilled soldier if not careful. The wretches are especially gruesome in their attacks, with many found ripping civilians and soldiers apart and consuming their remains, such as the remains of miners found at the Lethia Imulsion Facility in Gears of War 1.

The Unstoppable Berserkers

Perhaps the most terrifying creature in the Locust Horde’s arsenal was the berserker. Unlike the other Hollow creatures, berserkers are actually female Locusts. Standing 10 feet on average, these massive creatures have the strength and speed to tear down walls and columns in mere seconds by simply running into them. While the berserkers are blind, they make up for it with their incredible sense of smell and hearing, with them being able to pinpoint soldiers’ locations even from miles away. To make matters worse, berserkers are adorned with nearly impenetrable hides with the only way to destroy them being by weakening them with a flamethrower or obliterating them with Hammer of Dawn strikes.

The Hollow’s Horrors in E-Day

With Gears of War:E-Day’s new leaning toward the horror genre, The Coalition should highlight the terrifying nature of each of these creatures in the upcoming prequel. The kryll and nemacysts could put E-Day’s city in total darkness and make it difficult for players to traverse city streets without being swarmed by the flying kryll. Likewise, since the COG would be unfamiliar with wretches, Marcus and Dom could encounter groups of struggling civilians who become overwhelmed and quickly consumed by vicious packs of wretches.

A berserker could be used as E-Day’s recurring boss. If The Coalition wants the Locust to be truly horrifying, they could utilize a single berserker similar to Nemesis in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Marcus and Dom could encounter a berserker early on in the game but would be unable to damage it and be forced to escape, possibly through city buildings or the sewer. They could encounter the berserker repeatedly throughout the game and could only be able to defeat it in the final mission when they acquire the Hammer of Dawn. This could provide Gears of War: E-Day with intense suspense, as players will never know when the berserker will pop up, and they’ll be hopeless to stop it.