Gears Tactics is a turn-based strategy game, the first spinoffs of this kind. The game was revealed during last year’s E3, as a spinoff prequel to Gears of War, with the events taking place more than a decade before the first game’s story. They did not showcase the game during this year’s E3, however, the trailer was shown during yesterday’s The Game Awards event.
The trailer reveals bits and pieces of the general gameplay, along with the Apr 28 next year as a release date. After the trailer, Rod Fergusson, the head of the development studio reveals that the game would be a single-player only experience, without any kind of multiplayer or even microtransactions.
The new trailer is probably the most complete showcase ever revealed for the game, containing a great mix of both real gameplay and prerendered cinematics. The real-time strategy parts definitely remind everyone of XCOM (they even have the same aesthetics and plot: a fight against the invading alien). The only differences are pretty superficial, such as the guns and aliens look different.
Similar to XCOM, you and your enemies would engage in richly detailed maps with a lot of interactive objects. Each side would take turns to move around and fight each other in either melee or ranged combat until one side is eliminated. If you are a fan of XCOM, you would probably enjoy this game.
The lack of a multiplayer mode is both a blessing and a curse, as the developers would get more time to polish the single-player part in exchange for a reduction in general replayability. The lack of microtransaction is actually a piece of great news, however.
Gear Tactics would be released on Steam, Xbox Game Pass and Microsoft Store next year. Interested in more information related to The Game Awards? Please check out this post for a summary of that event.