After developer The Coalition began making the newest Gears of War 4 as its first Gears game, its been releasing information bit by bit. They started with a look at the new competitive multiplayer and most recently released the new Horde mode called Horde 3.0 and a short teaser trailer as well. Following the release of the teaser trailer, The Coalition allowed Gamespot to play a two-hour demo of the new multiplayer campaign.

Gamespot contributor Scott Butterworth said that the gameplay immediately introduced them to the new protagonist J.D. Fenix along with his companions Del Walker and Kait Diaz. Instead of starting with action, it started with the characters walking toward a haunted house, bantering with each other in way similar to Drake and Sully in Uncharted 4. The banter was also reminiscent of the original Gears of War. 

The game appears to be the most story-driven game in the series. There is a deeply personal narrative that allows for more human elements to sink in. It kept to the formula that Naughty Dog did, allowing for dialogue between the characters in between bloodbaths.

At the end of Gears of War 3, there was an apparent eradication of the Locusts that were ever prevalent in the first three Gears of War games. After the eradication of the Locusts, the Coalition of Ordered Governments created armed robots that were shown shooting up the characters in the previous trailers. After COG leader Ginn blames the characters for disappearance of Kait’s mother by unknown group called the Swarm and sends the robots at J.D. and the gang, they call upon J.D.’s father, Marcus Felix of Gears 1-3 for help.

After Marcus agrees to help, he takes the group to his personal armory where they became armed with official COG guns. That’s where they combat started to happen. The game kept with its slow moving pace and emphasis on cover, however an hour into the demo, Marcus was swallowed whole by a Swarm creature with the ability to turn its victims in Locusts.

The game launches on PC and Xbox One on October 11.