Gears of War (video game)

Epic Games' 2006 Xbox 360 shooter that started the series and popularised cover-based combat.

Gears of War (video game) is the 2006 third-person shooter that began the series. Epic Games developed it and Microsoft Game Studios published it as an Xbox 360 exclusive in November 2006, and a Windows version made with People Can Fly followed in November 2007.

Its campaign, playable alone or in co-op, follows a squad of soldiers in a desperate last attempt to end the war against the Locust, a genocidal enemy from underground, and save the surviving humans of the planet Sera.

Quick Facts

Developer: Epic Games
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Producer: Rod Fergusson
Designer: Cliff Bleszinski
Programmer: Ray Davis
Artist: Jeremiah O'Flaherty, Chris Perna
Writer: Susan O'Connor, Eric Nylund
Composer: Kevin Riepl

Facts from the source article.

Background

Combat is built around taking cover and using strategic fire to win fights, and the game helped make cover systems popular across the genre. Online multiplayer lets up to eight players fight as one of the two factions.

It sold more than three million copies in its first ten weeks, was the fastest-selling game of 2006 and won over 30 Game of the Year awards. Critics praised its gameplay and visuals, and it is regarded as one of the greatest video games ever made.

The Coalition later remastered it as Gears of War: Ultimate Edition in 2015, and Gears of War: Reloaded brought it to PlayStation 5 in August 2025.