--- description: The Gears of War 4 launch trailer is two minutes of mayhem, motorcycles and Metallica title: 'Gears of War 4' Trailer Teases Maniac Storms, Other Razzle-Dazzle image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6fc6574943c30c08/6988a6a5428a9e95c5cd44fd/gear-of-war-4.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Gears of War 4_ Trailer Teases Maniac Storms and Other Razzle-Dazzle by [Matt Peckham](/author/matt-peckham/) ## Matt Peckham Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 19, 2016 4:19 PM CUT  Fans get hands on "Gears of War 4" at the Xbox Media Showcase at E3 2016 in Los Angeles on June 13, 2016. Fans get hands on "Gears of War 4" at the Xbox Media Showcase at E3 2016 in Los Angeles on June 13, 2016.Casey Rodgers—Invision/Microsoft/AP by [Matt Peckham](/author/matt-peckham/) ## Matt Peckham Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 19, 2016 4:19 PM CUT The next [_Gears of War_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZPTMX60/ref=as%5Fli%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00ZPTMX60&linkCode=as2&tag=timetechvideogames-20&linkId=d6c162788f66eb4bc800067f81f3e607 "undefined") doesn’t arrive until Oct. 11, but Microsoft just unveiled the launch trailer three weeks early to fete first time studio _The Coalition_‘s third-person military sci-fi shooter for PC and Xbox One. Though it’s technically the fifth [_Gears_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZPTMX60/ref=as%5Fli%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00ZPTMX60&linkCode=as2&tag=timetechvideogames-20&linkId=d6c162788f66eb4bc800067f81f3e607 "undefined") game, it’s called [_Gears of War 4_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZPTMX60/ref=as%5Fli%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00ZPTMX60&linkCode=as2&tag=timetechvideogames-20&linkId=d6c162788f66eb4bc800067f81f3e607 "undefined"), because [_Gears of War: Judgment_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002I0H2AG/ref=as%5Fli%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B002I0H2AG&linkCode=as2&tag=timetechvideogames-20&linkId=8a1a9a6edd507362e7b09f74a25bc294 "undefined") (the last installment) was technically a prequel. Leaping 25 years forward in the series fiction, [_Gears of War 4_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZPTMX60/ref=as%5Fli%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00ZPTMX60&linkCode=as2&tag=timetechvideogames-20&linkId=d6c162788f66eb4bc800067f81f3e607 "undefined") imagines a future in which the cataclysmic measures that eliminated the original trilogy’s enemies also triggered global storms and other post-apocalyptic tropes. The trailer depicts peacetime citizenry hauled off to detention areas by the game’s presumptive new enemy, dubbed The Swarm. Whether they’re meaningfully different from the Locust, or the same snarling steroidal monsters by another name, remains to be seen. The subversive thing to do with a decade-old tentpole shooter like [_Gears of War_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZPTMX60/ref=as%5Fli%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00ZPTMX60&linkCode=as2&tag=timetechvideogames-20&linkId=d6c162788f66eb4bc800067f81f3e607 "undefined") would have been to create something that instead lays down its arms. No guns, no [“a new feature is the Combat Knife,”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gears%5Fof%5FWar%5F4 "undefined") no mechanically absurd contraptions like one dubbed the “Buzzkill” that fires rebounding saw blades. You might call it “Gears of Walking Simulator”—I’m only half-kidding!—and make it a contemplative [_Myst_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000JL60/ref=as%5Fli%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00000JL60&linkCode=as2&tag=timetechvideogames-20&linkId=aeb37941955079733b694fc776b4b640 "undefined")\-like puzzler starring characters ruminating about the wages of genocide (given, however mutually genocidal the Locust were, that they constituted another form of intelligent life). And of course, no one would spend a penny on that. So instead we’re going to play as longtime series protagonist Marcus Fenix’s son, who looks like the linebacker version of [_Uncharted_ star Nathan Drake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan%5FDra… "undefined"). See for yourself, in the trailer’s breezy two minutes flush with mayhem, motorcycles and Metallica. Gears of War 4 Launch Trailer Released Early ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4499378/gear-of-war-4-trailer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4499378/gear-of-war-4-trailer/"},"headline":"Gears of War 4 Trailer Teases Maniac Storms and Other Razzle-Dazzle","datePublished":"2016-09-19T16:19:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:50:31.166Z","description":"Two minutes of things going from bad to boom","url":"https://time.com/4499378/gear-of-war-4-trailer/","keywords":["Tech","Video Games","xbox One","Microsoft","Trailers","Windows","consoles","PC"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6fc6574943c30c08/6988a6a5428a9e95c5cd44fd/gear-of-war-4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Matt Peckham","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/matt-peckham/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6fc6574943c30c08/6988a6a5428a9e95c5cd44fd/gear-of-war-4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"E3 2016 Xbox Media Showcase","caption":"Fans get hands on \"Gears of War 4\" at the Xbox Media Showcase at E3 2016 in Los Angeles on June 13, 2016.","creditText":"Casey Rodgers—Invision/Microsoft/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4499378/gear-of-war-4-trailer/","name":"Gears of War 4 Trailer Teases Maniac Storms and Other Razzle-Dazzle"}}]}] ```