Microsoft released a story trailer for Gears of War: E-Day at Gamescom. Some reporters also had the opportunity to test the gameplay of the highly anticipated new product “The Coalition”. Experts at Digital Foundry have released a preview of the story campaign, pointing out technical aspects of the gameplay and overall impressions.
As part of a preview of Gears of War: E-Day, reporters were allowed to play for about an hour at the start of the second act. Digital Foundry was generally pleased with the results they saw and felt the game was a return to a more classic series formula. Highlights of the Technician Video:
- Graphically, the campaign looks better than the multiplayer game. Unlike the recently tested multiplayer beta, the single-player campaign features more visual variety. Players will travel across bridges, car dealerships, stores, train stations, and stadiums, each with their own “visual identity.”
- Return to the style of the first “Gears of War”. E-Day creates a dark atmosphere that is reminiscent of the first installment of the series. The game uses a muted color palette but makes up for it with a variety of environments, lighting, and architecture.
- Unreal Engine 5 technology. The game actively uses Lumen, Virtual Shadow Maps and MegaLights technologies. Thanks to this, developers can achieve convincing work with complex indirect lighting, soft shadows, and a large number of dynamic light sources.
- Ray tracing quality issues. Despite the impressive lighting, noise and delays in updating shadow detail are still noticeable in some scenes. This is especially noticeable in areas with indirect lighting, where you can see the “pixelated” or grainy pattern characteristic of ray tracing.
- Highly detailed models and environments. Digital Foundry praised the environment – almost every game object has a lot of geometric detail, and this even applies to small NPCs. The cutscenes also deserve praise.
- 3 graphics modes on Xbox Series X. There are 3 modes to choose from for the campaign on Xbox Series Technicians note that there aren’t huge visual differences between the two, but only the Quality mode preserves lumen reflections on transparent surfaces.
- Performance mode still needs some work. Most of the material tested ran at close to 60 FPS. But toward the end of the testing portion, there were minor stutters and more noticeable drops during intense urban combat.
- The Xbox Series S version was not shown. Reporters noted that they were not allowed to test Gears of War: E-Day on Microsoft’s entry-level console.
Despite some minor issues with image quality and tracking, Digital Foundry believes Gears of War: E-Day will be one of the most visually stunning games upon release. Let us remind you that the shooter will be released on October 6th on Xbox Series X | S and PC. In the video below, you can watch gameplay moments from the story campaign, along with full analysis from Digital Foundry.
