What's Next for Gears? (Spoilers Ahead, Obviously)

The ninety-ninth post. This is big, you guys. Huge. Awesome.

Warfare has swept the inner and outer surfaces of Sera, and drastic measures have been taken to see the path of victory. The last haven for humanity, Jacinto, now lays a pile of rubble. We have a few months to see if the gamble paid off. So beyond the events of the third game, what is next for the franchise? Epic has said today that Gears of War 3 will not see the planet of Sera get blown to pieces and that life will continue. Somehow. The forums have been invaded with every opinion in existence, from Marcus being the lovechild of Adam Fenix and the Locust Queen to Marcus being declared the ruler of what is left of humanity. The latter is more plausible - in the books his mother dies.

Given the massive sales of previous games and the amount of buzz about the upcoming beta, Epic would be CRAZY not to continue their iconic franchise. I've written that the Gears franchise has achieved something other shooters haven't - forcing me to give a damn about the story. Most of the time it's about mindless slaughtering, but Gears does something exceptionally well. I can actually feel the anguish of these characters in their struggle of survival, having to make sacrifice after sacrifice all in the name of survival. For example, the death of Maria is a moment I had trouble understanding. To be put in a situation like that would break anyone else, and in the Ashes to Ashes trailer dated 28 months after the fall of Jacinto, Dom has a moment where he could accept death. We'll find out at that moment whether Dom has finally accepted her death or not, but it's clear he would be satisfied with perishing.

I'm glad we have some confirmation the current trilogy will have a definite ending. From the perspective the Locust and Lambent are murderous creatures, I hope humanity survives and thrives. The tone of the games would dictate humanity will survive somehow, regardless of the continuing existence of the Locust. But a definite ending won't leave for anything regarding the future of Sera. There was a mysterious title leaked called Gears of War: Exile which has been long rumoured to be one of the first hardcore titles for Kinect. Could this be an exploration of the Pendulum Wars? The inclusion of the Pendulum Lancer in Gears 3 is far from confirmation but it could give us some insight on future plans for the franchise. Embracing life on Sera before Emergence Day would be fascinating. Honestly, I would prefer to see a game in the series set during the Pendulum Wars that wasn't a shooter. That doesn't necessarily mean go the Halo Wars route. Imagine a simulation game where you play as the leader of a city, and you must calculatedly handle a Locust invasion. The geniuses at Epic have something up their sleeves and I can't wait to find out.