Gears of War 4 Scales Back Co-Op, Story Takes Place Over 24-Hour Period

Even more Gears of War 4 details have emerged thanks to Game Informer's cover story on the upcoming Xbox One game. We already learned about the game's main characters, including Marcus Fenix's son, and now that the full April issue is available, more gameplay and story details have come to light.

One notable piece of information is that Gears of War 4 will offer two-player co-op, which is scaled back from four-player support in Gears of War 3. This is for local play and online.

Player one is always JD Fenix, while player two can choose between Kait and Del. "While the three characters remain together for most of the game, at times they might get split up, and the story has subtle differences depending on whether player two is Kait or Dell," according to Game Informer.

As for story details, it's now been confirmed that Gears of War 4's full story, which takes place on Sera 25 years after Gears of War 3, will unfold over a period of just 24 hours.

The Game Informer story also reveals that, while the Imulsion weapon set off at the end of Gears of War 3 successfully killed all the Locusts, it also knocked out fossil fuels. There are only a few hundred thousand people left on Sera in Gears of War 4, and COG forces round everyone up and put them in walled-in structures. Not everyone is happy, and a splinter group, The Outsiders, forms outside of the walls.

"There's this notion that the COG is like an overprotective parent trying to preserve life and ensure people's safety," producer Rod Fergusson said. "The Outsiders are a group of people who are purposefully stepping outside the COG and breaking free because they think life isn't worth living unless it's lived free...As we were conceptualizing The Outsiders, we initially started with the hippie movement, but then we realized we wanted them to have an edge and we started thinking of them more like this 1970s motorcycle gang."

The full Game Informer story is a great read, packed with loads of interesting details about Gears of War 4 the game (including new enemy types and guns, as well as Sera's new volatile weather system) and the team behind it. Really, go read it here.

Gears of War 4 is scheduled to launch later this year for Xbox One. A beta will be held sometime this spring, though a start-date has not yet been announced.