Gears of War, one of the video games that helped Microsoft's Xbox to win over millions of fans, is back. Prequel E-Day takes players back to where it all started, telling the origin story of humanity's conflict with The Locust - the series' horrifying enemy species. The game's been well-received by critics and players, but it's also seen as a big test of Xbox's new direction.
Unlike recent flagship titles from the company's studios, which have been released on PlayStation 5 and, in some cases, Nintendo Switch, E-Day is being pushed as an Xbox exclusive. The apparent goal is to draw players back to the brand, but critics have questioned whether that's realistic at a time when console prices are higher than ever. BBC Newsbeat spoke to developer The Coalition - the makers of E-Day - about what staying exclusive means to them.
Gears of War has been one of Xbox's flagship series since it launched back in 2006. Creative director Matt Searcy tells Newsbeat the sci-fi shooter is a "mix of war story with comic book-y monsters that come out of the ground". "It's a video game with a lot of heart, a lot of blood and guts," he says.
First released on the Xbox 360, Gears helped to popularise "cover-shooter" gameplay, which encouraged players to shelter from enemy attacks. It brought a strategic dimension to third-person action games, and also won fans with its co-operative multiplayer modes - a feature that's returned for E-Day. But, 20 years later, Xbox finds itself in a very different position in the console space.
It's seen as a third-place competitor, behind both Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo's Switch consoles. Previous CEO Phil Spencer had begun to take the division in a new direction, releasing some of its most popular games on rival consoles for the first time. E-Day was widely expected to follow other high budget series such as Halo on to other companies' machines.
But new Xbox boss Asha Sharma, who took over the job in June, announced Gears of War would remain a "console exclusive", although a PC version has also been released. Her strategy has been called into question by critics. After taking six years to make and an estimated budget in the hundreds of millions, they argue that keeping E-Day away from other platforms could mean it's less likely to make back its development cost.
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