Gears of War: E-Day is Sitting on a Powder Keg With One Enemy Type

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Gears of War: E-Day is Sitting on a Powder Keg With One Enemy Type

Highlights

  • Theron Guards are elite soldiers in the Locust Horde with powerful weapons and ceremonial armor.
  • The Coalition may leave out Theron Guards in E-Day since they were only revealed late in the first Gears of War game.
  • Theron Guards could return as a playable unit in E-Day’s multiplayer, offering a glimpse of the mysterious rank.

As a die-hard Gears of War fan who’s spent countless hours battling the horde across Sera, I can’t help but feel a pang of nostalgia at the thought of the elusive Theron Guards potentially being absent from E-Day. These armored behemoths have always been a tantalizing enigma, their powerful presence felt only in the shadows of the Locust ranks.

In the Gears of War series, players have faced numerous hostile groups and their armies, each with intricate structures of combatants ranging from skilled fighters to Sera’s tamed or unwilling creatures and Hollow dwellers. These ranks made each faction unique and ensured that battles were diverse, challenging, and memorable for gamers. As Gears of War: E-Day approaches, it’s expected that the classic Locust Horde members like Drones, Boomers, Wretches, and Corpsers will return to terrorize fans again. However, one rank of Locust – the Theron Guards – might not make an appearance in Gears of War: E-Day for its next-gen debut.

The Locust’s Theron Guards Explained

In the third act’s sixth chapter of the campaign titled “Tip of the Iceberg” in Gears of War 1, we are introduced to the Theron Guards. These are the elite soldiers of the Locust Horde and represent the highest rank a common Drone can attain. Structurally, they resemble the COG’s Onyx Guards or the Elite Zealots from Halo, being among the rarest but deadliest soldiers seen in combat. Unlike regular Drones, Theron Guards wear thick, ceremonial armor that signals their potency and lethality. Although this armor is imposing, it offers minimal protection against gunfire and almost no defense against Lancer chainsaw bayonets.

Therons, being higher-ranked members among the Locust, tend to carry a wider assortment of weapons, often stronger than the usual hammerburst rifle used by Drones. While they can still carry a hammerburst, they are frequently seen using alternative weapons like the explosive torque bow, butcher cleaver, and even the lancers, originally from COG. Therons are usually tasked with guarding crucial locations such as the Nexus or hunting down or disabling COG machinery and personnel. They’re also often found alongside senior Locust military and political figures like General RAAM and Queen Myrrah, as depicted in Gears of War 3.

Back in the untold tale of Gears of War 2, I found myself, along with my comrade Marcus Fenix, donning the armor of Theron Guards in a daring undercover operation to breach the fortified Nexus. This mission was sparked by the heart-wrenching demise of Maria Santiago, my sister in arms and Dominic’s wife.

The Potential Lack of Theron Guards in E-Day

14 years following E-Day, Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago initially met the Theron Guards in Gears of War 1. Given this encounter, it’s plausible that The Coalition aimed to prevent these elite Locust from reaching E-Day. Although Fenix and Santiago didn’t face Therons until the Lightmass Offensive, they had been present within the Locust ranks even before their surface invasion on Sera, as depicted in various Gears of War comics and literature. Later, other COG soldiers like Damon Baird and Augustus Cole encountered the Therons a few weeks after E-Day, as portrayed in Gears of War: Judgment.

The Coalition could rewrite this event so that Fenix and Santiago come across Theron soldiers on E-Day, but this alteration might upset fans of the original Gears of War trilogy since Theron characters were only minor in the game’s narrative. An alternative approach would be to have these characters hear a broadcast about other COG units running into mysterious armored squadrons, subtly suggesting the presence of the Therons without explicitly naming them. Furthermore, Theron characters might not appear in E-Day due to a stronger focus on horror from even the basic Locust Drones. The Coalition aims to make these drones terrifying without needing to introduce the elite Theron units.

Theron Guards in E-Day’s Multiplayer

In the upcoming campaign for E-Day, Theron Guards might not make an appearance, but they could show up in the game’s multiplayer mode. Similarly, Theron Locusts have been featured in the multiplayer of previous Gears games even when absent from the campaign, like in Gears 5. The developers, The Coalition, might allow players to reach a high rank or accumulate a significant number of kills while playing as a Locust character. This could reward players with the Theron Guard character in multiplayer. This strategy could delight fans of the Theron Guards from Gears of War: E-Day, and pique the interest of newcomers to the series, encouraging them to explore what this enigmatic Locust rank is by playing through the rest of the Gears of War games.

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2024-08-14 23:35