The Role of The Swarm in Gears 6 | Game Rant
With the latest in Xbox hardware recently released to the public via the Xbox Series X and the Xbox Series S, players that have managed to get their hands on these sought after consoles are likely looking for the first major exclusive title to play on it. While games like Tetris Effect: Connected and Yakuza: Like a Dragon seem to fill that role in at least a temporary sense as they are timed exclusives, Xbox seems to be lacking the power of launching a major first party title alongside its new consoles.
However, there is one franchise that seems destined to make an appearance in the near future: Gears of War. The Gears of War series has been one of Microsoft's marquee franchises since the original launched on the Xbox 360 and has maintained a fairly loyal audience on to the Xbox One with Gears 4 and Gears 5. And while critics and fans alike have sung the praises of Gears Tactics now that it is available on the new Xbox consoles, it seems clear that players are more than ready for Gears 6.
While the seeming conclusion to the latest Gears of War trilogy will focus primarily on Kait as well as the other members of her squad, Gears 6 is in a unique position where it can continue to expand upon the lore of the Locust and their current iteration known as The Swarm. Gears 5 gave fans of the franchise quite a lore dump on the origins of the Locust species and how exactly they relate to Kait and her family as a whole.
In Gears 5, players come to find out that the Locust are the result of an experiment gone wrong as the COG was attempting to find a cure for Immulsion poisoning at a secret lab beneath Mount Kadar. This involved Niles Samson, the lab's chief scientist, attempting to hybridize the DNA of children born with Immulsion poisoning with those creatures native to the Hollow. One of these children was Myrrah, Kait's grandmother, who was immune to the poisoning and had a link to the hivemind of the resulting Locust as her DNA was being used to synthesize the cure.
This information is imparted upon Kait and Del as they explore the lab by Niles, who now exists purely as the lab's AI custodian. Niles agrees to assist Kait by severing her from the Swarm hivemind and hooks her up to a machine. Unfortunately for Kait, Niles has ulterior motives as the resulting link severance causes the awakening of a powerful Berserker known as The Matriarch. Not only that, but Niles utilizes Kait's consciousness to resurrect Reyna, Kait's Mother, to provide The Swarm with a new queen so that they may resume the war the Locust began.
With Reyna once again living and taking the role of Queen within The Swarm hivemind, it seems that players will have to inevitably confront the warped and twisted version of Kait's mother in Gears 6. While it's currently unknown as to how this battle will take place, it seems highly likely that the next Gears of War game will see Kait and company destroy Reyna; however, there could be a possible twist coming.
The end of Gears 5 included a mechanic that had previously not been seen in a Gears of War title. Players were given a choice that would affect the game's story going forward, as Kait must decide whether or not to save JD or Del from Reyna. It remains to be seen whether or not this choice will impact the story of Gears 6 in a meaningful fashion, but it does seem to show that The Coalition is interested in giving players more of a voice in the series' narrative. With this in mind, it could be possible that once Reyna is destroyed in Gears 6, Kait might be given the option to take up her mantle as the new Swarm Queen.
While this is purely speculative, it seems that The Coalition wants all focus on Kait and the Diaz family line in the conclusion to this trilogy. Gears Tactics' main protagonist is Kait's father, Gabriel Diaz, and later features Reyna as another key member of Alpha Squad. And with so much attention on the Diaz family as a whole, Gears 6 seems likely to be an epic yet painful family reunion.
Gears 6 has not been announced.
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