Gears of War 4 is a 2016 third-person shooter video game developed by The Coalition and published by Microsoft Studios for Windows and Xbox One.

Gears of War 4 takes place 25 years after the events of Gears of War 3, where the Imulsion Countermeasure weapon destroyed all Imulsion on the planet Sera, killing the Locust and the Lambent in the process, the weapon forced humanity to adapt to new ways of survival after knocking out the use of fossil fuels, and bringing across the planet powerful windstorms called "Windflares".

The leader of the reformed Coalition of Ordered Governments, First Minister Jinn (Angel Desai), commemorates the 25th anniversary of humanity's victory over the Locust.

An elderly Hoffman, who is present at the ceremony, recounts past battles at Aspho Fields, Emergence Day, and Anvil Gate.

and Del have recently deserted the COG after disagreeing with Jinn's hardline policies and join a group of Outsiders led by Reyna (Justina Machado).

They are accompanied by Kait (Laura Bailey), Reyna's daughter, and her uncle Oscar (Jimmy Smits), a former Gear and Locust War veteran.

Though they are forced to battle the COG's new robotic DeeBee soldiers, aided by an unknown person remotely controlling some of the settlement's machinery, J.D.

After escaping another attack by Jinn's forces, the group reaches inside the city, where they are ambushed by a Snatcher that captures Marcus.

Realizing that the hive's defenses are too formidable for them to breach on their own, the group fights their way to a radio antenna—noticing that the Swarm seem to be able to affect DeeBees' behavior—where Marcus calls for the assistance of Augustus Cole (Lester Speight), Damon Baird (Fred Tatasciore) and Samantha Byrne (Claudia Black), with the latter two now being lovers.

Baird, now a famed industrialist and the creator of the DeeBees, is revealed to have been the one who aided the group during the earlier settlement raid and brings a pair of mech suits that J.D.

However, upon closer inspection, it bears a resemblance to the symbol of the Locust Queen Myrrah – implying that Reyna was her daughter and Kait is her granddaughter.

[7] Owing to the people of Sera rebuilding their society after the Locust war, the game's new weapons are inspired by construction equipment.

[27] Gears of War 4 was the first game to make use of SGX developed by Speech Graphics to automatically animate gameplay dialogue.

[28] Speaking about the future of the game, and the Gears of War series itself, Fergusson stated that "one of the things that's nice about Microsoft's investment is that we know, unless this does horribly, we're probably going to do another one.

[30] Similarly to Halo 5: Guardians,[31] the game employs a dynamic scaling system to maintain a consistent frame rate, under which the resolution is automatically decreased and upscaled back to 1080p during more intensive scenes.

[33] In August 2016, Game of Thrones composer Ramin Djawadi confirmed he would be involved as the main creator of Gear of War 4's soundtrack.

[39][40] Ryan McCaffery of IGN gave the game 9.2 out of 10, stating in his verdict: "I never expected to compare Gears of War 4 to The Force Awakens, but I couldn’t be happier to do so.

Like the latest chapter in the story from a time long ago in a galaxy far, far away, Gears of War 4 is directed by a new generation of creators, shares a lot of similar narrative structures to the beloved first piece of the trilogy it succeeds, and is an experience you’ll walk away from with a big smile on your face – in campaign, Versus, and Horde modes alike.

He also added "Gears of War 4 plays it fairly safe but brilliantly executes on a variety-packed campaign and meaty multiplayer suite.

"[48] Mike Mahardy of GameSpot rewarded Gears of War 4 a score of 7 out of 10, reasoning "This is a shooter teetering on the edge of something greater, but despite the improvements it makes to the storied franchise, its missteps hold it back.