[5] He is described as "an idealist who wants to live his life with purpose", and the character's backstory involve him running away from home as a youth and enlisting with the armed forces of the Coalition of Ordered Governments, leading to a rift between him and his father who disapproves of his actions.

[6] JD's distinguishing features include blond hair, blue-grey eyes, a slight unshaven stubble, as well as a previously broken nose which The Coalition intended to "give him more character".

[7] JD is not shown to be wearing any armor when his first appears as a member of the Outsiders; instead, he combines a reclaimed leather jacket with typical COG-styled accessories like a holster, backpack and military boots.

[10] Besides a shaved head and grown out beard, he also has a severe scar on his face, and wears a medical device for pain management of his still-healing arm which glows blue when activated.

[13] McIntyre opined that other actors in the industry have begun to form the view that "uniquely amazing stories" could be told through the video game medium due to its interactive nature, and that while he portrays JD Fenix, the player also has agency in the character's actions and is not a passive observer.

JD visits his estranged father Marcus Fenix who resides at the dilapidated Stroud family estate to ask for help in tracking the villagers, where they are attacked by Jinn's DeeBee forces.

They travel to Fort Reval, where thousands of Locust corpses were buried at the conclusion of the war 25 years ago, to investigate a possible lead suggested by Marcus, who is soon abducted by a creature the group dubbed the Snatcher.

Marcus is located and rescued before he is processed, and reveals that the Swarm are in fact mutated iterations of a resurgent Locust Horde following a long term period of dormancy where they undergo a metamorphosis.

As Marcus was also briefly connected to the Swarm's hive mind, JD and his friends also learn that Reyna is still alive and set out to find her, but ultimately fails to rescue her in time by the game's ending.

When Swarm forces threaten to overwhelm their evacuation convoy, JD implores Baird to prematurely fire the Hammer of Dawn satellite, a solar-powered and network-based superweapon which was instrumental in fighting the Locust Horde.

His relationship with Kait deteriorates further when he openly questions her competency and loyalty when he encounters her at an Outsider Village led by her recently deceased uncle, but gradually improves with the progression of the narrative after she is offered his assistance in reactivating the Hammer of Dawn and recovering the network's targeting beacons in the Vasgar desert.

[8] To McCarther, JD is a "winking rapscallion" hero typical of the characters played by Harrison Ford, who is tough enough to weather inhuman conditions, and yet is sufficiently down to earth to wear distinctly normal person clothes and complain about his physical discomfort.

McCarther formed the view that JD would be less confused and more effective as a character if he is fully accepted by the developers as the kind of man who is born into the series' violent, militant world setting.

[8] Other reviewers share similar sentiments: Sam Mackovech from Ars Technica called JD a "Generic Tinder Guy" in terms of his happy-go-lucky "vacant personality".

[23] Elijah Beahm from The Escapist considered Gears of War 4 to be a storytelling improvement over its predecessors, and that its protagonist is essentially "Nathan Drake in power armor", a pleasant character who wise-cracks without despair and is willing to take risks to protect those he cared about.

[21] Beahm said the sense of familiarity presented by Gears of War 4 is "a masterstroke of subversion" upon hindsight, with the revelation that JD has a deeply problematic personality hidden behind a blustering and joking persona, which comes undone in its sequel as his friends learn the truth behind his decision to defect from the COG.

[24] The narrative decision to let players decide JD's fate near the end of Gears 5 has generated critical discussion due to his status as a major series character, and the resulting storyline implications this causes for future sequels.

Makar said while he prefers a version of JD "that doesn't stupidly leap into dangerous situations to try and show up his dad", it's clear that the Coalition wanted to take the series in a different direction.

Makar argued that it makes more sense if JD survives as it resolves the acrimonious nature of the relationship between both characters which began in Gears of War 4, and move it past bravado.