Gears of War 4’s new trailer is the franchise’s latest marketing home run

A melancholy song playing while people fight grotesque monsters. It must be a new Gears of War trailer.

Microsoft has released a new video for Gears of War 4, its anticipated shooter that comes out on October 11 for the Xbox One. We haven’t seen much of Gears of War 4 since Microsoft revealed it during the Electronic Entertainment Expo last summer. The franchise is one of Microsoft’s most important exclusive series, selling over 22 million copies.

The trailer serves as a way to connect the new game with its predecessors by showing Marcus Fenix, the hero of the first three Gears of War, planting a tree with his young son JD while flashing forward to an older JD running from monsters. This all happens with a moody version of “The Sounds of Silence” playing in the background, similar to the “Mad World” trailer for the original Gears of War. You can watch the new video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3f8VgQ_dqk

We haven’t had a Gears of War game since 2013’s Judgment, and that was a spin-off from the main series. Gears of War 3 came out back in 2011. Exclusives can help a system stand out from its competitor. In the Xbox One’s case, that would be the PlayStation 4 (which usually outsells the Xbox One every month). Gears of War 4 will be a big part of Microsoft’s holiday strategy for beating its rival.