《战争机器：E-Day》解决了现代射击游戏的最大问题之一

Modern gaming has a big problem, but it’s one that Gears of War: E-Day doesn’t have: an odd aversion to delivering a compelling single-player campaign. With every modern shooter seemingly built around multiplayer first, the art of creating single-player campaign shooters seems to be dying off. Many modern audiences seem to even forget that the norm for these games used to be the single-player campaign first, and multiplayer second. Gears of War: E-Day returns to these roots, however, and shows that an audience for campaign shooters still exists, despite what some AAA game developers might lead you to believe.

Modern Shooters Are Obsessed With Keeping Players Online

It is no secret that today’s biggest shooters are built around the live service model. Log into the latest Call of Duty or Battlefield title, and before you’re given the option to engage in any kind of single-player campaign, you’ll be prompted to head into the online warzone and dive into whatever seasonal content or limited-time events are currently live. Even Titanfall, a franchise once praised for its incredible single-player campaign, was scrapped in favor of Apex Legends, an online-only battle royale set in the same universe.

It is also easy to understand why the live service model is so appealing. When compared to the single-player experiences the shooters of old were built around, live service multiplayer games have larger player retention. With rotating game modes, seasonal events, and limited-time updates, you can keep players playing forever, as there should theoretically always be something new to bring fans back in. Progression systems, like unlocking new guns or simply raising your multiplayer rank, can trip dopamine receptors and compel players to play the game even for reasons other than just having fun with the mechanics.

The profitability of these live service experiences can’t be underestimated either. Through battle passes, XP boosts, and limited-time cosmetics, developers can easily earn more money from players after the initial game purchase, with some players paying more than double, triple, or quadruple the price of the game through its lifetime. In 2020, Activision reported that Call of Duty generated more than $3 billion over a 12-month period, with growth driven by premium game sales and in-game purchases. This number only got higher over the years, with $5.382 billion company-wide in 2022, including microtransactions and downloadable content.

It isn’t that these titles no longer feature single-player experiences, but that these campaigns are being greatly cut down and often left as an afterthought for the profitability and longevity that comes from a multiplayer focus. Gears of War: E-Day‘s historic Metacritic ratings show that players still put value in a single-player-focused shooter experience.

Gears of War Has Always Been More Than Its Multiplayer

While Gears of War always had some great multiplayer, the titles have always been about the campaigns first. More than just unlockable skins to be played against your friends in online bloodbaths, Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago were real characters, and between their friendship, the Locust war, and the increasingly difficult struggle to save humanity, the Gears of War franchise has over a hundred hours of story content, character development, and emotional turmoil. Gears of War 2 remains a particularly memorable story, with Dom’s search for his wife being a deeply personal and human tale you might not have expected from such a testosterone-fueled franchise.

Gears of War introduced players to the terrifying, overwhelming Locust threat. Gears of War 2 brought players deep into enemy territory to explore a world beneath the planet, and Gears of War 3 brought the emotional threads between Marcus, Dom, and others to a conclusion. Throughout the franchise, it was these incredible characters and the stories they experienced that stuck with players more than any sick game-winning plays in multiplayer matches.

It wasn’t just the incredible stories and world-building that made these campaigns so memorable, but intentionally designed mechanics and single-player segments that just wouldn’t work in multiplayer matches. Between terrifying encounters with the Kyrll, Berserkers, Leviathans, or the famous return to Cole Train’s stadium, Gears of War has never been afraid to mix up the formula for the sake of delivering a memorable single-player experience.

Gears of War: E-Day Could Be A Reminder That Great Campaigns Still Matter

In a market where modern shooters are built around their live service potential first, Gears of War: E-Day decided to remain true to its roots, releasing a single-player (or four-player co-op) campaign-focused experience for players to enjoy, and did so to great fan reception. While the game does have multiplayer, it is mostly the campaign that players are talking about, showing that a market for campaign shooters still very much exists.

With E-Day proving that campaign shooters can still thrive with modern audiences, we can only hope that we see more titles following in its footsteps. As far as Gears of War itself goes, fans can rest assured that there is some good news for the next game, meaning we could see a sequel much sooner than we expected.