Once again, Horde pits you and up to four friends against 50 waves of enemies in a fight for survival. You’ll need to build defenses – called fortifications – to aid in your survival, and work together to come out alive.
Every 10 waves, you’ll face a Boss Wave, which includes the toughest, biggest, baddest enemies in the game. If you were watching at PAX, you haven’t seen them all. You’ll have to play the game to see the rest. After every 10 waves, a new poison is introduced that ups enemy health, damage or accuracy.
One of the main focuses of Horde 3.0 is the return to emergent gameplay. We’re putting the power and decision making back in the hands of the player by allowing you to build fortifications where you want and when you want, and move those fortifications at any time during gameplay.
This is all unlocked via the Fabricator, a new device in the Gears of War universe that is a take on a 3D Printer. The Fabricator must be placed at the start of the game wherever you choose. It should act as the hub of your defenses, and you can move the fabricator to any location at any time throughout a game.. The choice is entirely in the player’s hands. The Fabricator is how you build fortifications by using Energy – picked up from fallen enemies on the battlefield – to construct your base. The Fabricator cannot be destroyed or harmed in any way, so the only thing that has to survive in Horde is you.
Speaking of survival, if a team-mate dies, they'll drop COG Tags. You can pick these up and run back to the Fabricator to revive them during the wave - but be warned, each subsequent revival on your team during a wave will cost an increasing amount of Energy. Thankfully, make it to the end of the Wave and all your dead team-mates will return.
