The Coalition has announced RAAM as a free multiplayer character for every Gears of War: E-Day player, claimed by logging in, in a post published on Xbox Wire on 6 November, the day before the 20th anniversary of the first Gears of War.

“Tomorrow is the exact date of our anniversary and to celebrate we’re giving away RAAM as a multiplayer character to every Gears of War: E-Day player as a free gift. Just login to claim him instantly,” said Nicole Fawcette, Studio Brand Director at The Coalition, who wrote the post. The anniversary date was 7 November. The post does not say how long the character can be claimed.

Two weeks of limited-time Versus and Horde modes

The gift is part of a two-week anniversary event in Gears of War: E-Day that The Coalition started the same week, with limited-time modes and new rewards.

In Versus, the event runs Guardian, a mode in which “only one leader makes it out alive”. In Horde Siege, it runs For the Queen, which disables the supply cache so squads rely on their loadouts.

The store listing on the same page describes Gears of War: E-Day as an origin-story campaign set 14 years before the original Gears of War, built in Unreal Engine 5, with the Horde Siege co-operative mode and Versus player-versus-player matches.

Online campaign co-op, Horde Siege and Versus require a Game Pass subscription that includes online multiplayer, sold separately, according to that listing. Two-player split-screen is available on console only, and 4K and 60 frames per second require a compatible display.

Season 2: Legacy begins on 1 December

The Coalition said its next season, titled Legacy, launches on 1 December. The studio said the season continues to honour “the greatest hits of Gears over 20 years” in its maps, modes and multiplayer skins.

Fawcette said Season 2 brings back fan favourites from the history of the series and reimagines characters. The example given is the Solemn Memories Dom skin, which puts Dominic Santiago in the suit he wears in the photograph of him and Maria in Gears of War 2.

Twenty years since the Xbox 360 launch

“It’s hard to believe that 20 years ago, Gears of War launched on XBOX 360 and introduced the world to Marcus Fenix, Dominic Santiago, and the genius of putting a chainsaw on a gun,” Fawcette said.

She credited the people who worked on the series before the current studio, calling it “an incredible privilege to steward this franchise, to build on the legacy of the creators at EPIC Games, the voice actors and all the creative collaborators who have had a hand in this universe”.

The post ends: “Never Fight Alone.”