The recent Game Informer cover story on Gears of War 4 reveals that the game takes place on the planet Sera 25 years after the events of Gears of War 3.

Even though fans have known about Gears of War 4 since the game was properly unveiled during last year's E3 event, details on the highly anticipated title have remained scarce. That is, until the latest Game Informer cover story pulled the curtain back, revealing story details, including the fact that Gears of War 4 is set 25 years after the events of Gears of War 3.

Still taking place on the planet Sera, Gears of War 4 stars Marcus Fenix's son JD, along with his pals Kate Diaz and Del Walker. The game's plot will reportedly take place over a 24-hour period, and will deal with the aftermath of JD and Del going AWOL from the COG militia.

We're still not quite sure what happened to make JD and Del go AWOL, but it seems as though the COG militia has created a sort of authoritarian state on Sera since the events of Gears of War 3. As players of that game know (beware of some incoming Gears of War 3 spoilers), the Locusts were decimated by the Imulsion weapon that players activated at the end of the campaign. However, the weapon also destroyed almost all of Sera's fossil fuels, resulting in the dramatic reduction of the population to just a few hundred thousand people.

Due to this catastrophic event, the COG militia built large walled-in cities as an attempt to protect the last remaining humans on Sera. However, the COG have apparently also been partaking in some questionable behavior, hence JD Fenix and Del Walker abandoning their positions in the military.

It is during their excursion from the COG that JD and Del bump into Kait Diaz. Kait is a member of the Outsiders, a group of people that refuse to live under the COG's rule in the walled-in cities. Instead, they opt to live outside the walls, though that probably puts them in danger of being attacked by the monsters seen in the Gears of War 4 reveal trailer.

Gears of War 4 producer Rod Fergusson explains exactly what the Outsiders are, courtesy of the latest issue of Game Informer:

"There's this notion that the COG is like an overprotective parent trying to preserve life and ensure people's safety. The Outsiders are a group of people who are purposefully stepping outside the COG and breaking free because they think life isn't worth living unless it's lived free...As we were conceptualizing The Outsiders, we initially started with the hippie movement, but then we realized we wanted them to have an edge and we started thinking of them more like this 1970s motorcycle gang."

It will be interesting to see what ultimately transpires between the Outsiders and the COG when Gears of War 4 finally drops. Hopefully The Coalition shares more of the game's story details before too long, and perhaps releases a new trailer so that fans can see Gears of War 4's stunning progress for themselves.

Gears of War 4 will be available exclusively for Xbox One later this year.

Source: GameSpot