Over the years, the chronological order of Gears of War got quite complicated. Although the games are clearly numbered, dozens of books and comics fill the gaps in between. Together, they make up the Gears of War universe.
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With so many different media, you might lose sight of which stories really matter. That’s why we’ve collected all of the Gears of War books, comics, and games in one definitive Gears of War Timeline. Let’s start with a quick overview of all the games in order of release.
- Gears of War (2006, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition in 2015)
Takes place during the Locust War. - Gears of War 2 (2008)
Takes place during the Locust War. - Gears of War 3 (2011)
Takes place during the Locust War. - Gears of War: Judgment (2013)
Takes place during the Locust War, before the original trilogy. - Gears of War 4 (2016)
Takes place during the Swarm War. - Gears 5 (2019)
Takes place during the Swarm War. - Gears Tactics (2020)
Takes place during the Locust War, before the original trilogy.
We now put the games chronologically in the Gears of War Timeline, together with all other media. The Gears of War Timeline can be divided into three eras. Click on them to reveal all media taking place in that specific era.
To keep it somewhat understandable, we don’t treat flashbacks, like at the beginning of Gears of War 4, separately. When something happens at the same time, such as Gears of War 2 and the comics The Quickening and Harper’s Story, we use the most logical order to read/play.
Pendulum Wars
Locust War
Swarm War
Non-canon
Not all official media are considered canon or contain soty elements. All non-canon Gears of War media are listed below.
This Gears of War Timeline has been put together with as much care as possible. However, it is possible that an error has crept into our chronological order. Are you an even bigger Gears fan than us? Please contact us and tell us what we did wrong!
6 Responses
One more thing to correct. I think that “Dirty Little Secrets” would be better placed AFTER “Coalition’s End”. While it overlaps all three books, I believe it ends after Coalition’s End. There would also be less spoilers.
Thank you, great suggestion. I’ll look into this!
Just noticed an error. Barren is in Volume 1, not 2.
Thank you so much for this ! 😀 I’ve been using this list when going through the gears of war story.
From My knowledge, you got everything right except “Rise of Raam.” It actually goes before “Judgement.” It’s the events that led to Emergence Day.
Oops! You’re right! Changed it right away. Thanks!