Gears 5 (Or Gears of War 5) is the 5th game in the series and released on the Xbox in 2019. It centers on a young solider as she discovers the origins of her family as well as their hidden history as a looming threat threatens her entire race.
This game is set 30 years after the original trilogy of games and serves as a direct sequel to Gears 4, which rebooted the series in 2016. Where as the previous game centered on the story of JD – the son of the original games main character – this game’s story centers around JD’s love interest, Kait.
Though Gears of War has had playable female characters since it’s third installment, Kait is the franchises first female protagonist. After JD is injured early on in the game, Kait takes over leadership of their squad and goes on a journey to discover secrets about her past once she finds out connections between her and the Locust (the main enemy faction of the series).
Bechdel Test: Gears 5 features multiple female characters, and does pass the Bechdel Test. In one scene, Kait and Minister Jinn – the leader of the planet’s government- square off as the Minister accuses Kait of being a liability. Kait rebels against the minister and tells her that she is going to fight anyways.
However, Gears 5’s ratio of male characters to female characters is still very much uneven, and the fanbase is still mostly men (which could be said of many game franchises still to this day). Gears 5 is a particularly important case, however, as for many years the inclusion of female characters – especially at the exclusion of male characters – was seen as “forced agenda’s” by many in not just the Gears community, but gaming ecosystem as a whole. To see a series that originally started as almost exclusively focused on male power fantasies instead focus on a new female character who is not related to any of the original cast successfully suggests a change in the culture of video games that hopefully points towards more inclusion of female voices.
Shared by: John Horan
Image Credit: venturebeat.com