Gears of War 4 – E3 2015 Demo versus Final Game

Digital Foundry has shared an interesting video, in which it compares the E3 2015 demo of Gears of War 4 with its final version. As we can see, and even though there are some level design and artistic differences between these two versions, The Coalition did not downgrade the game’s visuals. Okay okay, the wind effects are not that strong as they were in the E3 2015 demo. Overall, though, the final version looks as good as that initial demo. Gears of War 4 releases on October 11th. Enjoy!

Gears of War 4 Final Game vs E3 2015 Demo

29 thoughts on “Gears of War 4 – E3 2015 Demo versus Final Game”

    1. Don’t worry. This game like Forza and Battlefield 1 will never be on Steam but you can buy there Mafia 3 🙂

        1. BTW: I read that in 2017 MS will bring original Gears trilogy to PC via “backward compatibility” layer. All xbox 360 BC games will be available on PC via Windows Store like on Xbox One. There were some leaks from one of Xbox developer on his LinkedIn page about that. So PC players can play not only Gears 3 but also original Red Dead Redempion from Xbox 360

        1. You can buy HDR TV and have low gamma with bright light. I read that Gears and Forza looks very good in HDR. More contrast and more details.

          1. That doesn’t work. The contrast is high between shaded and lit areas. In the original it was so low the glowy flesh tentactle stuff was the brightest element in any scene it was in. In the new version it doesn’t even glow at all. They changed the brightness of every light source, got rid of some entirely and deactivated a lot of dynamic shadows.

          2. “In the original it was so low the glowy flesh tentactle stuff was the brightest element in any scene it was in. In the new version it doesn’t even glow ”

            But Gears 4 support HDR screens. On new HDR TV bright element should be more bright. Maybe even more than in old demo. Light is core element of HDR

            Search on Google or YouTube for “Gears of War 4 HDR” . People say that in HDR this game looks much better than on classic screen.

          3. I’ve heard that about movies as well, but if they did the colour grading around HDR, that’s just a bad move; this isn’t like how Hollywood releases 2K & 4K Blu-Ray separately, this is literally an all-in-one thing. While, sure, HDR is the future, right now, it’s still a niche product (yes, yes, the Xbox One S, sure, but you also need a 4K HDR-capable TV to take advantage of HDR, not just an Xblow), so it would have been better for them to focus on their primary, current fanbase, rather than their potential future base.

            Besides, unless HDR changes the entire lighting system from the ground up (which, needless to say, it doesn’t), the tentacles will never again appear the same way they did in that E3 2015 demo.

          4. All I see there is some semi-vague bullet points relating to more accurate colour palettes, nothing about changing how the lighting system works.

            Better, more accurate, more vibrant colours are always great, sure, but that won’t change the rules of lighting physics as set forth by each developer team, &/or the engine they’re using.

          5. Are you read anything about HDR? Its all about lighting. Instead of value 1.0 on 200 nitts you have unlimited value above 1.0 which is sent to you TV. If your TV support 1000 nitts then it can show value 5.0 more than 4x brighter than on standard TV.

          6. I’m aware of what HDR does, I’m not aware of how it’s supposed to enter the game itself, & change the entire lighting system to the point where Gears 4 ends up looking like the E3 2015 demo, instead of its current live release.

            Even if HDR manages to make specific things look brighter, darker, or whatever, that won’t suddenly revert the entire game environment to its 2015 lighting status, it’ll just make specific things look different, outside of the colour palette enhancements which will affect everything, but that’s got nothing to do with the lighting & shadow systems.

          7. “I’m aware of what HDR does, I’m not aware of how it’s supposed to enter the game itself, & change the entire lighting system to the point where Gears 4 ends up looking like the E3 2015 demo, instead of its current live release”

            You not understand. HDR isn’t just option in your TV. This is option inside of game engine. Only three games exist with support of HDR:
            – Gears of War 4
            – Forza Horizon 3
            – DeusEx Mankind Divided.

            All those three games have special support of HDR inside of game engine. Next game with support of HDR is Battlefield 1 (HDR confirmed for X1S). You can’t use “HDR option” in your TV on standard game if they don’t have HDR support inside its engine. Game engine must send special lighting data to TV to enable HDR.

          8. Yes, & like I said, I’m aware of that, but, once again, you’ve yet to actually explain how HDR is going to alter the entire lighting system of a game, beyond enhancing the colour palette, affecting the gamma levels, etc. etc. etc.

            Regardless, this is getting nowhere, we can discuss the theoretical applications of HDR all day, without an actual live demo of it on the Xbox One S, it’s pointless to say “it does this.”

          9. Not true. Some 900 usd LED TV support HDR at 600-700 nitts (3x brighter than standard TV). Nearly all top line TV from 2016 support HDR. Its far more visible than 4K so its more important.

            Also PS4 and PS4 Pro already support HDR and PC will have support of HDR at beginning of 2017 in ‘redstone 2’ (Windows Insider will get HDR support later this month – october 26).

            Nearly all new games which use PRB rendering can use HDR for free such as Battlefield 1.

          10. HDR means greater range. If thing A is darker than thing B in SDR then it’s still darker in HDR. Thing A would refer to the tentacles and thing B could be anything lit by the moon.

        2. This. There’s a blue-hue filter over the release version (eugh), & one of those “light coming on from all directions” lighting systems, rather than the more realistic, more aesthetically interesting “tunnel vision” lighting system from the E3 Demo.

          E3 plays more like an action-horror, while the final is more like a generic FPS.

          Either way, hasn’t the level of detail been noticeably reduced between E3 & Final in some places, but then upgraded in others? Also, they did switch out the pre-rendered cutscenes with real-time ones.

          Regardless, interesting comparison, thanks DSOG 😀

          1. Strange how those youtube influencers can modify the reality of what people sees. Its so obvious that the new one has not nearly the same quality on tesselation, shadowing, lighting, etc…

  1. It’s technically a downgrade but for playability the final version is better. You should be able to see your targets in a shooter.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *