The Locust are a fictional collective of subterranean species in the Gears of War media franchise. Created by Epic Games, they were introduced in the 2006 video game Gears of War as the principal enemy faction opposing humanity. Their organized military, commonly called the Locust Horde, emerges from beneath the surface of the planet Sera during Emergence Day and wages a prolonged war against the human Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG). Led by the human Queen Myrrah and Locust commanders like General RAAM and Skorge, the Locust are depicted as the principal antagonistic force of the Gears of War franchise.
During development of the first game in the series, Epic designed the Locust as large, physically imposing humanoid enemies that combined monstrous appearances with organized military behaviour. Their size and level of detail affected the environmental and combat design of Gears of War, contributing to the use of tighter spaces and close-range encounters. Subsequent games expanded the range of Locust enemy types and returned periodically to the horror elements of their original conception. The Coalition adopted a similar approach for the prequel Gears of War: E-Day, redesigning familiar Locust enemies to make their initial encounters appear more threatening.
Later installments expanded the Locust beyond their initial role as enemies by depicting their society, hierarchy and conflict with the Lambent. Gears 5 recontextualized their origins by revealing connections between the Horde, Queen Myrrah and COG research at the New Hope Research Facility. Following their apparent destruction in Gears of War 3, Gears of War 4 introduced the Swarm, a successor faction connected to the original Locust. Critics and scholars have examined the Locust's visual and gameplay design as well as their role in the series' treatment of war, militarism and the dehumanization of an enemy.
Concept and design Early versions of the enemies that became the Locust were known as the "Geists". Art director Chris Perna initially visualised the Geist as hulking white humanoids that emerged from holes dug during the night and abducted children. Perna carried a scalloped motif from their facial design into their armour and proposed vehicles, although the mechanical vehicles were subsequently replaced with creatures. After Nintendo released the video game Geist in 2005, Epic abandoned the name and adopted "Locust", which had previously referred to one unit within the Geist army, for the faction as a whole.
Cliff Bleszinski, lead designer of the first three Gears of War video games, compared the Locust to the Uruk-hai of The Lord of the Rings, emphasizing that although they appeared monstrous, they could organize themselves, employ battlefield tactics, and manufacture and use weapons rather than simply attack mindlessly. During development Bleszinski was also considering a stronger survival-horror direction, influenced by his admiration for Resident Evil 4, and used the term "military horror" for the approach. Although this version of the project was subsequently scaled back, horror elements remained in the finished game.
The physical scale of the Locust affected the design of Gears of War. According to Bissell, the creatures were large and highly detailed, leading Epic to contract its previously spacious prototype environments so that players would encounter them at closer range and could see that detail. Senior gameplay designer Lee Perry said the change was part of the point at which the project began to assume its recognizable form. Epic also made Marcus Fenix and the other human soldiers comparably large, which allowed some animations and art assets to be shared between the factions while maintaining a consistent visual scale.
According to writer Kurtis J. Wiebe, Gears of War: The Rise of RAAM was developed with artist Max Dunbar and The Coalition to expand on aspects of Locust society and religion that the games had previously only hinted at.
Enemy design Epic developed Locust enemy types around differing scales and battlefield functions. Discussing Gears of War: Judgment, art director Chris Perna described a recurring "dinosaur chart" used by the team to maintain a range of small, medium-sized and very large creatures that could be combined in combat encounters. He also said that some enemy designs were created around particular gameplay functions. Epic also sought to restore aspects of the Locust's earlier horror-oriented conception for Judgment. Perna said that the series had moved away from their frightening quality over successive games and that the prequel was intended to make them appear more brutal and fearsome again. The developers also introduced more aggressive artificial-intelligence behaviours and greater teamwork among Locust enemies.
The Coalition pursued a similar direction for Gears of War: E-Day. Creative director Matt Searcy described the design brief as treating the Locust as the "monsters under the bed", while studio art director Aryan Hanbeck said that the game presents them through the perspective of characters encountering them for the first time. The team particularly focused on restoring the Locust Drone from an enemy that had become routine in later installments to a threatening individual opponent. The developers also expanded Locust movement and combat behaviours. Enemies can climb and flank the player, while Grenadiers can deploy smoke before approaching at close range.
Epic explored weapon concepts that extended the series' creature-based approach beyond enemy design for the Locust. During development of Gears of War 2, for example, the Ticker evolved from an initial proposal for conventional land mines into a small creature carrying an explosive payload. Bleszinski said the change followed the team's tendency to design Locust equipment in terms of creatures rather than ordinary machinery.
For Gears of War 3, Epic also explored weapon concepts that extended this creature-based approach into the Locust arsenal. The Digger Launcher originated from the idea of a projectile that could travel underground rather than function as a conventional explosive. Developers described it as an unusual weapon concept that required early playable prototypes and iteration before completion. The final weapon combined conventional military functionality with a creature-like projectile that burrowed through the battlefield before attacking its target.
Development of the Swarm The name "Swarm" originated during Epic Games' abandoned pre-production work on a fourth Gears of War game. After Microsoft acquired the franchise and development passed to The Coalition, studio head Rod Fergusson said the new team retained the name while replacing Epic's proposed creatures: "The name stuck, but none of the monsters stuck." In 2014, The Coalition brought in creature designer Guy Davis to develop early visual concepts for the Swarm; Davis's professional portfolio credits him with creature design on Gears of War 4, while the game's credits list him under additional concept art. Davis said that his early studies experimented with body shapes and facial details intended to distinguish the new creatures from the original Locust. He identified the double nasal cavity and plated, segmented jaw as elements of his concepts that carried into the eventual design, and described his final concept pass as a "Locust based Swarm".
Like the Horde, the Swarm similarly comprises several humanoid and monstrous enemy types. According to Campaign design director Matt Searcy, The Coalition designed enemies according to the battlefield role they were intended to perform, such as forcing players from cover or pinning them in place, before developing their appearance and combining them with other enemy types. Technical director Mike Rayner explained that newer creature types like the Flocks, airborne masses composed of smaller creatures called Leeches introduced in Gears 5, required new support for flying creatures and three-dimensional pathfinding.
Description Background The original trilogy gradually reveals information about the Locust's origins without initially providing a complete explanation. Gears of War 2 introduces the abandoned New Hope Research Facility, where children of Imulsion miners had been subjected to genetic experimentation and transformed into creatures known as Sires. The facility's records direct Delta Squad toward Mount Kadar and establish a connection between the experiments and the Locust without yet explaining their precise relationship.
Gears 5 returns to New Hope and Mount Kadar and explicitly connects the Locust threat to its origin in COG genetic experimentation carried out on children infected by the Imulsion in an attempt by the COG to create soldiers. Within the game, the artificial intelligence of scientist Niles Samson explains that the Locust were developed using genetic material derived from the Sires and Myrrah.
Before their invasion of the surface, the Locust are engaged in a prolonged conflict with the Lambent, Locust altered by exposure to Imulsion. The Lambent spread through the Hollow, killing or converting other Locust and driving the Horde from its underground territory. Gears of War 3 reveals that Adam Fenix had worked with Myrrah on a means of destroying the Lambent while preserving the Locust. He ultimately activates the Imulsion Countermeasure, destroying the Lambent and apparently exterminating the Locust as well.
Gears of War 4, set 25 years later, reveals that the Locust were not completely destroyed. Locust bodies affected by the Countermeasure had become encased in crystalline shells, from which evolved Locust known as Scions later emerged as part of the new Swarm threat. The Swarm also abduct humans and place them in organic pods, where victims can be transformed into Juvies and later into larger Swarm forms. Gears 5 further develops the connection between the factions through Kait Diaz's biological relationship to Myrrah and the Swarm hive network.
Society and hierarchy The first Gears of War establishes the Locust as inhabiting the Hollow, an extensive subterranean region beneath the surface of Sera. Later games expand the depiction of Locust society beyond a conventional military force of invading creatures to its art, religion, social hierarchy and written language. Their civilisation is centred on Nexus, an underground city in the Hollow which serves as the seat of Queen Myrrah and is presented in Gears of War 2 through its monumental architecture, religious spaces and written inscriptions.
While Myrrah occupies the highest position in Locust society as its Queen, its leadership is also portrayed as containing distinct military, religious and scientific interests beneath Myrrah rather than a uniformly obedient collective. The comic miniseries Gears of War: The Rise of RAAM focuses on these internal structures, which shows the Locust General RAAM encountering opposition from both peers and superiors within the Locust leadership while he attempts to persuade other influential Locust to support abandoning the Hollow for the surface. Besides RAAM, Myrrah receives competing advice from senior figures including military commander Sraak, the Kantus priesthood, and the scientist Ukkon; the resulting disputes include rivalry between commanders, disagreements over religious prophecy and political manoeuvring over military strategy. Myrrah nevertheless retains the final authority to determine the Horde's course and to elevate or remove commanders.