VG247

Gears of War: Judgment co-developer Epic Games unveiled a strange new multiplayer enemy type, the ‘Epic Reaper’. There’s a catch though, as this harbinger of death will be controlled by outstanding members of the Gears community

 Epic Games’ PR Manager Wes Phillips unveiled the Epic Reaper during the studio’s panel session at SXSW over the weekend.

The Epic Games blog has now gone into some more detail on how this will work. Each week Epic will hand-pick a member of the Gears of War community to play as the Reaper, based on their contribution and activity.

Whenever they log on to play multiplayer they will step into the Reaper’s boots. He’s said to be incredibly fast and tough, so if you managed to kill him you will earn a special Reaper medal and custom weapon skin. The person controlling the Reaper will also get a set of custom dog tags for their service.

Here’s a shot of the Reaper:

You can also earn the Reaper bonuses by killing any Epic Games employee while playing, and if you want you can nominate a buddy to be the Epic Reaper on Twitter by using the hashtag #GearsReaper.

So a bit like Demons Souls then? but not quite...

That's a cool idea. It's like a wild card that pops up from time to time. This could become big for people that are into bragging rights. For both getting picked to be a Reaper and for killing one.