Do You Need To Play Earth Defense Force 5 Before Earth Defense Force 6?

Do you need to play Earth Defense Force 5 before Earth Defense Force 6? If you’re looking at getting into the cult series for the first time, then it’s an important question.

Do You Need To Play Earth Defense Force 5 Before Earth Defense Force 6?

Ideally, yes, as this is a genuine sequel. The story not only follows along from the end of EDF 5 but also references it almost constantly. There are plenty of things that callback to the game, making it a far richer experience for those who’ve put the time in to not just play Earth Defense Force 5 but also finish it. You’ll miss out on basically all of that if you’ve not played it.

However, if you decide that you don’t want to play it, then you’re not going to be lost on what’s going on really. The references just won’t make you smile. You should be able to figure out the premise pretty quickly, though, and while the difficulty is certainly higher, if you’re used to third-person shooters, you’ll be able to adjust. If, however, you do want to know the story but don’t have time to play over 100 levels of an older game, then let’s jump into spoilers.

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What Happens in Earth Defense Force 5?

You start off in EDF 5 as a civilian just visiting an army base. Life is peaceful at this point, and it’s meant to be an easy gig. However, things very quickly go awry when giant insects start appearing all over the world. This happens so quickly that many don’t even believe it, but it’s true. Things progress quickly, and after several months of trying to get you to safety, you eventually sign up properly.

You then go through constant battles against larger and more dangerous threats while the story unfolds. The EDF keeps offering larger pay bonuses as things go on and more and more of humanity gets wiped out. You then start to hear about an egg-shaped ship that houses what might be the god of the beings invading you, but also possibly just god. The final battles have you fighting against a mighty mothership and then against this so-called god, who constantly summons creatures from nothing and also seems to have learned the power of Psycho Crusher from M Bison.

The EDF does succeed, but the cost of victory was arming civilians in the last moments, and the result is an Earth that’s nigh-on fully destroyed from all of the fighting and a mere 10% of the total human population remaining. While the aliens have seemingly been driven off, the nests of giant insects that remain continue to produce problematic numbers of creatures. This is where EDF 6 kicks things off.

And that’s whether you have to play Earth Defense Force 5 before 6.

Earth Defense Force 6 will be available on PlayStation and PC on July 25, 2024.