One of the biggest Xbox franchises is back: Gears of War and its prequel, E-Day. The game retains the franchise's distinctive cover-based third-person shooter mechanics and the original's atmosphere, emotional tone and outstanding action.
Gears of War: E-Day is a prequel to the original Gears of War game, released in 2006, which was remastered as Gears of War: Reloaded in anticipation of the launch of E-Day last year. Set on Emergence Day, E-Day depicts the moment when the Locust Horde first emerged from beneath the planet Sera and launched a surprise attack on humanity. The story follows young COG veterans Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago as they attempt to survive the invasion of Kalaba city. While the game features new characters such as Lucas Reyes and Mags Carter, it tells not only the typical story of ex-military personnel fighting again, but also manages to incorporate emotional moments of loss and despair into the fight for survival. However, it maintains the tone of the previous three games in the series, remaining, at its core, a dark and brutal cover-based third-person shooter.
In the single-player campaign, players take on the role of Marcus and fight their way through the game, supported by three AI-controlled teammates. As usual, up to four players can team up online in co-op mode. Hopefully, these players will be smarter than the AI-controlled ones, who can sometimes be slow to react. On console, there is a split-screen co-op mode for two players.
Gears of War: E-Day © The Coalition, Xbox
At its core, the game is still a fast-paced, fluid, cover-based shooter. Without using cover, the battle ends quickly – and, of course, the enemies use cover too. Players must therefore move from cover to cover, trying to get closer to their enemies in order to use the iconic chainsaw bayonet in close combat and attempt to flank them. The movement options have also been expanded and include sprinting, sliding, jumping (with a dedicated button) and climbing, offering greater mobility and verticality. This often opens up more opportunities to attack, too. The reload mini-game (Active Reload) is also back. E-Day fundamentally offers the best gameplay the franchise has ever provided.
The action is big, bold and bloody! The battles are intense, the gunplay is the best in the series yet, and the enemy types are varied. As always, it's also extremely brutal. Gears of War: E-Day really shows its true strengths in the linear sections, which feature some spectacular showpieces, especially in the boss battles (against the bullet sponges). However, in between these sections, there are also semi-open levels that allow players to decide where to go first, including optional objectives and collectibles. Here, the game does drag on a bit, even though there are slightly more opportunities to attack. This is more due to the generic side missions with few dynamic attacks and the rather slow pace, though. More linear sections would have been preferable. By the way, items found can be used to upgrade weapons and equipment, allowing players to customise their playstyle.
Gears of War: E-Day © The Coalition, Xbox
From a technical standpoint, Gears of War: E-Day is exceptional. Based on the Unreal Engine 5, the game simply looks outstanding. The destruction is intense, the textures are sharp, and the lighting effects are impressive. On PC, the game supports hardware-accelerated ray-traced lighting, reflections and shadows, as well as Nvidia DLSS 4.5, AMD FSR Redstone, optional Frame Generation and Multi Frame Generation on supported hardware, Variable Rate Shading and a built-in benchmark mode. The soundscape is equally spectacular and compelling. Visually and aurally, the game is a blast.
In addition to the campaign, which lasts between 15 and 20 hours, there are also multiplayer modes, including competitive 4v4 matches with four modes and six maps at launch, as well as a twelve-player co-op mode called Horde Siege. Horde Siege is a reimagining of Gears' co-op wave survival mode, designed for larger maps (three at launch), more players, and larger-scale battles. Players can choose their class (with a maximum level of 30): Assault, Marksman, Medic or Breacher. They can then drop in as a four-player squad to fight back the Locusts. The aim is to conquer shared objectives and take down world bosses. Players can earn rewards and unlock customisation and improvements for their loadout at the end of each match. Following the launch, Horde Siege will be updated with new classes, maps, missions, modifiers and seasonal content. The Coalition is committed to delivering five themed multiplayer seasons after launch, starting with the launch season.
Gears of War: E-Day © The Coalition, Xbox
The Coalition: "Nearly every single item in Gears of War: E-Day can be earned by simply playing the game. That means no battle pass, no tour of duty, no gimmicks, no bullshit. Whether it's a Legendary Character Skin, an Epic Weapon Skin Set or a Rare Pose, almost all of it can be earned through gameplay. There are two primary paths to acquiring new customization items:
Now, there are a few exceptions where an item is pay-only, but those are limited to three types of items:
Gears of War: E-Day was developed by The Coalition, a first-party Xbox Game Studios studio based in Vancouver. The studio was previously known as Zipline Studios, Microsoft Game Studios Vancouver, and Black Tusk Studios. Since Microsoft acquired the franchise rights from Epic Games in 2014, the studio has been working on the Gears of War series, which boasts over 50 million unique users. The Coalition's games include Gears of War: Ultimate Edition (2015), Gears of War 4 (2016), Gears 5 (2019) and Gears Tactics (2020), the latter two of which were developed in collaboration with Splash Damage and Sumo Digital & Disbelief respectively.
Gears of War: E-Day is scheduled for release on 6 October 2026 for PC (via Steam and the Xbox app) and Xbox Series X|S. It will be available on day one with Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. Cloud gaming will be available through Game Pass Ultimate and GeForce Now. The game will be part of the Disc to Digital programme at its release. The Standard Edition costs €69.99. The Premium Edition is available for €99.99. The Premium Edition includes five days of early access (1 October), the Bravo Squad Signature Weapon Pack, the Emergence Customisation Pack, the Four Seasonal Customisation Pack and 1,000 Iron, the premium in-game currency.
The Coalition unleashes a flurry of action with Gears of War: E-Day. The gunplay and brutality are intense. The graphics and sound are excellent. However, the open hub levels do drag on a bit.
