Gears of War: E-Day Review: Cover Story

Fenix Rising

Our history with the Gears of War franchise has been an interesting one, since we’ve played through nearly every entry as a group, with Gears 5 being the one exception. For the most part, we’ve really enjoyed our time with the series’ co-op campaigns. The franchise’s story and its characters are pretty generic, though they do have their small moments that keep Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago relevant after all these years.

Ever since E-Day was first revealed in 2024, I’ve thought it was an interesting choice that The Coalition, with People Can Fly on board as co-developer, decided now would be a good time to do a prequel. Prequels are always a risk, especially when there isn’t that much depth to characters like Marcus and Dom, even after all these entries. To go back and look at their origin story, I felt like there had to be something worth exploring there. Turns out, the focus is on Emergence Day, the day the Locust Horde first emerged from beneath Sera’s surface, more so than the characters.

Kalona Calling

Where Gears of War: E-Day really hits high marks for us is in how it depicts the fall of Kalona, the industrial city where the campaign plays out over the course of three days. The game deliberately has you revisiting certain areas throughout the campaign, so you get a good look at the fallout from the Locust emergence. This is a game that uses its environment to tell a story, and really, Kalona is the main character.

There’s a true sense of dread as things go from “what the hell is going on” to “how do we even stand a chance against this army.” We also enjoyed some of the game’s horror-lite elements, especially its use of color and lighting to build up suspense. It might not be the deepest story, but it does a very good job of putting you in the shoes of Marcus, Dom, and newcomers Lucas Reyes and Mags Carter.

Squad Goals

Speaking of Lucas and Mags, they’re fine as new characters, though I think it can be a bit awkward introducing new faces in a prequel like this. Longtime fans will want more of Marcus and Dom, and understandably so. If you’re going to introduce new characters who clearly don’t show up in the original Gears of War, you have to have something very compelling with them. Unfortunately, they were pretty middle-of-the-road for us, and while we didn’t find them offensive in any way, they also won’t really stick with you.

Now is a good time to mention that I believe Gears of War: E-Day is actually the start of a possible new trilogy. I have a feeling there’s going to be a more immediate follow-up to E-Day, and that the connection to the original Gears of War is still a long way off. Remember, the original Gears of War, which was remastered as Gears of War: Reloaded in 2025, takes place 14 years after E-Day, so The Coalition has a lot to work with if it wants to. I imagine Lucas and Mags would play a bigger role if The Coalition follows E-Day with direct sequels.

Slide to the Left

If you enjoy the Gears of War franchise and you know what you’re going to get with E-Day, you’re going to have a blast. Our 12.5-hour experience was just that: plenty of fun, especially since we enjoy cover shooters in general. While the gameplay hasn’t evolved into something entirely new, that tried-and-true formula still feels so satisfying to play, and very few games do it as well as Gears of War. The Division is about the only other cover shooter we’d enjoy playing for hours on end.

While the new additions don’t change up the formula, they do help the game feel a bit more modern. Sprinting now begins with a brief Roadie Run-style hunch, and you can slide out of a sprint to get low, slip under vehicles and gaps, or get into cover from a distance, all while still being able to shoot. For the first time in the series, you can jump and climb onto walls, ledges, and vehicles without entering cover first. Cover has more options too, with low walls you can crouch behind, the ability to drop prone when that cover gets shot away, and openings like car windows that you can aim and shoot through. Bullets now have travel time as well, so you’ll need to lead targets at a distance, and smoke grenades actually block enemy sightlines.

Locust and Loaded

Active Reload, the little timing minigame that rewards you for hitting the sweet spot on the reload bar, is back, and the Gnasher and Breechshot now use a round-by-round version of it that lets you load a round or two without committing to a full reload. The game also adds ways to modify your equipment and build a loadout, and some of the new toys are very entertaining to try out. I ended up sticking with the Breechshot and the Ripper light machine gun, but there were definitely moments where the Gut-Puncher was fun to swap into. Of course, there are also heavy weapons for causing all sorts of mayhem.

Loadouts are changed at Supply Caches scattered throughout the campaign, where you can equip mods for your weapons, armor, and tactical gear like the Adrenaline Injector. You do find yourself looking forward to tracking down Hard Cases, the yellow containers that unlock new mods and slots, to expand what’s available to you and your loadout. Some of the modifications are pretty much what you’d expect, but at least there’s some sense of personalization here.

Scenic Route

Gears of War: E-Day is still mostly linear, but a handful of chapters open up into larger zones you can explore. You can’t freely explore the entire city due to obvious limitations, but there’s a little bit of freedom in those areas. There are secondary objectives scattered throughout them, some of which are as generic as can be, while others are slightly entertaining. Toward the end of our playthrough, we found ourselves skipping them, as they didn’t feel very meaningful to do.

Visually, this game is stunning, and it does feel like we’re finally getting the “next-gen” games that were promised with this console generation. Sticking to the main story and exploring Kalona and its nearby areas as it falls to the Locust is a visual treat. Performance ran fine on my PC, though I do believe your mileage may vary depending on how your setup compares to the official PC specs. We did briefly run into sign-in problems on October 11, but they were pretty short-lived. Audio is another standout, with one of the most satisfying “squish” noises any game has ever delivered for a well-placed headshot.

Pass Muster

The best thing I can say about Gears of War: E-Day is that it continues the series’ tradition of satisfying gunplay in a cover shooter, and it doesn’t disappoint at all in the gameplay department. There are huge spectacles with massive bosses, and even the standard fights from arena to arena are extremely enjoyable. The moment-to-moment gunplay is some of the best the genre has to offer, and it’s that much better when played with a friend or three. You shouldn’t jump into E-Day hoping for a memorable story or cast of characters, though, since it’s as generic as it comes, and you don’t get much more out of Marcus and Dom.

Our campaign took about 12.5 hours to complete, and I could see it reaching around 15 if you spend more time on the side content, which makes Gears of War: E-Day a hard buy at $69.99. It really is the perfect Game Pass title, though, since it launched day one with Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. Subscribe to enjoy it, and hop into the other Gears of War games if you’ve never played the rest, because it’s an excellent franchise under the XBOX name. I do hope The Coalition lives up to its promise that the next Gears of War game won’t take nearly as long to arrive, because we’re already hungry for more.

Gears of War: E-Day has an official release date of October 6, 2026, for XBOX Series X|S and PC. This review covers the campaign only and is based on a copy of the game provided as part of Game Pass on PC, running an AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D, TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert DDR5-6800 CL36 96GB (2x48GB) RAM, and an MSI GeForce RTX 5090 Gaming Trio OC. While FullCleared does have affiliate partnerships, they do not influence our editorial content. We may, however, earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.

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