Review
Played on: Xbox Series X
Released: 2026
Released: 2026
It's been a while since a brand-new entry in the Gears of War franchise, the remake of the first game released last year, but the last main entry was Gears 5 back in 2019. You can check my reviews of the franchise here.
This new entry is a prequel to the first game, set 14 years prior on Emergence Day. The terrifying moment the Locust broke up through the ground to attack the humans. Prior knowledge to the franchise isn't really a necessity, although I highly recommend playing the first one to get into the lore and feel of the series.
In tone, E-day is in many ways a nod back to how the franchise began; gritty and violent action, combined with horror sections. It's about finding that balance between the horror and action the first game delivered so well. In addition, the scope of the story is dialled down; we're walking the streets of a city, doing one fight after another at each street corner.
Reigniting the franchise with a fresh beginning, getting fresh players onboard and offering a familiar yet refined experience is key. Does E-Day deliver the goods?
Let's rev our chainsaws and take a closer look!
I'm happy to say E-day covers all the elements that a core Gears of War experience needs to be. Like I mentioned; dark, gritty, nasty, scary and violent. It truly leans into the darker sides of the franchise, playfully covering modern Resident Evil ground balancing horror and action. That nod to RE2 where you need to meet up at the police station in the first act? Beautiful.
The story is engaging and because it's a prequel, you can jump straight in here as a fresh player. Should you become hooked, there's five other excellent campaigns to play!
This one is about how Marcus and Dom react to the whole outburst of Locust coming from the depths and surfacing to attack the humans. Having just finished a war against other humans, these two main characters hardly get to catch fresh air before being pulled into war again. This time, however, it's against an alien race buried deep beneath the surface of the earth, the vicious and terrifying Locust.
Newcomers Lucas and Mags are a nice addition to the roster of Gears characters, both having the effects of the Pendulum wars frsh in their memory. This franchise has always depicted the dark side to endless wars and conflicts; rebuilding society, only to see it once again crushed to rubble in yet another conflict. I would've enjoyed even more of a deep dive into Lucas and Mags lives, but I guess that's for another sequel and you get an interesting insight into part of their past at least.
With the opening hour in Kalona City reminds me of roaming the streets of Raccoon City, although here we are right the cusp of a outbreak versus the aftermath, only to carry on to the following day where the streets are at full war. It's an amazing experience, tightly directed to bring everything what Gears great to the surface.
Seeing the city going from a normal evening to rapidly being ripped apart and pulled down by Locust through the following days is incredibly well done. Revisiting areas through the short story timespan truly empthasises how destructive the Locust are and it allows you to feel like you're living through the entire event as each day goes by.
Gears of War has always had excellent gameplay, but E-Day is better still. It's an absolute amazing third person shooter to play. Probably one of the best third person shooters available when it comes to gunplay. Gameplay is in the driver's seat with incredibly satisfying feedback as you rip through skin and bone of Locust with lots of heavy firepower. The animations are fast and smooth with new cool additions in the cover system, allowing Marcus to lie down almost flat in covers that have low shelter from oncoming fire.
With an open world styled map, E-Day offers a ton of weapon and equipment mods to find in hardcases scattered across the city. It's rewarding to find additions like better aim, damage and extended magazines. In addition, there's side missions which reward you even further, helping civilians or battling it out alongside other Gears soldiers.
They've cleverly filled the map with lots to do and find, without falling into the temptation of making the map too big. It's dense and populated, brimming with small detail, rather than vast and empty space.
By alternating between horror and action it feels like varied playthrough and takes me all the way back to what made the first Gears so great in the first place. Through telling the story of how the Locust broke up through the surface and began attacking the human world, has allowed the developers to make the classic enemies fiercer, making you fear them more.
In E-day they seem even more brutal and alien, shocking the main characters with their sudden eruption from below, rather than having seen them through multiple sequels. The classic Locust enemy types have been redesigned to the better, looking fiercer and more dangerous than ever. There's even a few new types thrown in, to put veterans out of their comfort zone and mix up the gameplay.
The whole campaign can impressively be played in up to four players and coop play is something I highly recommend for Gears games in general It's such a fun experience helping each other out and pulling through tricky firefights together as you bunker down behind cover and battle it out while throwing out comments and screams in your headsets!
For newcomers thinking about multiplayer; I'd recommend the Horde Siege mode. Here you are put on a team of four, doing small missions until being evacuated out on a helicopter against computer-controlled Locust. It's a fantastic way to learn the ropes without facing experienced Gears players in deathmatches. Plus, it's an excellent coop mode with friends with various classes and a level system!
Graphically, E-day is nothing short of absolutely stunning. Just like how The Coalition were top of the class with Unreal Engine 4 in Gears 4 & 5, E-day takes lead on being the hands-down most impressive UE5 title to date. In fact, it might be one of the visually most impressive games of the entire generation.
The amount of detail poured into Kalona is incredible, alongside fantastic lighting and full-on moments of all out war scenes. It spans every aspect of close combat in buildings and rooms to large open streets with helicopters buzzing above and the ground crumbling beneath.
From small detail to massive scale, sharp textures, excellent performance and tons of visuals effects, this is a game engine in top gear when it comes to visuals. It's crowded with intricate detail on the environments with a massive amount of geometry detail; every street, building and overhanging bridges and tunnels is filled with finesse.
There's a lot of atmospheric variety to the visuals throughout the campaign. We have neon-lit streets, open city squares surrounded by grand buildings during the day, moonlit woodlands and a red coloured journey to the depths of the Locust tunnels, to mention some!
Then there's the incredibly detailed character models, with just a life like appearance and close-up details in the masterclass. Effects from sparks, light sources and thick smoke just an extra level of fidelity bringing it all together in what must some of the best visuals I have ever seen.
For the Xbox Series X version, I just stuck with the default performance mode, playing this kind of shooter with fast responsiveness is key. For those that don't mind decreasing the framerate, there's a 40fps mode if you have a 120hz TV, or a 30fps graphics mode. Sadly, on three or four player campaign, framerate is locked to 30 fps too.
Choose what you may, but the way UE5 handles details and performance regardless of what you choose on the fly by cutting resolution and effects without compromising an overall superb graphics level, is nothing short of impressive. I gather PC players can crank this up even further on expensive hardware, but the way they've made it shine on Xbox Series X, or Series S for that matter, is breathtaking!
Music score is on point with another eerie and atmospheric menu tune just like the earlier entries. Throughout the campaign there's suitable dramatic scores for big battles or creepy ambience for the dark and creepy parts. Sound engineering is great, with a beefy and rich detail and excellent surround. Firefights sound chunky on the bass and are loud! Also, the voice cast do a wonderful job and there's many returning with familiar voices like Marcus, Dom and Anya.
Overall, an incredibly strong return after a seven-year wait for the series. While I miss the continuation of Kait's story in Gears 5, this nevertheless feels like a smart move. Returning to where it all began is a fantastic way of getting fresh players onboard.
The campaign is just the right length considering its intensity, 10-12 hours, with perfect spacing between dark tension and full action. You can extend the playthrough quite extensively by fully exploring the city, taking on side-missions and finding all the hidden upgrades for the weapons.
My only gripe is the rather low-key ending fight, once again returning to a bridge that has been used in the story twice prior to this. Though, there's no hiding that this is just the beginning of the war with the locust so no grand ending was expected.
I still find Gears 5 to be the bigger and bolder game in terms of scope and ambition, but E-Day is the best experience when it comes to gameplay and condensing down it all down to busy streets and small story. Seeing the city slowly falling apart over a matter of days is fantastic. It helps build a tight timeline to follow too.
Nevertheless, it's one of the best in an overall high-quality series, this one really hits home when it comes to delivering some of the best third person shooting action it there, while smartly combining it with the action horror we're used to from recent Resident Evil release. It looks absolutely stunning and plays magnificent. Highly recommended!
