Overview
Gears of War: E-Day is a prequel in the Gears of War third-person shooter series, developed by The Coalition with People Can Fly and published by Xbox Game Studios. It was announced at the Xbox Games Showcase in June 2024 and is built on Unreal Engine 5. The story takes place 14 years before the first Gears of War, on Emergence Day, when the Locust Horde rose from underground. A young Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago try to survive in the collapsing city of Kalona.
OtaHub's take
The familiar cover-shooter foundation remains: Active Reload, the chainsaw-equipped Lancer and the Gnasher shotgun. The Coalition adds an adaptive cover system that lets almost any object in the city serve as cover, along with more flexible movement. Scarce ammo and weapon mods found around the city significantly change how fights play out. According to OtaHub's review roundup, the game also tries to bring horror back, with the Locust presented as a threat humanity does not yet understand.
The campaign supports one to four players online and two-player split screen on console, alongside 4v4 versus and Horde Siege. The game has gone gold, pre-install opened on 29 September 2026, Premium Edition owners can play early from 1 October, and the full release lands on 6 October at 15:00 UTC on Xbox Series X|S and PC via Xbox and Steam, day one on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. The PC version requires a graphics card with hardware ray tracing.
Verdict
E-Day suits longtime fans who want to see where Marcus and Dom began, and newcomers too, since it is the starting point of the timeline and needs no knowledge of later games. Game Pass subscribers can try it from day one. PC players should check the specifications carefully, especially the hardware ray tracing requirement, before buying.
