I didn’t have many expectations when it came to Gears of War: E-Day.
After playing Gears 3 extensively in my youth, the last few entries put me off of the franchise for a variety of reasons. But sometimes, you really have to go back to the beginning in fun new ways to discover that joy again.
E-Day does all of that and more to create one of 2026’s best AAA experiences, and a big-time comeback for the series that should hopefully keep it around for years to come.
All around me are familiar faces
Along with its best-in-class visuals, E-Day is buoyed by its campaign, which is the best in the series since Gears of War 3. The storyline turns back the clock to 14 years before the original game, on Emergence Day, the day that the Locust came up from beneath the surface to invade Sera. And they are the true star of the game.
The Locust are horrifying in this iteration, as they should be. An unknown invader that came from below, with insurmountable numbers and unspeakable horrors. The unknown enemy feels impossible to contend with, and the Gears are struggling with the battle throughout the campaign’s duration.
I was worried that the Locust would feel samey or shrug them off after killing so many over the years, but the way they’re introduced in E-Day makes them a force to be reckoned with, and the horrors they bring with them carry the story through its completion.
The themes of E-Day, like the rest of the series, surround the horrors of war and the grief that comes with it. Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago struggle with it in their own way, as do newcomers Mags Carter and Lucas Reyes. The squad’s bond throughout their terrible ordeal strengthens, making for a memorable campaign that surprised me given that it’s a prequel we all already basically knew the outcome to.
I wrote at length about E-Day’s campaign (seen here) when the early embargo dropped last week, but to put it succinctly, it’s a very enjoyable experience played solo or co-op with friends, offering decent variety and fun combat scenarios. Some may be turned off by some open world segments, but I found them to be a fun change of pace from the standard corridor-like gameplay the series is known for.
Worn out places
From a gameplay perspective, E-Day updates the Gears formula with a new movement system and fun progression that shines in multiplayer and the new co-op PvE mode, Horde Siege.
I was very against the new movement in E-Day at first, but after dozens of hours, I feel like the freedom it allows makes it a necessity in this new era of Gears. The “roadie run” sprint of the previous games feels archaic now in comparison, although I’m sure some hardcore fans of the franchise will disagree.
The new variant of Horde is an “evolution” of the mode that puts multiple squads on a larger battlefield, offering up opportunities for collaboration, or leaving you to clean up the mess of another team that got wiped.
Horde Siege is class-based, with the Assault, Breacher, Marksman, and Medic classes offering different abilities to help survive the onslaught of Locust either in mission form or the classic infinite wave-based variations. Combining abilities, especially on higher difficulties, is the name of the game when it comes to succeeding.
Enemies drop resources you can use to purchase defense items or ammo, and the mode is just plain chaos, and a blast with friends, whether you’re just slaying out or completing objectives around the sprawling map while working together with other matchmade teams. There are also multiple playlists for Horde Siege, separated by match length, with the Blitz variant catered to shorter games, and the classic Horde being a never-ending affair to see how many waves you can make it through. Having that choice depending on how much time you have or what you’d like to play is always a plus.
I’m definitely not at all the multiplayer gamer I used to be, not even close, so I quickly found myself getting utterly curbstomped in multiplayer, meaning I found my home in the friendly cooperative confines of Horde Siege. I can’t wall-bounce or barrel-stuff players like I used to, but even still, the game’s Versus mode only launched with six maps and four modes to play on, leaving some to be desired.
For those looking to the future, devs at The Coalition say it has at least five seasons of post-launch content at the ready, including new maps, modes, characters, skins, limited-time events, and even new classes to rank up and play as in Horde Siege.
As another plus, there are no battle passes or FOMO to be found, and cosmetics are earnable (other than charity-based purchases). So, if you’re into Gears, enjoy the new gameplay movement style, and you seek an investment to dig into for the next year or so (at minimum), then E-Day could be a purchase on your radar.
