by Game of Review Team · published 2026-10-16 · updated 2026-10-18
Gears of War: E-Day
$69.99 · 73% positive on Steam · Our score: 7.4/10
Gears of War: E-Day price and system requirements Read our reviewWhat Gears of War: E-Day actually is
E-Day is The Coalition's origin story for the Gears franchise, built in Unreal Engine 5 and set years before the first game, on the day the Locust Horde first surfaces and tears the world apart. You play a younger Marcus Fenix alongside a new lead, Mags Carter, working through a civil defense unit as everything goes to hell in real time. The campaign runs roughly 10-12 hours, and the package also ships with Horde Siege, a 4-player co-op wave mode, and a 4v4 Versus multiplayer mode.
It launched in full on October 6, 2026, after a head start on October 1 for Premium Edition buyers. It's on Steam and PC Game Pass as well as Xbox Series X|S, standard edition priced at $69.99 with a $99.99 Premium tier.
Good numbers, messy reviews
By the numbers, E-Day is doing well: it peaked at over 20,000 concurrent Steam players during early access, roughly double what Gears 5 ever managed at its best. Critics are largely on board too, with aggregate scores sitting in the high 80s.
Steam's own user reviews tell a messier story. Right now the game sits at a "Mostly Positive" rating, with positive reviews outnumbering negative ones by a little more than 3 to 1. The complaints clustering at the top: no chainsaw duels, no melee grabs, a campaign some players call flat, and a reduced role for Marcus and Dom in favor of Mags Carter, which a vocal chunk of the fanbase is reading as a bait-and-switch.
Quick specs
- Developer: The Coalition — Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
- Genres: Action, Adventure (third-person shooter)
- Modes: Single-player campaign, Horde Siege co-op, Versus multiplayer
- Price: $69.99 standard / $99.99 Premium Edition
- Platforms: PC (Steam), Xbox Series X|S, included with Game Pass
Who it's for: Gears fans who want to see Emergence Day finally depicted on screen, and anyone who likes meaty UE5 third-person shooters, though if multiplayer and series rituals like the chainsaw bayonet matter most to you, it might be worth watching reviews settle before paying full price.
Our take
A AAA prequel that skips chainsaw duels and shifts focus to a new lead character was always going to rattle a fanbase that's spent two decades with Marcus Fenix front and center. But a 76% positive score next to high-80s critic scores reads less like a broken game and more like nostalgia colliding with reinvention, the kind of split that often narrows once people get past the opening act. The bigger question is whether Horde and Versus hold onto players once the campaign discourse cools off, since that's historically where Gears games make their real money.
Sources
Gears of War: E-Day
$69.99 · 73% positive on Steam · Our score: 7.4/10
Gears of War: E-Day price and system requirements Read our review