Gears of War: E-Day Review

The Coalition returns the series to Emergence Day, giving Marcus and Dom a stronger story while blending classic Gears combat with new exploration, weapon mods, and co-op features.

Gears of War has always been more than a third-person cover shooter filled with oversized weapons, monsters, and chainsaw executions. The series became memorable for its character relationships, especially between Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago, and for action built around co-op play.

The original Gears of War established that formula on XBOX 360, combining cover shooting, brutal action, memorable characters, and a campaign you could play with friends. Later games expanded the formula, with Gears 2 and Gears 3 becoming key parts of the series before The Coalition took over with Gears 4 and Gears 5.

Gears of War: E-Day takes the series back before all of that. 

Instead of continuing directly from Gears 5, Gears of War: E-Day travels 14 years into the past to the day the Locust first emerged from beneath Sera. That decision is particularly notable because you already know Marcus and Dom survive Emergence Day, so the story doesn't have to depend on whether its two main characters make it out alive.

Instead, Gears of War: E-Day focuses on showing where these characters came from, what their friendship looked like before the events of the original game, and what the world was like when nobody understood what was happening. This also gives you a closer look at how Marcus and Dom handled the sudden collapse of the world they thought they knew.

The Coalition also uses Gears of War: E-Day to bring back the feel of an old-school co-op shooter while still making it feel modern. You get a campaign designed around cooperation, four-player online support, local split-screen on Xbox, updated movement, dense environments, weapon customization, and new tactical abilities. 

The story begins with Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago returning from the 79-year Pendulum Wars. Rather than immediately throwing them into another battle, the opening shows what the two men want after spending so much of their lives fighting. Marcus is already thinking about reenlisting and wants to stay stationed with Dom, while Dom is considering returning home to Maria and his two young children. 

That peaceful transition does not last.

The Locust suddenly emerge from underground, forcing Marcus and Dom to deal with an enemy they don't understand. They eventually find themselves alongside former Gear Mags Carter and rookie Gear Lucas Reyes, forming Bravo Squad as the COG attempts to organize its defenses.

 One of the story's better choices is that Mags and Reyes aren't simply background characters standing beside Marcus and Dom. The game gives them meaningful sections and enough character development to make their experiences matter. Their presence also makes the campaign feel like a squad story rather than just another chapter in Marcus and Dom's lives.

The story works because the characters face something that feels completely unknown to them. You may already understand what the Locust are, but Marcus, Dom, and the rest of Bravo Squad do not. That difference gives the opening sections a genuine sense of uncertainty. Gears of War: E-Day also uses the prequel setting to fill in details that longtime fans have wondered about, including the transition from the Retro Lancer to the chainsaw-equipped Lancer. 

The plot is relatively straightforward, with Bravo Squad generally moving from one objective to the next as the invasion spreads.

The character moments are where the writing shines. Each squad member carries something from their past, and those smaller conversations give the campaign breathing room between firefights. Gears of War: E-Day also balances the darker material with humor and Marcus' familiar attitude, so the story does not become completely miserable despite showing how brutal the first days of the Locust invasion are.

Because you play as a younger Marcus and Dom, their movement feels more natural and flexible, with longer jumps, sliding, quicker traversal, and the ability to move between different cover levels. You can also slide into cover and use different cover heights, including new prone animations.

The campaign also fuses smaller open areas with traditional linear levels. These areas aren’t as expansive as the open environments introduced in Gears 5, but they allow you more room to explore parts of Colona in between missions. As you navigate the city, you will come across side objectives, collectibles, locust encounters, hidden objects, and challenging cases.

This structure provides you with a reason to look around, not just follow the main objective. Side missions can tell small stories about ordinary soldiers and civilians caught up in the invasion. One example is a soldier who refuses to leave his sniper position, which transforms what appears to be just a simple optional task into another view of how people are coping with the disaster. 

The open sections also work differently depending on how you play. In single-player, stopping to search every corner can sometimes interrupt the forward momentum of a Gears campaign. In co-op, however, the same design becomes more useful because players can split up, search for different challenging cases, and tackle optional objectives together.

Co-op remains one of the strongest parts of the overall experience.

Four players can control Marcus, Dom, Mags, and Reyes, each with equal control rather than simply following the host. The host saves story progress, but players can drop in and out with minimal interruption. Two-player split-screen is also available on Xbox, though not on PC. 

The new weapon and customization systems give the exploration another purpose. Weapons can now be modified using upgrades found in hard cases and earned through optional objectives. Each weapon starts with two mod slots, and you gain more as you progress. Mods can improve scope zoom, accuracy, magazine size, and other weapon characteristics. 

Tactical gear expands that idea further. These abilities have cooldowns and can shape your approach to combat. You can combine weapon mods, armor choices, and tactical abilities to create a build that suits your preferred style. This gives you a little more freedom to experiment without making Gears of War: E-Day feel like a full RPG.

A more aggressive player might combine the chainsaw Lancer with the Ripper and use an adrenaline-based ability for healing and defense, while another player might focus on a Longshot and support abilities. The options are not endless, but they are enough to make different players approach the same encounters differently.

Combat remains the main reason to play Gears of War: E-Day is that it does a good job of making familiar Gears mechanics feel useful again. The weapon selection includes the Nasher, Lancer, retro-style weapons, Longshot, Breachshot, Incinerator, Ripper, Torque Bow, and other firearms.

Each has a clear purpose, so switching weapons isn't just about choosing the highest-damage gun. The Nasher works well at close range, the Longshot offers precision, and the Breachshot delivers strong stopping power without feeling as cumbersome as the Longshot.

The game also uses its Emergence Day setting to make the weapons feel less effective at the beginning.

These soldiers are fighting an enemy they were never prepared for, and some Locusts can absorb an uncomfortable amount of ammunition. As the fight progresses, this issue becomes even more noticeable. Instead of immediately feeling like an unstoppable Gear, you can feel overwhelmed by enemies rushing toward you, which fits the story because Marcus and Dom are still learning what they are fighting.

Enemy behavior adds another layer to the battles. Locusts can flank, suppress you, throw grenades, attack at close range, and revive their teammates. The arenas also have multiple floors and several possible enemy entrances, so you cannot always stay behind the same cover.

Because there is no traditional minimap or compass constantly telling you where threats are located, sound becomes an important part of combat. Hearing footsteps or a locust moving from another direction can tell you your current position is no longer safe. This makes paying attention to your surroundings just as important as aiming and taking cover.

The downed system also makes larger battles more tense. One source noted that there is a limit to how many times you can be knocked down during a battle before the next knockdown results in death. That means revival isn't an unlimited safety net. When you've already been downed several times, another large enemy wave can feel much more dangerous because you know one mistake may end the fight.

The biggest combat weakness is inconsistent ally behavior when you are downed.

In some situations, an AI teammate can stand close to you without reviving you, run away, or simply fail to reach you. One playthrough reportedly encountered this several times across a 15-to-18-hour campaign. Four-player co-op naturally removes most of that frustration because another human player can revive you, but inconsistent AI remains an issue for solo players and would benefit from improvement.

Boss encounters are another area where Gears of War: E-Day sometimes falls short of its regular combat. The bosses can be visually impressive and memorable, but several fights mainly ask you to keep shooting while avoiding attacks. One encounter adds more mechanics by combining enemy mobs, new emergence holes, and environmental pillars you can use against the boss. 

The progression system isn't based on traditional XP grinding. Instead, you progress mainly by finding weapon mods, completing optional objectives, unlocking additional mod slots, and gaining new tactical options. That approach encourages exploration without turning the campaign into a level-grinding exercise. 

E-Day looks strong, especially in lighting, destruction, and environmental detail. Colona's Gothic architecture gives the city a distinct identity, while the destruction technology makes battles feel physical as the environment breaks apart. Gears of War: E-Day also moves through very different locations, including ruined city streets, dark Locust caves, industrial areas, and quieter mountain environments. 

The atmosphere is just as important as the visuals. Gears of War: E-Day brings back a horror element that some longtime players associate more strongly with the original Gears of War. You can hear Locust screaming somewhere in the distance without immediately knowing where they are, and some environments contain disturbing scenes involving civilians.

The sound design supports that atmosphere during combat.

Without a minimap or compass constantly showing you your location, you listen more closely to footsteps, enemy noises, gunfire, and the world around you. Weapon feedback is also given special attention, with reloads showing physical details such as individual shotgun shells being inserted and audible clicks accompanying the process. 

There are technical difficulties, however. One source encountered a problem where the X button stopped responding during the opening mission, preventing doors from being opened and ammunition from being collected until the checkpoint was restarted. Another co-op session had broken objectives, missing enemy spawns, failed scene triggers, revive problems, and a player stuck inside a bar. 

Performance also has some rough edges. One source noted occasional frame-rate hitches even in performance mode on XBOX Series X. For that reason, they didn't recommend the higher-quality 30fps mode at the time of testing. The overall presentation remains impressive, but these technical problems keep Gears of War: E-Day from feeling completely polished.

Gears of War: E-Day works because it knows what made the series good in the first place. Cover shooting, heavy weapons, brutal executions, memorable characters, and a co-op campaign are all here, and Gears’ defining features are all present and correct. It instead adds faster movement, smaller open areas, weapon modifications and tactical gear, and more exploration without losing the feel of Gears of War.

The story works so well because it gives Marcus and Dom more backstory and makes the new members of Bravo Squad more important in their own right. Knowing Marcus and Dom survive doesn't completely remove the tension because the game is more interested in showing how frightening Emergence Day was for everyone who experienced it. 

The campaign also benefits from co-op play.

Four-player co-op, character-specific roles, build customization, optional objectives, and exploration give you plenty of reasons to replay missions with a different group. Horde Siege adds another cooperative option, placing three squads of four players on the same Colona map and giving them individual objectives that sometimes require cooperation. 

Horde Siege also has progression tied to classes, weapons, and mods. Different mission types can last roughly 20 minutes to an hour and offer multiple difficulty levels. Secondary objectives, such as closing emergence holes or eliminating high-value targets, can reward squad perks that benefit the entire team. 

Gears of War: E-Day could have improved in some areas, though. It would benefit from a few more boss mechanics; some locations are revisited, and the open areas sometimes feel less focused than traditional linear missions. The AI revive problems and technical bugs also stand out. 

Still, the overall package feels like a confident return to the identity that made Gears special. The game gives you a younger Marcus and Dom, a terrifying first encounter with the Locust, a campaign built for cooperation, and enough new systems to keep the formula from feeling completely unchanged. 

For longtime fans, Gears of War: E-Day feels less like another attempt to modernize Gears and more like a reminder of why the series became important in the first place. It keeps the heart of Marcus and Dom's relationship, brings back the fear of the Locust, and adds enough new ideas to make another trip through Sera worthwhile.