Gears of War: E-Day launched on October 6 for Xbox Series X|S and PC, with early campaign reviews reflecting a strong return for the long-dormant franchise. According to Metacritic, the game earned an average score of 87 across reviewed versions, marking the series' strongest critical reception since Gears of War 3.
Eurogamer reports that developers at The Coalition, Microsoft's dedicated Gears studio, worked through "grueling crunch" during the final months of development. Yet rather than celebrate the launch, the team faces widespread concern about impending layoffs. In July, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced 3,200 job cuts across Microsoft's gaming division, and Coalition staff fear they will not be spared despite their work on this high-profile project. Some workers also worry they may miss out on promised bonuses.
As a prequel, E-Day returns to Emergence Day, when the Locust invaded the planet Sera. The Coalition built the game from scratch rather than reusing code from previous titles, a choice that meant classic features like chainsaw duels and human meat shields were not included at launch. The studio says it is working to add these mechanics in future updates.
The campaign runs 10 to 14 hours on normal difficulty with collectibles and side content, and is available on Game Pass. Reviews highlight strong gunplay mechanics and visual design powered by Unreal Engine 5, calling it one of the engine's best-looking titles to date. The game requires a ray tracing-capable GPU and 115 GB of free SSD space.
