Gears of War: E-Day entered early access today for players who purchased the Premium Edition or own the Premium Upgrade on Game Pass, according to Xbox Wire. The game launches officially on October 6 for Xbox Ultimate and PC Game Pass members.
Initial reviews scored high. According to GamesRadar, Metacritic now sits at 88 points, the franchise's best performance since the original Epic Games titles. The score surpasses The Coalition's previous entries: Gears of War 4 and Gears 5 both scored 84.
Critics highlighted significant improvements to gameplay and narrative. Eurogamer states that Gears has never "felt better to play," while PC Gamer praises combat mechanics but criticizes campaign pacing. GamesRadar called it "the best cover shooter experience since Xbox 360," featuring an adaptive cover system that makes each firefight "dynamically chaotic."
The game is a prequel depicting Emergence Day, when the Locusts invade the planet Sera. The campaign takes 10 to 14 hours to complete on normal difficulty with collectible hunting, according to GameSpot. On PC, the title supports DLSS 4.5, AMD FSR 4, and Intel XeSS 3.0, plus Advanced Shader Delivery to reduce shader compilation wait times.
The Coalition has mapped out early content: Season 1 runs through December and includes themed events for Halloween, 20 Years of Gears, and Thanksgiving, each featuring exclusive modes and rewards.
