Gears of War is BACK.
Gears of War E-Day's campaign is simply fantastic. It is a triumphant return to form for the franchise and one of the best Xbox games in years. I've never been the biggest Gears person but I have always loved the original trilogy and Marcus Fenix's story in specific. Gears 4 and 5 overall missed the mark for me as they just felt too tonally different from what I've come to love from the original trilogy and it seems like the developers felt the same way, As Gears of War E-Day goes back to exactly what made this franchise so great. With Marcus Fenix at its helm once again.
STORY
E-Day is a prequel that takes place about 14 years before the events of the first Gears of War. It follows Marcus Fenix and Bravo Squad during the events of Emergence Day, the very first day the Locust war begun. There is a real sense of an apocalypse level event in the first hour of this story, as the threat of the locust feels genuinely terrifying. The first two acts are masterclass in showing just how horrifying and confusing the Locust invasion felt for the COG forces, as Marcus and those around him slowly figure out the scale of the destruction, seeing this pristine city get torn apart more and more with each chapter felt closest to the prologue of The Last of Us. The tone of this story is entirely bleak, there is practically no sense of hope as humanity is pushed back massively with each passing minute in this story. One of my favorite aspects was how E-Day takes place entirely in one city, and you do re-visit areas multiple times during the story but you witness them get more and more destroyed as the Locust quite literally tear the city apart. By the end, it was nearly unrecognizable. Kalona City itself became a character, seeing this city's amazing architecture, the history of the COG and their alliances, the people who live there and the cozy 70s style aesthetic to the whole place alone became my favorite part of the story. Seeing how some of the most iconic elements of the Gears franchise like how the chainsaw lancer was made, was also another super fun element to this being a prequel.
Each member of Bravo squad gets their moments to shine and each has an arc that they go through during the course of this game. Marcus Fenix himself is only 22 years old during the events of E-Day, he is noticeably younger and less experienced than he is by the events of the original trilogy. Seeing Marcus slowly develop into the leader that he eventually becomes was a huge highlight of the story, alongside the formation of his brotherhood with Dominic Santiago which is pretty much an iconic duo in gaming history at this point. However, the main star of the game for me ultimately felt like it was Lucas Reyes. Lucas is a rookie who just happens to be with Marcus and Dom at the start of the game, and slowly throughout the story, he is consistently the voice of optimism in the squad. Explaining the history of the city and its people, and going through an extremely compelling arc as he opens up more and more throughout the story. It felt like Lucas by far had the most amount of dialogue and screentime of any character in this game, he is the heart and soul of E-Day's story and represents the hope of a new generation of soldiers after Dom and Marcus.
Mags Carter is the fourth member of Bravo team and she represents the average denizen of Kalona. As a former soldier, she is a presence that is actively teaching Marcus how to be there for his team, while also revealing what life was like under the COG, and ultimately what it cost to be a part of this society.
Where the story fully shines is just in its expression of the complete hopelessness and utter loss of humanity against this sudden Locust invasion. The bleak tone never once lets up, and the few moments of humor come across as just the characters attempting to cope with the situation rather than actual comedic moments like Gears 4/5 had.
However, where the story stumbles is in the general lack of agency that the characters exhibit. A lot of the story is just following orders which is fine, but it can make the story feel like it lacks focus at many points. As characters barely speak for hours long stretches as the plot takes a backseat to the action. I would've liked a bit more story out of this as what is there, is genuinely great stuff and easily my favorite story in Gears since the original trilogy.
Overall, the story of E-Day left me incredibly excited for the future of this franchise. I personally don't really want a Gears 6, I'd much rather see The Coalition tackle potentially another prequel involving Marcus inbetween E-Day and Gears of War 1. There is just so much ground to cover in those years, and I personally think Gears is at its best when it is focusing on Marcus Fenix and those around him.
GAMEPLAY
The entire Gears franchise in general always played very similarly, they all have the same general style of movement, same controls and similar enemies. So I was pretty shocked to find that Gears of War E-Day makes some sweeping gameplay changes that vastly improved the Gears formula and feel like a proper evolution of what this franchise has established for so many years.
The biggest change I noticed was how sprinting works, Sprinting is now its own button rather than tied to A as it has since Gears 1, and its far more responsive and less heavy now. Rather than the old duck down and sprint in one direction, the new movement system means there is just far more freedom in which direction you can run while also ducking obstacles. There is also a new slide mechanic which is pretty cool but not that helpful overall in the story mode. Jumping is also now its own button, separate from the cover button which is also a fundamental change as actually jumping over gaps and objects is now a real mechanic that adds to that new mobility that Gears of War E-Day has brought to the franchise.
The sweeping changes to how movement works overall result in E-Day being the most smooth feeling, snappy Gears of War to date. Gunfights feel amazing, thanks to how powerful each weapon feels, the strong gore effects and the iconic cover shooting mechanics of the franchise. I especially love the little detail where you can take cover behind very low walls, making Marcus completely prone just to get behind these. Every single gunfight was fun all the way up until the end of this 17 hour long campaign. Gears was long overdue for a bit of an overhaul to its gameplay and I am very happy E-Day has finally brought that in.
Gears of War E-Day brings back the open world areas from Gears 5, there are multiple open zones here with side missions, a ton of collectibles and areas to explore. This is a welcome addition and a great way to break up the pacing by simply adding variety to the things you can do. It also makes Kalona City's layout quite recognizable, which makes its very fast destruction during the events of the game even more impactful as the literal ground around paths that you previously took, can be entirely gone the next time you return to the area. Side missions are a bit disappointing however as they generally just lack any distinct moments to make them standout. They are all a form of just a side combat encounter without too much story, usually just supporting a group of soldiers fight off a wave of locust and thats it. There are a few side missions that did have a bit more story to them but none were truly great enough to leave a lasting impression.
Outside of the open world segments, the level design across the board is fantastic during the linear levels. There is a ton of variety, from turrent sections, boss fights, large combat encounters across wide open fields to tight corridor gunfights, The Coalition shows a real mastery of third person combat design across the board. It is rare that I enjoy a shooter all the way to the end without getting bored of the gameplay at some point, but E-Day's ability to shake the formula up constantly, makes it one of the best in the genre.
There's some genuinely incredible setpiece moments that will stick in my mind as huge highlights of this game for a very long time. The one at the end of Act 2 might be one of the craziest segments I've played in a while.
I played solo but this campaign is also fully playable in 4 player co-op, its not the first time for the franchise but just for the scale here, it feels special. I will definitely be replaying this in co-op at some point with my friends, as the gameplay overall is just really fun and never lets up.
GRAPHICS & SOUND
The visuals of Gears of War E-Day are jaw-dropping. These are some of the best graphics I think I've ever laid eyes on. Across the board, E-Day consistently had me going "WOW". The art direction is extremely strong, Kalona City has a very distinct look and feel where I kept panning the camera up just to see all the skyscrapers and their imposing designs. And seeing that city get destroyed more and more with each story act made it even more impactful as recognizable landmarks are annihilated by the Locust.
The cutscenes are jawdropping, these are up there with some of the best facial animations in the industry. The emotions are so clearly visible on each character's face, its honestly hard to believe this is running in-engine, especially when faces are covered by dust, grime and blood. They look almost photorealistic. I quite literally could not stop taking screenshots, I took about 85 screenshots and I am not even a big screenshots guy. It is an actual crime that they made a game this visually stunning and did not include a photo-mode.
I also have to give a special mention to the sound design in E-Day, it elevates every single combat encounter and story moment ten fold. Weapons feel extremely powerful and weighty, there's a real impact to each shot, each explosion and the Locust genuinely sound terrifying when they emerge from their holes. It also helps that the surround sound here is on point, making it quite easy to pinpoint exactly where enemies are coming from, which is something I never really utilize in story games but it works perfectly here.
PERFORMANCE
The one place where E-Day struggles unfortunately is performance on PC. While the game runs perfectly fine during most linear encounters, for example Act 1 & 2, Gears of War E-Day suffers from an extreme issue with stuttering whenever wide open areas are introduced, this is especially noticeable towards the end of Act 3 and early on in Act 4. These stutters were so impactful, they almost made the end of Act 3 feel like a slideshow to playthrough. I have no clue what is causing these major stutters, but it seems like it is extremely demanding from the CPU so if you don't have a top of the line CPU, you will experience these heavy stutters.
I have an RTX 5080 and while frame rates were pretty great throughout the game, even with RTX mega geometry turned on. But I could not fix those stutters even at the lowest settings. They seem to be tied to something within the Unreal Engine 5 for this title in specific, so I am hoping The Coalition fixes this post-launch.
FINAL VERDICT
While this franchise was never as lost as Halo is, it cannot be understated just how much E-Day is a return to form, this is one of the best games in the Gears of War franchise and one of my favorite Xbox Game Studios title of the decade.
GEARS OF WAR E-DAY - 9/10 - AMAZING
Special thanks to XBOX for providing a review copy.