I love Gears of War. The original 2006 release was a formative experience for me during my gaming adolescence. Throughout the past 20 years, I’ve played through every game in the franchise, multiple times, both alone and cooperatively with friends and family. Yes, even Judgement, which I think is over-hated, though I’ll agree that they stripped all of the charm from my boy Baird. I’ve put in countless hours into the multiplayer scene as well, raging at wall-bouncing psychos who obliterate me with Gnashers. I’ve even read three Gears of War books and a few of the graphic novels, too. Safe to say, I know my Gears of War, and I love my Gears of War.

Do you know who doesn’t know or love Gears of War? The basement-dwelling weirdos who suckle at Asmongold’s teat and spontaneously combust at the mere sight of a woman or non-white person in their media. Weirdos who have taken to spreading their smelly Jesus’ grift across the dead internet, review-bombing a game they haven’t played, within a franchise they know nothing about. Because if they did know anything about Gears of War, they’d know about Bernadette Mataki. They’d know about Alexandra Brand, Sofia Hendrik, Lahni Kaliso, and Val. They’d know about Anya-f*cking-Stroud and Queen-mother-f*cking-Myrrah. They’d know that the person responsible for expanding the Gears of War universe and its lore, who played a huge part in the narrative of Gears 3 (a fan favourite title, might I add), and wrote four books giving much-needed background on these characters we all love, was a woman by the name of Karen Traviss (she’s the G.O.A.T., by the way).

But they don’t know these things, because they’re not Gears of War fans. I am a Gears of War fan. And as a Gears of War fan who has put in over 35 hours into Gears of War: E-Day, having played through its campaign solo and currently on a second play-through with a co-op buddy, who’s also put in a few hours into the multiplayer, trust me when I say that Gears of War: E-Day is the best game in the franchise since Gears of War 3. It may even be better than 3; it’s definitely better than 1, and the jury’s out on whether it overtakes 2 for the top spot. Trust me, someone who has dedicated hundreds, if not thousands, of hours into this franchise across a variety of mediums; who’s been here since the beginning and through all of the ups and downs, and who really badly wants to rock a durag even though their wife will likely sign divorce papers if they do.

E-Day isn’t perfect. The Coalition could’ve gone farther with certain gameplay and narrative elements to truly make this game a standout. Nevertheless, it’s a tremendous achievement that deserves to be lauded just as much as some of this year’s greatest releases. One that shouldn’t be overlooked because a miserable minority are pushing a grift.

If you’ve gotten this far and are genuinely curious about Gears of War: E-Day and want to know if it’s worth your time and money, as a longtime fan or a newcomer, then please, take a seat and let me, a real Gears fan, tell you all about it.

The Heart

E-Day takes place, as the title suggests, during Emergence Day, 14 years before the events of the original Gears of War. Planet Sera is finally at peace; after nearly eighty years, the Pendulum Wars have, at last, come to a close. Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago return from their mission on Aspho Fields; they are each awarded the Embry Star — the highest decoration in the COG army — and remember Dom’s fallen brother, Carlos. If you want to learn more about the history of the Pendulum Wars and Dom and Marcus’ relationship, I highly suggest reading Aspho Fields by Traviss.

After the ceremony, the two head to a local bar where they take a moment to share a melancholic beer. It’s here where they meet an eager cadet named Reyes and a former Gear named Mags. Shortly after, tremors begin shaking the grounds beneath them. The four head out to investigate, and it’s not long before sh*t hits the fan—fast. Within minutes, horrifying monsters begin erupting from the ground, killing and destroying anything and everything in their sight. You, Dom, and your newly acquainted brother and sister in arms pick up some Gnashers and get to work.

Narratively, E-Day is easily one of the best games in the franchise. Although it doesn’t hit the emotional highs of 2, it has more than a couple of moments that got me misty-eyed, while contrasting those moments with others of genuine fear, shock, and awe. Seeing the city of Kalona be swiftly wrought with death and destruction, in real time, is horrific, and illustrates the unmitigated brutality of the Locust Horde in ways we never really saw before—at least, not to this kind of haunting extent. The way in which The Coalition have you revisit areas in Kalona, with each time showcasing the slow crumbling of this once great city by the brutal hands of the Locust, is a brilliant example of how to do environmental story-telling. There were a couple of times during the second half of the campaign where I was looking around my surroundings and thought I was in a new location, only to realize that it was the same place I’d been in a few acts prior, but it had now been tarnished by the Locust.

Where E-Day truly shines in its narrative is in the character writing. All four of these characters are given love, with each of them having somber moments that give us glimpses into their past and who they are as people. It’s easier to do that with Marcus and Dom, of course, as the duo are beloved characters we all grew up with, whose stories we already know. It’s much more difficult to do that with brand new characters, but The Coalition give both Reyes and Mags depth; they have interesting backstories, don’t always do or say the right thing, and have character flaws that make them human. And The Coalition do that while ensuring to not take the spotlight away from Dom and Marcus. These character moments are heightened by some incredible facial capture work and voice acting. Seriously, E-Day might have some of the best facial animation tech I’ve ever seen—it’s up there with The Last of Us: Part II. It makes for the silent moments between characters — of which there are aptly plenty — all the more powerful as you can see all of the micro-expressions the actors are making, giving you a deeper understanding of what’s being said beneath the surface.

With all of that said, I do think the story overall could have gone a bit further in certain aspects and could’ve taken more risks. Firstly, E-Day shifts the Gears formula to an “open-zone” affair, where you have collectibles and side-quests that fill out the map of Kalona. I’ll touch upon this more in a bit, but in short, it works quite well. However, in terms of narrative, though the way in which you discover these side-quests is great, there’s not a of of meat on their bones in terms of storytelling. I did, however, like that some of them offered a look into the lives of regular civilians.

Furthermore, for as great as the character moments were, I did wish we had more of them. I didn’t feel Dom and Marcus got enough screen time with Reyes and Mags—in terms of cut-scenes, that is. Some of Mags’ storylines did, however, give insight into the corruption of the COGs and their exploitation of workers in imulsion refineries; themes that we never saw or learned much of in previous games, but I did read about in the books. Also, for as haunting as it was seeing Kalona fall in real time, the game never went further with those horror elements. The opening of the game definitely had that, making even a normal Drone feel menacing. However, those early moments moved on a bit too swiftly. I would’ve preferred to experience a slower, more horrifying burn before being dumped into the chaos of it all. Or, maybe I just really love seeing Marcus in denim.

Lastly, the ending left a little to be desired. It wasn’t bad, by any means, just a little underwhelming. Much of this is due to the fact that the main villain, Vraahk “The Impaler” is kinda just…meh. A cruel, brutal, menacing Locust commander who, although does have a great design, offers little else in terms of dialogue and depth. Frankly, I think the Locust Horde overall needed some more narrative heft. Considering this is their first contact with humans, I think it could’ve been a perfect way to showcase, at least a little, who or what they are and their motivations. But we get none of that, and Vraahk just ends up being a fairly forgettable villain—his final boss fight was a little vanilla, too.

With all of that said, this is the most I’ve ever gotten in terms of cinematic gravitas and nuance when it comes to a Gears of War campaign. This is very much the Halo: Reach of the franchise in terms of tone and character writing. Even if The Coalition played it a little safe, this is a story I can’t wait to revisit, again and again, with co-op buddies.

The Eyes & Ears

I’ll keep this part short—Gears of War: E-Day looks and sounds fantastic. The Coalition are using all of what Unreal Engine 5 has to offer to bring forth a truly mesmerizing visual experience. From the lighting to the environmental assets to the colour-work to the aforementioned facial animations, there’s a depth and fullness to the visuals here that’s some of the best I’ve seen in recent years. This is easily one of, if not the, best looking Xbox exclusive.

However, there are some caveats. Firstly, and this might sound nitpick-y but it was a little distracting—the puddles in the game have no physics. You hear the sounds of water sloshing around, but the water is just a static asset. For as many things as you can destroy in the environment, this was an odd and kinda funny omission. On a bigger note, being an Unreal Engine 5 title with forced ray-tracing means the game comes equipped with some of that wonderful noise and graininess that the technology is notorious for. Although things are a little better to my eyes here compared to Halo: Campaign Evolved, it’s still present, and I hate it. I wish there was a way for me to toggle ray-tracing off, even to get some better performance on my Steam Machine, but alas, there isn’t.

Speaking of performance, game optimization on PC is…fine. I was able to get between 45-60fps playing on my Steam Machine at 1080p, medium-high settings, with FSR set to “quality.” Not too shabby for the “GabeCube,” and the game looked great, despite some of that UE5 grain and minor FSR artifacting. What was a little odd was the fact that I didn’t notice too much of a performance gain when fiddling with the settings. Going to FSR “performance” and dialing down some of the settings to low only yielded about a 10-15 fps gain, and even then the gains weren’t consistent as I’d still often dip down into the low 40s. Nevertheless, considering the horrific experiences I’ve had with UE5 titles in the past, I think The Coalition have done a somewhat commendable job here, though I still hope they continue tinkering with optimization with future patches.

As for sound, E-Day brings that gritty, punchy, hefty sound design we know and love from the franchise. Guns and explosions sound awesome, as does slamming into cover, and enemy shrieks and chatter sound haunting. The VO throughout is great, from John DiMaggio’s iconic voice as Marcus Fenix to Elizabeth Faith Ludlow bringing a stoic melancholy to her performance as Mags to all of the side characters, every actor does their part to bring this world to life. In terms of music, though there wasn’t a specific track that stuck with me, I do think the OST and incidental music do a fine enough job of capturing the tone of this world and the moment-to-moment set pieces.

The Controller

As I’ve mentioned in my Gears of War: Reloaded review, there’s something special about Gears of War‘s gameplay. The hefty movement mechanics, the cover-based shooting, the gun-feel, and, of course, the motherf*cking chainsaw. There’s nothing quite like it, and my hope for E-Day was that The Coalition don’t try and reinvent the wheel. Well, friends, I’m happy to report that they didn’t. Actually, they added some stuff to the classic wheel that actually makes it better—a lot better.

Gears of War: E-Day feels amazing to play. It keeps everything we all know and love about the gameplay of Gears, while modernizing it in all of the right ways to make it feel fresh and new. Movement, specifically, is massively overhauled. No longer are you locked into a single, shaky camera angle during a sprint; now you’re able to look around — albeit with limited range — while sprinting to have more awareness of the battlefield. The animation of the sprint looks different (and better), as well. You can slide now, too, as well as jump and climb, and take cover while laying down. Couple all this with a plethora of new environmental assets that take advantage of these new movement mechanics, and the result is a far more dynamic and versatile playing experience that has a level of verticality never before seen in Gears. It makes for a faster paced game, yet doesn’t take away from the heft and “oomph” of playing as a Gear.

As mentioned earlier, the campaign has evolved from being a linear shooter to an “open-zone” experience. It’s still fairly linear, for the most part, but a couple of the acts allow you to explore small sections of Kalona, within which exist side-quests and collectibles. It’s a nice touch, and is implemented well within the narrative as you and your squad of Gears are trying to help the civilians of Kalona. Completing them also gives you weapon mods; these mods are crucial and make your weapons far more capable, from improving their aim to adding a bayonet, all of which can help during more intense firefights later on. You should’ve seen my giddiness when I realized I could add a bayonet to a Gnasher. Mods can also be found in hard cases littered throughout Kalona, which are conveniently marked on your map. The collectibles are also worth going off the beaten path for, as they offer some interesting lore tidbits that flesh out this world and its history.

All of the weapons you know and love are here, and all of them feel as good as you remember them. That being said, a couple of them do seem to have gotten nerfed. The Lancer does less damage than I remember, taking a few more rounds to down certain enemies, and the Gnasher, though still amazing, does seem to be a bit less OP. There are a couple of eyebrow-raising omissions in terms of the combat, though. No longer can you tag enemies with grenades; no longer can you pick up a downed enemy and use them as a shield, and, for reasons beyond my understanding, The Coalition have gotten rid of chainsaw battles. That last one hurt quite a bit. I know it wasn’t a regular occurrence, but whenever it did happen in previous campaigns, chainsaw battles were hype AF.

Speaking of hype moments in the campaign, though E-Day has plenty of harrowing narrative sequences, somber character moments, and thrillingly chaotic firefights that has you go, “wow, this is crazy and awesome,” I did wish there was one or two memorable set-pieces that showcased this game’s budget. You know what I’m talking about; scripted triple-A set-pieces where the developer shows you, “yeah, this game cost us a lot of money.” If only to showcase more of the terrifying chaos with gravitas and to break up the game’s pace, which can get a tad repetitive by the time you reach its final act.

Let’s talk about the multiplayer for a second. Now, I’m not a multiplayer guy. Even though I did put a good amount of time into the multiplayer in previous games, I am by no means an expert. I’ve put in about 10 hours into the multiplayer in E-Day, with the majority of that time being spent in Horde Siege, a PvE mode that’s The Coalition’s new take on classic Horde. Basically, you and three others get dropped into a large map and must activate and defend a doohickey while fending off multiple waves of Locust. Before starting, you pick one of four classes: Assault, Breacher, Marksman, and Medic, each of which have their own perks, weapon load-outs, and special abilities, all of which can be upgraded through leveling up and unlocking mods. During the mission, just like the campaign, your squad can decide to do side-activities, like destroying Locust comm devices or closing sinkholes; doing these side-activities will grant your squad more experience, alongside perks for the mission.

In my opinion, it all works quite well, and the gameplay and upgrade loop is engaging enough to where I can easily see myself pouring dozens of more hours into it—more if a few of my buddies would stop being lazy and come join me. I won’t speak too much on the PvP as I’ve only played a couple of rounds and got my ass handed to me each time, but, for what I did play, it was fun, even if a little scant on content.

The Verdict

Gears of War: E-Day is the best Gears since the original trilogy, potentially even surpassing them. The Coalition have astutely modernized the movement mechanics to add a level of verticality and fluidity never-before-seen in previous games, while ensuring to retain that classic Gears feel in terms of gunplay and heft. Narratively, this is the series’ Halo: Reach moment as it brings a sense of horror and brutality that showcases this story in a harrowing light, even if certain elements don’t go as far as I would’ve liked. Much of the story is propelled by great character moments, which are bolstered by terrific vocal performances and some of the best facial capture work I’ve ever seen. That being said, I still think The Coalition played it a little safe, and would’ve preferred to see these character moments pushed a little further. Still, as a massive fan of the series, I couldn’t have asked for more. E-Day looks and sounds great, it plays even better, it has all the right feels, the multiplayer is fun, and it’s a perfect entry for both longtime fans and newcomers alike. I pray that Team Xbox don’t do The Coalition dirty, and also hope that the sad grifters don’t keep you from playing one of this year’s best releases.

Shaz played Gears of War: E-Day on the Steam Machine with a copy he purchased himself.