Gears of War: E-Day It is officially scheduled for release on October 6 for Xbox Series and PC via Steam and the Microsoft Store. According to Gematsu, this latest game from publisher Xbox Game Studios and developer The Coalition will also be available through Game Pass.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma confirmed that Gears of War: E-Day will be released as an “Xbox console exclusive.” This confirmation came after the PlayStation 5 version of the game had been rated by Pan European Game Information (PEGI).
PlayStation 5 Version Status
Although the PlayStation 5 version has already appeared in the PEGI ratings, the release of Gears of War: E-Day has been confirmed as an Xbox console exclusive. Giant Bomb reporter Jeff Grubb previously stated that the decision “was just made.”
Grubb later added via Bluesky that there is a PlayStation version of Gears that is essentially nearly complete and stored on a drive. This statement drew attention because it suggests that the PlayStation 5 version had reached a fairly advanced stage of development.
Gears of War: E-Day Pre-Order Bonus
Pre-ordering Gears of War: E-Day will grant early access to the open beta on August 6. In addition, players will also receive bonus in-game items at launch. The Gears of War: E-Day pre-order bonuses include:
- Early access to the open beta on August 6
- Exfil Dom Character Skin at launch
- Exfil Weapon Skin Set at launch
The Story and Setting of Gears of War: E-Day
Gears of War: E-Day is set 14 years before the first Gears of War game. The game tells the story of the events leading up to Emergence Day, when the Locust Horde first emerged from underground and sparked a brutal struggle for survival.
In the campaign, players will follow Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago in an origin story centered on horror, chaos, and the beginnings of a major conflict in the Gears of War universe.
Game Modes
Gears of War: E-Day features a campaign and multiplayer modes that include both PvE and PvP. The Coalition also brings back several signature elements of the Gears series with a fresh take. The main modes in Gears of War: E-Day include:
- Campaign: The brutal origin story of Emergence Day, featuring Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago.
- Horde Siege PvE: A wave-based co-op survival mode featuring a larger scale, more expansive maps, more players, and bigger battles.
- Versus PvP: A 4v4 competitive mode featuring new maps and refined fan-favorite modes.
In Horde Siege, players can choose from the Assault, Marksman, Medic, or Breacher classes. Players will join a four-person squad to battle the Locust, with the possibility of multiple squads working together to complete shared objectives and face a world boss.
Meanwhile, Versus mode offers a Ranked option for players who want to climb the ranks, as well as a Social playlist for more casual matches. The controls and movement have also been modernized to make combat feel more fluid, while still retaining the signature cover-based combat of Gears.
Visuals, Performance, and Technical Features
Gears of War: E-Day was built from the ground up using Unreal Engine 5. Xbox Game The studios say this game is designed to deliver the most immersive Gears experience to date, with a darker atmosphere, more detailed environments, and a more terrifying Locust threat. Technically, Gears of War: E-Day supports:
- 4K resolution and up to 60 FPS for campaign and multiplayer modes
- HDR10
- Hardware-accelerated ray-traced lighting, reflections, and shadows
- Borderless, exclusive, and windowed display modes
- Uncapped frame rate on compatible hardware
- Ultrawide support for 21:9 and 32:9 aspect ratios for gameplay and menus
- Keyboard, Mouse, and Controller Remapping
This game is also optimized for handheld devices, including the Steam Deck, Xbox Ally X, and Xbox Ally. In addition, the optional account linking feature allows players to carry over their progress via roaming saves, connect with friends, send cross-platform invitations, play online co-op for two to four players, and join competitive multiplayer matches for up to eight players on supported platforms.
Gears of War: E-Day will be released on October 6 for Xbox Series and PC via Steam and the Microsoft Store, and will be available through Game Pass.
