The Coalition knew they needed to nail Gears of War: E-Day. Not only has this been the longest gap between mainline entries that weren’t remasters or remakes, but they were locking in on telling a story so many fans have been waiting for an in-game rendition of. E-Day, short for Emergence Day, is the whole reason Gears exists as a franchise. It’s when the Locust Horde emerged from the depths of the planet Sera to launch a brutal, exacting campaign of violence and conquest. It is the linchpin for its story, characters, and cold, dark, militaristic world. To get this wrong would be a massive blight on the series.
They say you should only compare yourself to your former self. In that regard, E-Day constantly tries to outdo itself. It succeeds at just about every turn. Set pieces get better, character moments become more impactful, and the emotional tone of the game is compounded and progressed in immensely satisfying ways. To be honest, it also outdoes previous entries in a lot of these manners as well. So what do you call a game that is its series’ best entry overall? Pretty damn great, that’s what.
Editor’s note: This is our review of the single-player campaign. Check back later for a multiplayer review!
A Horror Unearthed
Just a short while after the bloody, decades-long Pendulum Wars, humanity is tasked with something completely unprecedented. The Locust Horde is unlike anything ever faced, capable of upturning entire cities in hours. They flood the surface with all manner of monster to slash, gash, and impale anyone close by. Their leader Vraahk is one of the most imposing villains in the series. He employs a level of savagery that makes for some of the most obscene violence in series history, too. The problem is that this means making an enemy of Gears soldiers, the army of the Coalition of Ordered Governments, or COG.
“As a Longtime Fan, It’s Endearing to See These Earlier Glimpses into Marcus and Dom”
E-Day sees Gears flagship man Marcus Fenix, and his brother for life Dominic Santiago, mourning the loss of Dom’s actual brother and Fenix’s squadmate, Carlos. Trying to put the horrors of war behind them and reintegrate back into civvy life, it’s all upended one night in the city of Kalona, turning a forlorn drink at a bar into a fight for survival along with COG retiree Mags Carter, and newbie cadet Lucas Reyes. These four – dubbed Bravo Squad officially – are the blood, heart, and soul of E-Day.
As a longtime fan, it’s endearing to see these earlier glimpses into Marcus and Dom. Though they are far from young or naive, E-Day tests them to the core. It forces them to dig deep as they get sent on task after task by commanding officers to prop up a doomed city under siege. Mags is a vet herself, retired after contracting an illness you learn more about as the game progresses, but still has more than enough fight in her to be the spearhead of any mission. Lucas is the lovable FNG, anxious and untested, but his heart is absolutely in the right place, dutiful and spunky.
As Above, So Below
E-Day’s campaign is tight yet explosive. There’s a scale of destruction here that no Gears has managed to pull off yet. The implication might seem obvious – technological advances have certainly assisted in this over time – but it goes beyond the surface. The things you see like the level of environmental destruction in small-scale battles are cool, but it means more on the macro level. Throughout E-Day, you see Kalona transform from an urban sprawl to decimated, destitute husk and mass grave.
“Walking Around Kalona is Genuinely Harrowing”
Gears games have long flirted with horror vibes, playing up the creepy factors of the Locust and even employing some decent scares along the way. E-Day smartly turns that up substantially here. For a game rooted in sci-fi and light fantasy, it’s still fairly realistic. You see the abject terror Kalona’s citizens endure during the E-Day attacks. You find bodies piled up against subway station gates, trapped for easy prey for the Locust patrolling the streets. Civilians flee on foot only to be shot in the back by a foe with no rules of engagement nor mercy.
In practice, it feels immense. Walking around Kalona is genuinely harrowing. It alleviates slightly in the game’s open areas where you’re free to explore for collectibles and find side objectives, but the carnage remains ever present. Even when venturing outside of Kalona, there’s this sense of dread and feeling that the world is dying from the inside, because it is.
Old COG, New Tricks
Tonally, E-Day is incredible and effective. Bravo Squad absolutely has their work cut out for them from the get-go. If only it were as easy as playing the game itself. Built from the ground up, The Coalition had the ridiculous task of keeping the soul of Gears alive while iterating positively on it. Somehow, they did it. The weight and symphonic violence are all intact, as they should be. The designs of the world and characters are chunky bulwarks of hope in a hopeless world, as they should be. The gamble was the new stuff and I must say, they were gambles were making.
The biggest changes by far are to movement. You can manually jump in a Gears game now! Something taken for granted feels revolutionary in a series where everyone’s historically moved like cows in shopping carts. You can climb up on high ground, even taller installations like freezers in a grocery store. Get the drop on some Locust drones with your trusty Gnasher shotgun with a well-timed jump. E-Day’s world is obviously tailor-made with this in mind so there’s more verticality than you might expect. You also get a nice slide ability which is more traditional than the “roadie run” we’ve grown accustomed to. It doesn’t match the wild movement tech in other hardcore shooters, but it opens up more action and strategy.
“No Matter What You Shoot, Everything Has a Nice, Varied Feel To It”
New weapons meld with old favorites in awesome ways. I loved the new Imulsion-spraying Incinerator shotgun that was like firing an acid blunderbuss. The blade affixed to the stock is useful for quick-killing those annoying little Crawlers, too. Carrying it with the revamped Breechshot rifle makes for a great duo. The Boomshot isn’t in a portable form yet so E-Day gives us the Heavy Boomshot. It has several rounds and equips like other heavy weapons like the Mulcher for big damage. You even get a Lancer assault rifle – the one with the chainsaw – origin story.
No matter what you shoot, everything has a nice, varied feel to it. All loadout weapons can be modified with attachments that affect aiming, accuracy, and ammo. Sometimes, usually between game sessions, mods can disappear from weapons so you have to reequip them which is an annoyance.
The biggest additions to your arsenal are special abilities that bolster your functionality in the field. You can deploy a Pulse Drone to highlight enemies which is very helpful for darker areas. How about drop a Stim Vaporizer to heal you and your squad? These are two examples of the four cooldown-based abilities you can manage. They can be modded to alter functionality with perks found hidden in hard cases all over the game which means it’s absolutely in your best interest to take some detours here and there. These abilities are indispensable for tougher fights.
Fans of recent iterations of Horde mode should be familiar with how they work along with new ordnance. Instead of a grenade, you can also carry razor wire traps, decoys, and little turrets to get more shooters on your side. They’re not as useful as grenades in most scenarios, but fun options for more defensive tasks. These additions aren’t as great as the aforementioned abilities, but they’re appreciated nonetheless.
Total Annihilation
E-Day as a story and gameplay endeavor has supreme momentum. You’re never inundated with the open, explorable regions to dull their shine, and the more conventional aspects are changed up enough to stay fresh. Even when returning to Kalona as often as you do, it’s catastrophically transformed as if it were a character itself. Massive sinkholes caused by the Locust swallow up entire buildings and city blocks. Pathways drastically change so you’re not treading the same ground the same way each time. The only downside is some sketchy checkpointing that may lead to you redoing some required fights if you go chase secondary objectives. There was never a dull moment. I have my favorites, but mostly ones I won’t spoil because, wow.
It’s also a profoundly beautiful game, even on XBOX Series S. Fidelity is sacrificed and hair looks wonky, sure, but the art direction and lighting do wonders for this game. Gone are the days of the muddy, washed out, brown colors of the first couple games. Animations are better than ever, effects are striking, and, some glitching and odd pop-ins aside, it’s the best Gears has ever looked.
“Really, E-Day Feels Like It Best Understands What Gears of War is All About”
I love how the Locust are gradually introduced as well. There’s this procedural hierarchy to it that functions as good escalation of challenge and gameplay, but also in the world-building itself. Characters react just as we might at seeing a naked, armorless Brumak that’s… honestly kind of cute. It’s just a big lizard dude, and that’s basically how characters refer to the Locust as with these general descriptors before they’re given names or even a stated purpose. As alluded to before, there’s a level of realism that makes E-Day feel impactful. It’s not trapped in its prequel framework. It revels in the opportunity to tell this story with a sophisticated ignorance and almost dramatic irony that’s rarely pulled off this well.
Running a prequel story is never an easy move. You have to find ways to express or communicate major events and lore in compelling ways. I will say the story isn’t groundbreaking (pun intended I suppose), but the characters carry it on their backs. Bravo Squad is subjected to hell and still retain an unbreakable camaraderie. The Gears in the periphery like fan-favorite Tai Kaliso or your CO Captain Grey color in the falling world around them. Soldiers are lost and it’s always met with a crashing emotional weight that yet another person is dead. For Bravo, a loss is yet another reason to fight on, not give up, and do good so others won’t experience that pain.
To The End
Really, E-Day feels like it best understands what Gears of War is all about. While brotherhood, duty, and persistence have always been pervading themes, E-Day hits differently and harder. It also touches on over-industrialization, corporate greed, dispensability of the working class by the ruling class, government treachery, and a lot more. The Coalition took a story we’ve all known about in some way and brought it to life in all its affecting glory. It gave us new characters to latch onto and see ourselves in. We have new tools with which to accomplish Herculean feats with, defying fate and any other supernatural force that dares govern this world. Even the flavor text of collectibles are packed with personality, narrated by key characters of the game for extra insight into their lives.
Gears is many things to many people, like a way to bond with our own brothers. I, like many others, have lost a friend who I used to play Gears games with for years so I see great value in E-Day’s specificity in themes with shouldering that loss, remembering the fallen, and fighting on for them. It’s a difficult, but beautiful thing and I commend the devs for never shying away from those factors in stories like this. Just as The Coalition explicitly dedicate their work to those no longer with us, so too do we by pressing on just like Bravo Squad does again and again. In that spirit, be sure to play co-op with your friends (which is rock solid online). Cherish the moments and tell them how much you value their presence while you can.
Verdict
Gears of War: E-Day feels right for the moment, a triumphant watershed moment for a 20-year-old series that still has some teeth. Its campaign is gargantuan, but doesn’t overstay its welcome, packing an emotional core and a bevy of changes and additions. This is likely to be some of the most top notch action you play this season. Any issues I had were minor and quite patchable in the future. There isn’t much holding E-Day back from being the momentous occasion it deserves to be.
Score: 9/10
Gears of War: E-Day launches October 6 on Xbox Series X|S.
