The Gears of War franchise has never been afraid to lean into the horrors of war. At its core, it’s a war story, one of scars and trauma and the terrible things people do by choice and by necessity. But not until Gears of War: E-Day, the latest entry in the 20-year-old first-person shooter series, has horror itself been so integral to the story. It’s as if the Gears characters were dropped into a Resident Evil game – and it works far more often than it doesn’t.
It’s a big swing for The Coalition, which developed the previous two installments in the series – 2016’s Gears of War 4 and 2019’s Gears 5, both of which stuck to safe and familiar franchise territory. (People Can Fly also developed E-Day.) That’s not the case with E-Day, out Tuesday, which goes hard in both setting and narrative. Set 14 years before the events of the first game, E-Day reveals the events of Emergence Day, when the Locust Horde first crawled out from the earth and laid waste to humanity in a violently gory surprise attack. It’s a focused, affecting narrative centered on a quartet of soldiers – series mainstays Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago (they look so young here!) and newcomers Mags Carter and Lucas Reyes, together known as Bravo Squad – as they try to save the city of Kalona from destruction.
The best kind of prequels, like E-Day, cast light on the shadows of the past. They reveal secrets and motivations, allowing us to better understand what we think we already know. We’ve watched Marcus and Dom fight the Locust for years, while slowly discovering the truth of the murderous creatures. But now we get to see the duo experience this monster-shaped existential threat – appearing like some sort of biblical nightmare, a devil-red hue signaling their arrival – for the first time. It’s a terrifying ordeal, but one in which we see the bonds of brotherhood begin to forge.
But even with its new horror aesthetic – a visually gorgeous one clearly inspired by Resident Evil 2 – E-Day feels very much like a Gears game. Its combat is still cover-based (standing out in the open will get you killed rather quickly), its gunplay is still fantastic and its action is still delightfully chaotic.
Like in previous entries, collectibles are scattered through each of the game’s five acts. Normally in the form of dog tags but often a little more interesting – a monster jaw here, a bloodied helmet there – they offer impactful bits of lore. Even more fascinating is that sometimes they come with notes from the main characters, offering further insight into Bravo Squad’s mental state.
You can also find hard cases all over the place, and they offer something a bit more practical: upgrades mods. If you’ve played previous entries, the vast majority of the weapons – from the Gnasher shotgun and Longshot sniper to the series’ signature Lancer assault rifle, which gets its own fan-service moment in E-Day – will be quite familiar in how they handle (amazingly).
But in this game, you can upgrade them, along with your armor and tactical gear, as you discover mods. Certain ones will help you stay alive in battle (healing you, granting you improved defenses) or help you kill your enemies (doing more critical damage, setting them ablaze). The system isn’t particularly deep, but it’s fun to see how certain mods synergise, kind of like putting together an extremely violent puzzle.
And you’ll want a build that works because the game gets brutal very quickly. Cover is still your best option, but E-Day adds new mobility options: jumping and sliding, both of which make use of the game’s highly destructible environment. (Nothing quite like making your own cover to keep you safe.)
I do wish the game had taken more level design cues from the Resident Evil franchise, which is a prime example of how to reuse environmental assets without feeling repetitive – something that can’t be said for E-Day. While each individual area is gorgeous, full of painstaking detail from the minute to the grand (watching Kalona slowly sink into the pockmarked earth is breathtaking), the game has an unfortunate habit of returning to places you’ve already been in ways that feel like padding rather than creative rediscovery. In fact, E-Day could have done with an overall trim in its playtime, which clocks in around 14 hours. Several areas stretch on for far too long, offering little beyond optional exploration and uninspired side missions.
And a handful of technical issues did pop up while my friend and I were playing the review build, some of which required having to restart at the last checkpoint or quitting the game entirely to get it working again. We were able to get past them all, but it’s never fun when your character gets stuck in the level geometry or you have to redo a lengthy segment because some element didn’t trigger properly.
Of note: The game’s cooperative Horde Siege and competitive Versus modes weren’t available to play before launch.
Still, the flaws don’t come anywhere close to outweighing what works. Anchored by a well-crafted narrative, fantastic gameplay and some seriously gruesome horror vibes, it’s the best game in the series. And though it’s a prequel, E-Day leaves enough room for sequels of its own. If what’s past is prologue, then I can’t wait to see what comes next for Gears. – The Seattle Times/Tribune News Service
