Marcus and Dom’s Return Delivers: Critics Praise Gears of War: E-Day’s Combat and Atmosphere

The review embargo for the Gears of War: E-Day prequel lifted on October 1. Early access to the shooter also opened the same day for buyers of the premium edition. Judging by the first reviews, The Coalition has managed to bring the franchise back to its roots: the average score on Metacritic settled at around 89, while OpenCritic shows similar results in the 87–90 range.

The new installment takes place 14 years before the original trilogy, depicting Emergence Day — the moment when the Locust Horde suddenly invades the surface of Sera on a full scale.

Critics unanimously name the combat system and the return to the horror aesthetic of the early games as E-Day’s biggest strengths. The Verge’s reviewer praises the “weighty” and spectacular gunplay, the impressive destructibility, and the well-judged alternation between large-scale action set pieces and oppressive, grim episodes. The overall direction, technical execution, and the chemistry between a young Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago also earned special praise.

Pacing and backtracking problems

Not everyone, however, is ready to call the prequel a flawless release, so the popular online claim that it is “the best Gears since the trilogy” is not shared by all critics. The Guardian was more reserved, giving the game 3 out of 5.

While fully agreeing that the combat is the best in the series’ history, the British reviewer criticized the structure of the story campaign. The main complaints center on repetitiveness: players constantly have to return to locations they have already cleared, and the drawn-out treks through the ruined city and an excess of collectibles badly disrupt the pacing.

Gears of War: E-Day launches in full on October 6, 2026, on Xbox Series X|S and PC (via Steam and the Microsoft Store). According to Xbox Wire, the base version of the game will also join the Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscription catalogs on release day.