Reviewed on: PC
Code provided by the publisher.
Gears of War is one of the most iconic video game franchises to come from Xbox. Twenty years ago, the first Gears of War hit shelves on the Xbox 360, and it hit the ground running. Throughout its sequels and Judgment, this shooter has been one of the most consistent franchises out there, in my opinion. So going back to where everything fell apart was something I was more than ready for.
With E-Day, rather than moving the story forward, we go back to the very first day of the Locust invasion. This game takes you through the opening days of the invasion, starting with the very first crack in the ground, and follows a squad that includes Marcus Fenix, Dominic Santiago, rookie Gear Lucas Reyes, and discharged veteran Mags Carter.
It’s an unlikely group, but they mesh incredibly well together. That matters because this game takes a much more serious tone than previous Gears of War installments, and it needs characters you care about to make that tone work. E-Day absolutely delivers on that front.
The recurring theme in E-Day is loss. The game starts with Marcus still mourning the loss of his dear friend Carlos Santiago, and that feeling carries through the entire story. Everyone is losing something. Whether it’s a person, their home, or any sense that tomorrow might be better, the invasion takes something from everyone it touches.
If it can be meant in the best possible way, this game is grim.
Throughout previous installments, I’ve always felt some degree of hope. Yes, there’s dread because what’s happening is awful, but the Gears usually seem to understand what they’re fighting and have some sort of grip on the situation. In E-Day, I didn’t feel that same reassurance. These people are watching their world fall apart while trying to figure out what’s even coming out of the ground.
That uncertainty makes the suffering feel much more immediate. You understand how overwhelming an invasion like this would be when nobody has answers and every attempt to get control of the situation feels like it could fall apart.
The game does a great job of telling that story while still giving you a reason to push forward. You might not feel hopeful about the bigger picture, but you still want to get these people through the next fight. Sometimes that’s all you have, and E-Day makes that feel like enough to keep going.
This is easily one of the most likable groups of characters in the franchise. Marcus and Dom already carry plenty of weight for longtime fans, but Lucas and Mags help make this feel like a squad with its own identity. The group works so well together that spending time with them becomes a huge part of the experience. In a game this grim, you need those personalities and moments between fights. They give you something to connect with while everything around them is falling apart. They also make the stakes much stronger.
When the central theme is loss and you’re this attached to the people around you, you spend the whole game feeling like something is about to be taken away. Every time things get worse, you start wondering how much more this group can survive. E-Day gets you invested in the squad, then makes you nervous about being invested in them. That’s a huge part of why the story works for me. The fear of losing someone is there even before anything happens. You carry it into the next encounter, and it makes getting everyone through a fight feel that much more important.
Seeing Tai be a badass is also something I’ve always wanted. A good friend of mine has read the books and told me so much about him over the years, so getting to see Tai and his squad in full action was a real highlight.
Another thing E-Day does incredibly well is introduce Locust you already know while making it feel like you’re seeing them for the first time again. If you’ve played previous installments, you know what these things can do. Seeing them through the lens of the initial invasion brings some of that fear right back.
There are also enemy types we’ve never seen before, which is interesting to me. I do wish there were some sort of explanation for why we never see them again. Maybe we somehow hunt them out of existence while trying to slow the Horde and kill the “queen Balfrog.” Either way, the new enemies are awesome, even when they’re making my life miserable.
The Balfrog is a fun addition that isn’t too difficult to deal with. I especially love the frag grenade minigame that comes with trying to toss grenades into its mouth. It’s the kind of ridiculous, violent interaction that fits right into Gears.
Then there are what Lucas describes as “a hot air balloon made of ball sacks.” Those are a bit more of a pain in the butt. They float around and leave little spiked sentry turrets that will absolutely rip through you. A few side missions felt like they relied on these enemies a little too much to increase the difficulty, but their placement in the main story generally worked for me. They’re challenging without becoming too much.
The Flayers wielding the Gorehook, however, were beyond frustrating. These guys always seem to waltz in at the most inconvenient time, and they’ll ruin your whole day with a one-hit kill, on Hardcore at least. They generally arrive in pairs, either alongside another Flayer or with a Boomer or Grinder, so you’re trying to deal with a threat that demands your attention while something else is making that very difficult. They definitely gave me something to panic about whenever they showed up.
The boss fights are another highlight. With enemies this threatening and a story that keeps you on edge, those bigger encounters have a lot to live up to. For me, they delivered. These are the fights that stick with you after you put the game down. They give the action some memorable peaks, and getting through them feels especially satisfying when you’re already worried about what the squad might face next.
They also fit the feeling of the invasion. Everything is unfamiliar to these characters, and the larger threats make it easy to understand why they’re struggling to get a grip on what’s happening. Even when you’re ready for a boss fight as a player, the story makes you feel how unprepared these people are for the situation they’ve been thrown into.
E-Day is also a beautiful game, even in its darkest moments. That feels strange to say about a world going through something this horrific, but the visuals are a huge part of what makes the setting work. The darkness gives the game an oppressive atmosphere that fits the story perfectly. There’s beauty in it, though, and being able to appreciate the world around you makes its destruction hit harder. You’re looking at places that meant something to the people living there, and now those people are watching everything get torn apart.
That connection between the visuals and the story stood out to me. The game’s beauty gives weight to what’s being lost. It makes the setting feel worth caring about, which adds another layer to that feeling that the invasion is taking something away everywhere you look.
E-Day brings back the more open areas from Gears 5, but here they feel a little more meaningful. The optional side missions start to feel a lot less optional when you’re trying to save fellow Gears and you know their numbers are dwindling by the minute. With the story putting so much emphasis on loss, heading off to help someone feels like a natural decision. You want to do what you can while there’s still someone left to save.
There’s still a linear opening and finish to these sections, so the larger areas can be completed fairly quickly if you stay the course. I liked having room to explore without losing that forward momentum.
My other complaint is the number of times you have to raise or lower a bridge. This is absolutely a nitpick, but once I noticed it, I couldn’t stop noticing it. It feels like about once per Act, you’re being asked to deal with another bridge. It didn’t meaningfully hurt my experience, but by the end, I was definitely keeping count.
Verdict
Gears of War: E-Day gave me a squad I loved spending time with and made me worry about them throughout the entire game. Its focus on loss carries through the characters, the world, and the constant uncertainty of the invasion. The memorable boss fights and beautiful visuals make that experience even stronger, while the Locust feel terrifying all over again. A few frustrating enemy encounters and one too many bridges gave me something to complain about, but they barely put a dent in how much I enjoyed this game. E-Day is one of the strongest entries in the franchise, and its story is going to stay with me for a long time. I will be playing it again.
