After decades of hearing about the fateful day, players finally get to experience the infamous Emergence Day play out while mowing through a seemingly endless horde of Locusts in Gears of War: E-Day. This action-packed prequel comes with all of the blood, guts, and third-person shooting mayhem fans have come to love, while also providing a meaty campaign that can last much longer than you’d expect. Here’s how long it takes to beat Gears of War: E-Day.
How long does it take to beat Gears of War: E-Day?
A playthrough of Gears of War: E-Day is likely to take the average player around 12 hours or so on Normal difficulty. This makes it the longest campaign in the history of the franchise. But how you approach this prequel will play a part in how long you’ll spend fighting through Emergence Day and beyond, too, as Gears of War: E-Day blends the linear “shooting gallery” approach of earlier titles with a bit of Gears 5’s open-world philosophy.
You’ll spend plenty of time in the game working through those linear sections where story and tension play a significant role moment-to-moment. However, you’ll occasionally be dropped into open-ended segments featuring a large, explorable portion of the map. Here, you can choose to chase down the main objective or stop and engage with a multitude of optional objectives, such as helping other Gears or civilians, tracking down weapon mod cases, or rounding up a plethora of collectibles (140 in total).
All of that to say: Choosing to do all of the optional content can no doubt add more hours to your playtime, while skipping these extras can cut down dramatically on how long the game’s campaign will last you. But also, it goes without saying that multiplayer can last essentially forever, so diving into Gears of War: E-Day’s competitive online modes can provide dozens upon dozens of hours of fun to dedicated series enthusiasts looking for some Gnasher brawls.
So, however you decide to play is up to you. And you can get started right away, as Gears of War: E-Day is available now on Xbox Series X|S and PC.
