Gears of War: E-Day launches to an 87 Metacritic and a Gears record on Steam
The Coalition's prequel is the best-reviewed Gears since Gears of War 3, and it doubled the series' Steam peak before the full launch.
Gears of War: E-Day launched on October 6, 2026 for Xbox Series X|S and PC, and it is included with Game Pass from day one. Owners of the Premium and Collector's editions started playing on October 2.
Reviews
The campaign holds an 87 on Metacritic from 54 critic reviews — the series' best result since Gears of War 3. Scores range from 10/10 at Pure Xbox and 9/10 at IGN to 7/10 at GameSpot and 6/10 at The Guardian. Multiplayer wasn't part of most reviews.
A Gears record on Steam
During early access, E-Day hit 20,374 concurrent players on Steam, roughly double Gears 5's all-time peak of 10,196. After the full release, the peak climbed past 31,000 — and that's before counting Xbox and Game Pass players on PC.
About the game
E-Day is a prequel set on Emergence Day, when the Locust first attacked. It is developed by The Coalition with People Can Fly and supports Play Anywhere across Xbox and PC.