Gears of War E-Day: Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:00] From its return to the franchise's grittier roots to its overhaul of the series' iconic systems, here's everything to know about Gears of War E-Day. Presented by Gears of War E-Day. Available October 6th.

[00:15] Gears of War E-Day is a prequel that takes place 14 years before the first game in the franchise, set on the planet Sera during Emergence Day, the infamous event that serves as the inciting

[00:27] incident of the entire series. E-Day occurs mere weeks after the end of the Pendulum Wars, a decades-long conflict between the two governing bodies on Serra, the Coalition of Ordered

[00:39] Governments, and the Union of Independent Republics, as they wrestled over control of a vital resource known as Emulsion. The game opens with Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago mourning

[00:52] the loss of Dom's older brother Carlos, all three men having served as infantry, known as Gears, for the victorious Coalition of Ordered Governments. The pair, along with

[01:04] the rest of Ceres' inhabitants, are quickly thrust into yet another massive conflict with the emergence of the Locust creatures that dwelled below the planet surface and have brought with them incredible devastation Marcus and Dom team up with former Gear Mags Carter and an inexperienced Officer Lucas Reyes

[01:25] to protect the citizens of Kelowna, a major Seren city, and fight back against the Locust. Following the release of Gears 5, the studio at Xbox behind the game, The Coalition,

[01:41] wanted the next game to revisit the core themes and tone of the very first title. The team quickly landed on covering the events of E-Day, a monumental moment in the lore of the series, but one that the games have never really explored, seeing it as an opportunity that could

[01:58] return the franchise to its roots, literally. E-Day is the first game in the series to be developed using Unreal Engine 5, and was built from the ground up with no reused assets or animations. Colonna, the city where the entirety of E-Day takes place, is the largest and most

[02:15] detailed space in any Gears of War game, with the improvements in technology allowing for detailed, dynamic destruction. That also extends to enemy characters as well through an enhanced gore system which allows for chunks of flesh to be torn off their bodies as they pelted with bullets While E gameplay will be familiar to those that have played previous Gears of

[02:40] War games, there are a few major updates and changes. E-Day features more traditional sprinting that is toggled with a click on the left thumbstick, bringing it in line with most other modern action games, although the A button is still

[02:53] used to drop into cover, and players can swap to legacy controls if they so choose. Characters can also drop into different heights of cover and will dynamically adjust their posture in order to fit behind it.

[03:06] Levels in the game have been designed with greater verticality in mind, allowing players to clamber and jump to different levels to get an advantage on the enemy. Emergence holes are returning from the previous games, which spew hordes of enemies until

[03:20] the player destroys them. The game will also feature new enemy types and new weapons to shoot them with. Reloading is returning, where the player can press a button at the right time to speed up their reload, or miss the window and cause their gun to jam. Certain weapons will have

[03:36] a new feature, Shell by Shell Reloading, which allows players to interrupt an active reload and fire with a partially filled magazine The campaign can be tackled solo with 2 player local co on console or 4 player online co on every platform The Series 4v4 Versus will be returning as well as the new Horde Siege mode Unlike in

[03:59] Classic Horde mode, which simply has one team facing off against waves of enemies, Horde Siege will place three teams into a single map at the same time, with additional objectives beyond just surviving the onslaught. Traditional Horde mode can be selected within Horde Siege.

[04:20] Gears of War E-Day releases on October 6th, 2026 for Xbox Series X and S and PC via Steam and the Xbox Store, although the game is available day one for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.

[04:33] The premium edition of the game includes up to five days of early access, a bunch of cosmetics, and 1,000 iron, the premium in-game currency. Pre-ordering any edition of the game will net the player the X-Fil Weapon and Character

[04:49] skin for Dom. And that's everything to know about Gears of War E-Day. For more on the game, including our eventual review, stay right here on GameSpot.

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