It's been 15 years since a mainline installment to the Gears of War series supported four-player campaign co-op. Developer Epic Games introduced the experiment back in Gears of War 3, the game which chronicled the desperate last stand of Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago. It's fitting then that four-player co-op returns as The Coalition prepares to chronicle the origin of the most beloved bromance in video game history.

Gears of War: E-Day is set to launch on October 6, 2026, for PC and Xbox Series X. Players across both platforms will be able to explore the emergence of the Locust together, in either four-player online or two-player split-screen configurations. Creative director Matt Searcy tells me that taking E-Day in this direction wasn't without its technical challenges, but he believes it's the right move for what is undoubtedly the studio's most ambitious entry during its decade-long stewardship of the series.

"I'm not gonna lie, it's a huge investment," says Searcy. "We made the decision to support four player co-op to reflect an aspect of how the core Gears DNA feels. Our stories are almost always about a four-person squad, right?" He's not wrong, and yet it is exceptionally rare for Gears to look all that far beyond the perspective of the Fenix family. That's going to change in E-Day.

"We set a goal from the very beginning of development that we wanted you to be able to play as every single character. So in our campaign, you can pick any of the characters from the story – the story will be told entirely from that perspective, and you'll never leave their side." The characters Searcy is referring to here are, of course, the returning Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago, COG veterans of the Pendulum Wars, alongside the world-weary Mags Carter and rookie Lucas Reyes.

Together they form Bravo Squad, fighting to survive as the city of Kalona crumbles beneath the Locus Horde. "It's a very intimate approach to following a larger world event," Searcy adds. "And it's kind of like Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan, where you're following this group and they aren't always going to be in the right place at the right time."

For Gears of War: E-Day, which has a campaign set entirely in a single city location, making a game that can support up to four players has pushed The Coalition to rethink how it builds environments. "We have had modes that have supported four-player co-op in them in the past and clearly they work, so this was all about building the right spaces at the right sizes. You know, we build to make sure the game plays great in single-player, in two-player co-op, and then in three- and four-player co-op as well."

"We love single-player games, and Gears is built so that you can play it that way and have an amazing time. Our mechanics are designed in single-player, you'll have the squad there with you, and the game will play great if you're on your own. But we really believe in the co-op experience too, as you get to try different tactics and experiment with multiple things at once in our larger combat arenas – it's a lot of fun," says Searcy.

We'll see how the return to four-player co-op campaign works for ourselves come October 6, 2026. Although PlayStation owners won't be able to get in on the action, as Gears of War: E-Day is now an Xbox console exclusive – meaning you'll need a PC, Xbox Series X, or an active Game Pass subscription to be there for the day that Sera changed forever.

Gears of War: E-Day is now a console exclusive, making it one of the most anticipated upcoming Xbox Series X games of 2026.

Gears of War: E-Day is renovating the 20-year-old foundations that the franchise was built upon. The Coalition made the decision to start from scratch as it faced the daunting task of transitioning to Unreal Engine 5, opting to recreate every single system, mechanic, and art asset anew as it sought to tell the story of Emergence Day – the day that Sera crumbled, as the Locust emerged from beneath the ground and brought a civilization to its knees.

This means that big changes are coming to Gears of War: E-Day. While it's still going to be a heavy-footed, cover-based shooter made in the mold of the games that have come before it, The Coalition is pushing for greater mobility, more verticality, and slicker movement mechanics to bring a greater sense of urgency and anticipation to the gory combat. One unexpected change comes in how Active Reload is being handled.

"Active Reload has always been a massive part of Gears, it's an iconic feature," says creative director Matt Searcy. For those of you who need a refresh, the act of swapping a clip in Gears of War actually kickstarts a small minigame whereby hitting different spots of the reloading mechanism can change the speed in which you're able to get back into combat. "For E-Day, we've moved the Active Reload bar to the middle of the screen by default."

For players who have been with the series for two years, this is no doubt going to be one of those changes that sounds small but has the potential to have a seismic impact on the way that you play – especially if your brain has now been rewired to naturally draw your eyes to the top-right position of the screen when dealing with reloads. The Coalition is aware that some may not appreciate the change.

"You can change the Active Reload position to the top right if that's what you prefer," says Searcy, but explains that this change is borne out of internal playtesting. "We've noticed through our testing that the bar being in the middle of the screen is where people actually use Active Reload the most. It becomes part of their shooting experience."

That isn't the only change The Coalition is making. While prior Gears games would typically have three Active Reload states – regular, perfect, and failed; each with their own positives and pitfalls – E-Day will give certain weapons their own unique Active Reload effects. Searcy points to everybody's favorite shotgun as a great example: "Some weapons will have additional Active Reload mechanics. The Gnasher is back, and you can actually see every single shell being loaded into it. If you want to at any time, you can pull a trigger to stop your reload, keep the two or three shells that you loaded, and then use them on the enemy that's right in front of you – if you're willing to give up your Active bonus."

It's a fascinating change, and one that reflects The Coalition's willingness to rip up the rulebook as it attempts to create a Gears of War game that captures the vibe of the 2006 original whilst making an experience that feels ready for action in 2026. You'll be able to try the Active Reload changes for yourself come October 6, where Gears of War: E-Day lands on PC, Game Pass, and Xbox Series X.

Gears of War: E-Day is now a console exclusive, making it one of the most anticipated upcoming Xbox Series X games of 2026.

Here's a truth about Gears of War that has persisted since 2006: The folks that love the series' particular style of skittish multiplayer really love it, and everyone else thinks it's a sweaty killing field. I was there for the Xbox Live outages on day one, and have played every instalment since – it's exceptionally rare to find a player who resides on neutral ground. The Marmite effect that Gears multiplayer has is a direct result of design decisions that were cemented into the foundations of the franchise; there has been no solution to the chaotic combination of overpowered shotguns and manipulated cover mechanics.

I suspect that The Coalition is looking to change all that with Gears of War: E-Day. The studio hasn't been afraid to signal that it's making massive alterations to core elements of the series, shifting the position of the Active Reload bar is just the tip of a blood-stained iceberg.

When The Coalition began production of E-Day in Unreal Engine 5, it made the unusual decision to start from an "empty harddrive", as creative director Matt Searcy puts it. Every animation, asset, mechanic, and system has been rebuilt from scratch – giving the studio the excuse it needed to modernize Gears' movement.

"Gears plays best in a city, and Kalona is the ultimate battlefield. Its density, tight streets, mixed with more open spaces let us rethink how a Gear moves through the world. And it created a greater stage for more scale and verticality in combat. Our soldiers are basically giant tanks in armor, they slam into cars while weaving through hails of bullets. We wanted to keep that heaviness but add more fluidity with how you move through the battlefield," says Matt Searcy, creative director.

These changes operate at different scales. Searcy tells me that a subtle change is that "the sprint camera no longer pushes in when you're on a run", with a wider view "helping with the player's ability to move through the world and use a lot more of the entire battlefield." It's easy to understand how having improved readability of combat spaces will impact PvP multiplayer – which Searcy says will comprise "a collection of 4v4 modes and all-new maps set in locations in and around the worn-torn city of Kalona."

The studio has largely demonstrated these changes to core systems and mechanics through the lens of the campaign, a prequel that charts Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago's budding bromance on the days following the first emergence of the Locust Horde.

You're now able to jump and slide, opening up new opportunities to escape enemies and discover flanking routes; new cover mechanics are designed to increase your mobility and lethality in equal measure. It's exceptionally likely that these additions and alterations will be present and accounted for in multiplayer – and that means change is coming to the upcoming Xbox Series X game.

Change Is Good

"We've completely rebuilt our cover and movement systems. There are smoother transitions with a bigger range of cover heights and shapes, including new low-ground cover," he continues. "From sprint you can now slide, which lets you quickly get under objects, slide around corners, and transition more smoothly into cover from a run."

The increased fluidity and mobility at the heart of Gears of War: E-Day's movement has the potential to fundamentally reshape the way we play multiplayer, particularly as Searcy confirms that you won't be able to wall cancel and bounce "the way you've done it in the past."

The creative director is keen to stress that "your relationship with cover, and how you move between it, is still the most important thing to us – cover is life in Gears of War" but it's clear that heightened fluidity will fundamentally alter familiar multiplayer rhythms. The ability to hit low cover and high mantle around more vertical spaces will open more tactical flanking routes, while the ability to more quickly slide under objects and around corners could increase the pace of combat dramatically.

There's also increased destruction, "more than we've ever put into a Gears game" which sees hiding points chip away more dynamically while under concentrated fire. Again, it's unclear if this will transition to multiplayer, but if it does we should be battling in more organic and shifting playspaces.

And then there's the addition of jump, a mechanic introduced to "make the battlefields feel like they have more options and ways to get to a flanking route," Searcy says. "Think of all of this as us taking that classic Gears formula and adding new layers of strategy and traversal to it."

The Coalition is yet to reveal its plans for Gears of War: E-Day multiplayer beyond stressing that Versus will remain "sweaty squad-based PvP" and that the studio plans to support a "seasonal roadmap of killer combat, most of which you can just earn by playing the game – completing in-game challenges, events, and achievements."

All of that sounds great, but it's the way these enhanced movement mechanics intersect with the classic Gears multiplayer experience that has gotten me truly excited. We won't need to wait all that much longer to find out for certain, as Xbox has confirmed that Gears of War: E-Day will run a multiplayer beta split across two weekends, starting on August 6.

Have Your Say: How are you feeling about Gears of War: E-Day now that Xbox Game Studios has announced that it'll be a console exclusive? Vote in our poll, and let us know what you think about the biggest Gears changes in the comments section below.

Gears of War: E-Day is the video game I have been waiting 10 years for The Coalition to create. It's hard to believe that the series has already been under the stewardship of this studio for a decade, following Epic Games' decision to sell the intellectual property to Xbox in 2014. But you know what they say, time flies when you're dragging a Chainsaw Bayonet through mutating flesh and malfunctioning circuitry.

In that time The Coalition has become a technical powerhouse, has led the Xbox Game Studios transition to Unreal Engine 5, and delivered some pretty entertaining third-person shooters too. Gears of War 4 was a faithful continuation, and Gears 5 a pretty bold experiment in stretching solid foundations across more open-ended environments. I'm a fan, but there have been missteps.

The Swarm never clicked as a forbiddable force that could rival the Locust, and the DeeBees exposed Gears of War's need for ultra-violence to truly sing. Naturally, the introduction of exploration, wider playspaces, and RPG-lite systems in Gears 5 divided the playerbase. And so The Coalition is doing what I always hoped it would – channeling its reverence for the franchise into making the familiar feel fresh again, all while taking us back to the earliest adventures of Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago.

That's what we're getting in Gears of War: E-Day. It's a shooter that wants to honor the legacy of what Gears of War achieved in 2006, all while developing an experience that feels fighting fit as a new game for 2026. Did it take the divisive nature of Gears 5 to push The Coalition in the direction it should arguably have taken right from the outset? The studio has a different perspective.

"We didn't make E-Day as a reaction to Gears 5," says Nicole Fawcette, with the studio brand director stressing she doesn't agree with commentary that suggests The Coalition strayed too far from the Gears formula in 2019. "We're making E-Day because we had an opportunity to make what we wanted to make. We wanted to take on Emergence Day, and to have players rediscover Marcus and Dom, as we made the pivot to a new engine. That's what we wanted to do, and it's exactly what we have done."

Back to the Beginning

Creative director Matt Searcy tells me that "E-day is a return to Gears of War's roots" and an attempt to recapture the vibes of the original trilogy. "The best way we could think to do that was to go back to Sera at its darkest hour: the day the Locust came out of the ground." Emergence Day is an untold story that's long been at the heart of the Gears of War universe, where a populace already beaten down by the Pendulum Wars is brought to its knees as cities crumble and civilization collapses. Searcy adds: "It's such a great place to reimagine the tone of what we think makes Gears great."

Vicious monsters, unbridled brutality, towering architecture, and layered playspaces littered with waist-high debris. Gears of War: E-Day is set entirely in the city of Kalona, following Bravo Squad across three days as it attempts to battle the Locust Horde back to hell. "We put you right into the chaos of E-Day – in the beginning there's no soldiers around, only people getting torn apart by Wretches. You'll experience the moment Marcus and Dom first pick up guns, pulling Snubs out of the trunk of an abandoned police car, before setting off into the city where all hell is breaking loose," says Searcy.

"We believe that Gears plays best in a city," adds art director Aryan Hanbeck, "and that Kalona is the ultimate battlefield." Hanbeck points to the more linear structure and consistent playspace as a big point of difference between E-Day and its predecessor. "Gears 5 was more of a globetrotting adventure, you went from desert to forest and so on. A big way that E-Day differs from Gears 5 (and other Gears games) is that this entire game is set in one location."

"This isn't an open-world game," says Searcy. "Something we learned from Gears 5 is that going out on vehicles doesn't mesh perfectly with Gears, and that the freedom to choose your mission and what you're doing doesn't vibe with Gears either." Searcy tells me that The Coalition is pushing for a tighter alignment between claustrophobic missions and larger combat arenas. "We have very classic mission design – especially on that first night, where you're fighting back-and-forth in the streets – and there are parts of the game where you get these larger arenas, where multiple city blocks open up to you."

These larger missions are described to me as being akin to Black Hawk Dawn. Where "you're on a single mission, you know where your objective is, but how you get there is up to you," says Searcy, who notes that you'll have opportunities to delve deeper into the carnage of the day by assisting civilians and other soldiers if you want to. That's all a part of The Coalition's attempt to channel more player choice into E-Day, something the studio wanted to retain from Gears 5.

"One thing that we learned from Gears 5 is that if we want to give players more choice, and to still feel natural to what Gears is, then we need to do it differently to just giving you a vehicle in an open world. I think Gears 5 was really cool, but if we wanted to hit that core Gears DNA we had to increase the density. We had to make every street corner a combat opportunity," he says.

I've seen more of Gears of War: E-Day than what was shown in the Xbox Games Showcase, and I'm mesmerised by what The Coalition is delivering here. The visual fidelity is out of this world, with E-Day positioning itself as a true late-gen system showcase for the Xbox Series X; Kalona seeming like the perfect playground for Gears' heavy combat, with more fluid movement and vertical playspaces only helping to advance the idea that The Coalition has higher aspirations than ever before.

Starting From Scratch

Putting The Matrix Awakens tech demo and Gears Reloaded remastering experiment to one side, Gears of War: E-Day is the first title from The Coalition to be built natively in Unreal Engine 5. This has given the studio cover to do what it should have done in 2014: rip up the foundations of the franchise in an effort to refine and innovate the mechanics and systems so central to the way that Gears plays.

"We started with an empty hard drive," says Searcy. There are no ported assets in E-Day. Every animation, sound, mechanic, and system has been rebuilt from scratch. We have built a game that feels like Gears but plays like new. Many of us have worked on Gears for over a decade; we know how the cover system works intimately, we understand the importance of it and have built the game around the same pillars that defined the original trilogy, but we approached E-Day like a new game built for 2026."

If there was any fear that Gears of War: E-Day would be a continuation of Gears 5 – albeit with a tighter focus – this dedication to starting afresh should put them to bed. E-Days will play quite unlike any Gears of War game before it, as The Coalition makes some much needed quality-of-life improvements to the way that you shift your weight around these utterly gorgeous combat arenas. "Kalona – with its dense, tight streets and more open spaces – let us rethink how a Gear moves through the world," says Searcy.

"We've completely rebuilt our cover and movement systems, with smoother transitions and a bigger range of cover heights and shapes," he adds. "Our soldiers are basically giant tanks in armor, they slam into cars while weaving through hails of bullets. We wanted to keep that heaviness, but add more fluidity with how you move through the battlefield." Gears of War: E-Day is making fundamental changes as it introduces denser playspaces. You can now dive into low cover and mantle into more vertical positions, introducing more tactical variety to play; the sprint camera no longer pulls into your shoulder, giving more awareness of the world around you, and E-Day will finally let you slide under and into cover for more fluid, kinetic encounters.

The Coalition isn't making changes on the margins for Gears of War: E-Day. It's engineering a series revival that can channel the spirit of the first adventure and still push for genuine evolution of the systems that defined a genre for 20 years. That's why E-Day has been chosen by Xbox Game Studios to lead the return to console exclusivity – a statement of intent that can remind the world of why Xbox was a platform that shouldn't, couldn't be ignored. "We couldn't be more excited to be an Xbox exclusive," Searcy tells me. "Gears and Xbox have been tied so tightly for 20 years now, and it's an honor and a privilege to be seen as a flagship title in this way."

Gears of War: E-Day is coming to PC and Xbox Series X on October 6, 2026. The latest game from The Coalition is one of the key upcoming Xbox games and we'll have more insights to share as part of our Summer Games Preview this week.

The biggest drought in series history is finally ending when Gears of War: E-Day launches later this year, and developer The Coalition is making up for the seven-year gap between new games with the franchise's longest campaign so far.

After Gears 5 fizzled out with an excruciatingly tense cliffhanger in 2019, the franchise somewhat slipped into the shadows. We got a surprisingly great strategy spin-off in Gears Tactics, a beefy expansion in Hivebusters, and a so-so remaster of the very first game, sure, but little did we know that a new mainline entry wouldn't come for years.

Enter Gears of War: E-Day, a prequel that's rewinding the clock to show us how the subterranean hordes of bug-demon-monsters revealed themselves to humanity. Spoilers: they did it with bloodshed and explosions in the longest Gears of War game yet, according to creative director Matt Searcy.

The Gears of War: E-Day lead tells IGN the game is "longer than any campaign [The Coalition has] built" and clocks in at over 14 hours. Looking at HowLongToBeat's estimates, straight playthroughs of the first five games in the series take roughly 10 hours or fewer to complete, while Gears 5 is about 11-hours-long, thanks to some open-world-ish fluff.

The upcoming Xbox Series X|S game isn't stretched out with wide open areas, though. Searcy says there's more to find, collectibles included, this time around. And while missions are mostly linear, there are apparently larger areas to explore that let players choose how they want to tackle encounters.

The Gears of War: E-Day Direct showed off some of that freedom, too. Squads can split up to flank foes or take the higher ground instead of running in with your chainsaws roaring, and you might even stumble across trapped civilians or other COG soldiers in need of help if you go off-route.

Gears 5's open areas proved to be controversial, for sure – they didn't always meet the non-stop-action criteria these games live or die by – but it sounds like E-Day's taking a smarter approach to player freedom this time around by weaving optional exploration into the game's city streets.

Hopefully it sticks the landing like Marcus Fenix sticks to cover when the game launches on October 6 for PC and Xbox Series X|S.

Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution "are not timed exclusives," Xbox says, but everything "already announced for multiplatform releases will stick to that plan."

As Halo: Campaign Evolved and Fable bring those respective series to PlayStation 5 between this year and next, the big hold-out for Xbox exclusives remains Gears of War: E-Day. But apparently, even that almost made the jump before a recent decision prevented the COG soldiers from joining Sony's stable.

So recently, a significant amount of work was already done on a port before plans were changed, according to a report from The Verge. As part of Xbox's offerings at Summer Game Fest 2026, it was revealed that Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution represent the exclusives on the green console family.

These are first-party projects, and as E-Day comes out this year and Clockwork next year, they're clearly being positioned as lynchpins of a renewed push towards putting out more Xbox-only games. But going by this report, that's a relatively fresh strategic outlook.

Xbox has undergone some upheaval over the last six months. Longtime boss and face of the brand Phil Spencer retired from his position in February, with Asha Sharma taking over in his stead. Since then, the "This is an Xbox" publicity campaign's been quietly shelved amid acknowledgment that there's a need for course correction due to flagging sales.

During SGF, Xbox CCO Matt Booty went on record about the purview of what'll get ported and what won't. Everything live-service is still going to PlayStation 5, likely due to how difficult it is to make these releases sustainable or profitable long-term, whereas more single-player-centric experiences are decided "case-by-case."

Sony shares some of this mentality, since Bungie's Marathon launched on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, despite the team being acquired back in 2022. But you don't see the likes of God of War or Insomniac's Spider-Man heading to Xbox in the same way the opposite is true.

We'll see what the future has in store for Marcus and Dom. But for now, you'll need a modern equivalent of a Duke in your hands to enjoy guiding them through E-Day.

Bungie vet says OG Halo beats Campaign Evolved and its "modern, AAA, fancy Unreal graphics" because "the constraints actually make it a stronger game"

This is the year Master Chief heads to PlayStation 5 as part of Halo: Campaign Evolved, raising questions about the future of Xbox exclusives on a wider scale. Rest assured, they're still happening, but on a more particular cadence, while multiplayer releases will remain multi-platform for the time-being.

Gamertag Radio asked Matt Booty, the executive vice president and chief content officer at Xbox, about what the strategy here is during Summer Game Fest 2026. "[We] want people to have a reason to get on board with Xbox," he starts.

"We want them to have a reason to buy an Xbox, [a] reason to be an Xbox fan. At the same time, we want to reward all our players that have been with us for a long time," he continues. "We know exclusives are important, that's why we've got [Gears of War: E-Day] coming in 2026, [Clockwork Revolution] in 2027."

Games that aren't as single-player-centric, however, are a different story. "We also want to be clear: our big multiplayer games, live-service games, are going to continue to be multi-platform," he says. "If we've promised something to players already, we're going to honor that promise."

Booty reiterates Xbox's philosophy of, "when we announce a date, we want to announce the platforms." As such, if something is heading over to Sony's system, it's "going to be case-by-case."

One such case is the long-awaited Fable, which will be the first installment of the series to be on PlayStation. The list of releases genuinely particular to Xbox on home consoles is getting leaner and leaner, but given the number of publishers Microsoft now owns, there's scope for more IP to join or rejoin the ranks in the years to come.

That said, don't expect a U-turn on the live-service projects given the investment needed. But if you want to experience E-Day from the frontline, an Xbox Series X/S should be among your hardware.

Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution "are not timed exclusives," Xbox says, but everything "already announced for multiplatform releases will stick to that plan."

You'd never notice in the frantic new Gears of War: E-Day footage, but hiding under all that dirt and sweat on young Marcus Fenix's face are eyelashes his older self wishes he still had.

In the Gears of War: E-Day Direct that followed the Xbox Games Showcase, we were graced with a close-up look at Marcus Fenix's high-definition mug. While describing the improvements to the character's facial animations (three times more joints!), it was revealed that "Marcus has more detail in his eyelashes than his entire character model did in the original Gears of War on Xbox 360."

It's pitched as an evolution of emotional storytelling in the series, but I think we all know it's really a sign of what was lost when Emergence Day doomed Marcus Fenix's world. The man suddenly had more things to worry about than his killer eyelash game. Years of fighting Locust and scavenging for supplies wore all those extra polygons away, leaving him a sad husk of his former, beautiful self.

That's surely half the reason Microsoft knew it was time to look into the series' past and tell a story of a younger, sexier Marcus Fenix, one with his luscious and detailed eyelashes still intact. The Xbox 360 couldn't handle him at his best, but the Xbox Series X absolutely can.

Honestly, it's going to be hard to look at him the same way again once Gears of War: E-Day is out on October 6. Sure, Microsoft touched up the Gears of War trilogy not that long ago, but after you see what Marcus was working with at his prime it won't be the same. We're going to have to wait another five years for Microsoft to inevitably remake them all—and gift some extra polygons to poor old Marcus Fenix—in a The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered fashion.

Gears of War 6 was considered before The Coalition decided on E-Day, JD Fenix actor says as he pitches a bonkers sequel about Marcus fighting his zombie son

Xbox has announced that Gears of War: E-Day will be releasing on October 6, 2026, and that it'll be an Xbox console exclusive.

Despite a Gears of War: E-Day Direct being the deep dive at the end of this month's Xbox Games Showcase, Microsoft's show opened up with gameplay from the upcoming prequel, showing Marcus, Dom, and some new faces as they traverse the streets of Kalona as the Locust begin to emerge.

It showed off some pretty standard Gears shooting, but this time around Marcus seems a bit more nimble as the squad now has the ability to slide (despite how bulky all that armor is). I'm sure we'll see a bit more of it in the Gears of War: E-Day Direct, but from what we've seen so far it's looking like some good old Gears.

The trailer ends with news that Gears of War: E-Day will also be plunging into that crowded September/October mosh pit, with an October 6, 2026 release date confirmed. And on top of that, it's confirmed that the game will be an Xbox console exclusive, with no PS5 release is on the way.

Given that the game was rated for Xbox, PS5, and PC earlier this week, it definitely feels like a PS5 version of the next Gears game was planned (especially with the remaster arriving on PS5 last year to welcome PlayStation players to the franchise). Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb said this was the case, but now the PS5 version is no longer happening as new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma makes changes to go – as she puts it – "back to Xbox."

Gears of War 6 was considered before The Coalition decided on E-Day, JD Fenix actor says as he pitches a bonkers sequel about Marcus fighting his zombie son.

We're just weeks away from chainsaw-gunning through Gears of War: E-Day and taking a look at what's inside, but a new hint at its potential release window comes from the unlikeliest of places.

Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide and WWE today announced that its pro wrestling mega-event, Triplemania 2026, will take place over two full days for the first time ever on September 11, at an unannounced location, and September 13 in Mexico City. The event's sponsor? Gears of War: E-Day.

A WWE sponsorship is by no means concrete confirmation that Gears of War: E-Day is definitely coming out in September, but I think it's safe to say marketing will have properly ramped up by then if the flagship Xbox game is going to be plastered across one of the biggest wrestling events of the year.

Xbox Game Studios hasn't said much of anything about the game's release date outside of the fact that, yes, it's coming out in 2026. A dedicated Gears of War: E-Day Direct will also immediately follow up the Xbox Games Showcase on June 7, promising a deep dive on "new details, gameplay and insights." It's possible we learn more about the prequel's launch plans then.

A September launch isn't out of the question, either, however. That gives the iconic series' return enough time to breathe before GTA 6 crashes the party with all the enthusiasm of a meteor greeting the dinosaurs. Xbox also has to juggle Marcus Fenix's origin story alongside release dates for Halo: Campaign Evolved, the Fable reboot, and whatever the next Call of Duty is.

Gears of War 6 was considered before The Coalition decided on E-Day, JD Fenix actor says as he pitches a bonkers sequel about Marcus fighting his zombie son

Gears of War 6 was apparently considered to be a possibility for developer The Coalition before the studio decided to rewind the clocks for Gears of War: E-Day, according to the actor who plays JD Fenix in the chainsaw-gun-swinging action series.

Liam J. McIntyre might be preparing to put on Logan's claws in Marvel's Wolverine later this year, but the actor recently took the time to look back on the Gears of War games he starred in over on social media.

"We did gears 4 and 5, and there was a suggestion that maybe there would be a gears 6," McIntyre tweets. "But the team wanted to try something new as I understand it. And honestly, it looks great. Can't wait to play."

For context, Gears 5 left the series' ongoing story hanging on a hugely dramatic cliffhanger almost seven years ago. With The Coalition now going back in time with its upcoming prequel, the question on every fans' mind is... are we ever going to find out who lived and who died? That was supposedly the plan at the studio until it landed on the idea of a throwback romp, that is.

"I hope they [The Coalition] go back to it, but I love those guys and just want them to make a game they feel nails the Gears experience everyone loves," McIntyre adds. "That'd be awesome. And hey, if that leads back to the trilogy, happy days."

Spoilers for Gears 5 ahead.

McIntyre also uses the opportunity to pitch his idea for Gears of War 6 and how he would go about resolving the last game's final decision that saw players choose between saving bestie Del or JD. The actor hopes Del is the one who canonically survives, prompting main man Marcus Fenix to lose his mind and go rogue after the death of his only child. Marcus' mourning doesn't last long in McIntyre's version of the story, however: "You learn JD has kind of been revived and controlled by swarm, his dad has to fight him. But somehow you save him. Not sure how yet. Or if it matters lol."

It might surprise you to learn that Marcus Fenix fighting his zombified son is only the second most bonkers sequel idea pitched by someone who's worked on the series. Former franchise boss Rod Fergusson said his idea for Gears of War 6 would've taken players to space, of all places, though the team "weren't going to start Mass Effect-ing this."

The Coalition did somewhat write itself into a corner with the decision between Del and JD. Would a theoretical sequel ignore half the player base's decisions and pick a canon ending? Could the studio make two varying versions of the same campaign, potentially splitting the timeline from here on out? There's no easy solution, so throwing things back in E-Day seems like a good stopgap while the devs work everything out.

We'll finally see Gears of War: E-Day in action straight after the Xbox Games Showcase in June.

Diablo boss and Gears veteran reckons now is the "perfect time" for Gears of War: E-Day because the team couldn't "do it justice" on Xbox 360

Gears of War: E-Day is a prequel that's taking us back to where it all started - Emergence Day, when the subterranean alien critters known as the Locust erupted from the ground and kickstarted a saga that's lasted almost two decades. But despite rewinding the clocks for this year's shooter, developers at The Coalition still hope to create something that "plays like new."

Creative director Matt Searcy says as much in an exclusive chat with GamesRadar+ dedicated entirely to the upcoming prequel story due out on PC and Xbox Series X|S sometime this year, which is maybe not coincidentally both the series' 20th anniversary and publisher Xbox's 25th anniversary.

When asked how Gears of War: E-Day reflects on that often bloody, always iconic two-decade roadie run, Searcy says the team "can't think of a bigger way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Gears than with the release of Gears of War: E-Day," which is apparently The Coalition's "most ambitious game yet, entirely built from scratch in Unreal Engine 5."

He explains: "Even though this is a return to our roots with Marcus and Dom facing the Locust for the first time, we wanted to build a game that feels like Gears but plays like new. E-Day is a celebration of both the past and what's to come in the future for a franchise that's meant so much to us and our fans."

Series mainstay Marcus Fenix and wartime bestie Dominic Santiago are back in the limelight this time around, with both of their original actors returning too. I'm glad The Coalition is planning to do more than just retread ground covered in the first Gears of War game, though – we'll just need to wait a while more before seeing how it all shakes out, chainsaw rifles and all, since Gears of War: E-Day isn't scheduled to appear in today's Xbox Developer Direct.

Gears of War: E-Day is part of our extensive Big in 2026 hub, taking exclusive looks at the year's most exciting releases from Halo: Campaign Evolved to Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis.

Gears of War: E-Day's creative director, Matt Searcy, has confirmed that the story of the game will take place in a single city.

Rather than follow up on Gears 5, The Coalition surprised us with the news that the next Gears of War will instead be a prequel focusing on Emergence Day from the perspective of Marcus and Dom.

In an exclusive interview with GamesRadar+, Searcy spoke about the decision to make E-Day a far more intimate affair than the open-ended Gears 5. He explains, "The story of Emergence Day is really about what happened to the people of Sera. It was a massive, worldwide event, and we wanted players to feel the impact, so we set the whole game in a single city called Kalona."

The decision to set it here was based on its importance to the COG's, Searcy explains, as it's named after one of its founders, Roman Kalona. "Our story is set over consecutive days, so players can become intimate with the city," he says, adding, "We want them to feel the loss of what was here: the history, the people and the lives they were living."

Searcy says Kalona is "a rich environment to tell a great story," but on top of that, a city is great for the gameplay too, as "it's the best gameplay playground for an intense cover-based shooter like Gears."

We haven't seen much of Gears of War: E-Day since its announcement, but it's still scheduled to release sometime in 2026 on Xbox and PC, so hopefully we'll see something soon.

Gears of War: E-Day is part of our Big in 2026 series, check out our Big in 2026 hub for coverage of 50 of the year's biggest games including the likes of Halo: Campaign Evolved and Resident Evil Requiem.

Emergence Day is when the world changed. The planet of Sera besieged by a strange, subterranean threat – the Locust Horde eradicating pockets of civilization within hours, leaving those left beneath the rubble grasping for what little remains of their humanity. This is the ground Gears of War: E-Day will cover, a long-awaited prequel that charts the most important event in the franchise's history.

"We can't think of a bigger way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Gears," says Matt Searcy, creative director at The Coalition, speaking exclusively with GamesRadar+. "This is our most ambitious game yet, entirely built from scratch in Unreal Engine 5. Even though this is a return to our roots, with Marcus and Dom facing the Locust for the first time, we wanted to build a game that feels like Gears but plays like new. E-Day is a celebration of both the past and what's to come in the future."

Welcome To Hell

Gears of War has never been afraid of leaping around its historical timeline. Epic Games' original trilogy tracked the final three years of the Locust War, with The Coalition spotlighting the 25-year aftermath in Gears 4 and its sequel. People Can Fly was given free reign to explore the six weeks of carnage that followed E-Day, and Splash Damage delved into the year that followed in Tactics. But no studio has dared to entertain an expedition into the blood, guts, and ruin of this day of reckoning. Until now.

"This is the story we were excited to tell and so the process has been super energizing. There are touchpoints in the lore for us to build from, but enough room that we get to bring new elements and ideas in. Getting to go back to the tone and vibes of the original games, exploring the details of Emergence, and imagining what would happen to a city (and the soldiers protecting it) as monsters poured out from the ground was a great starting point to reintroduce the Locust and these characters," says Searcy.

That reintroduction kicked off in earnest last August, as Gears of War: Reloaded sought to remind Delta Squad veterans of how potent Gears' action can be in more confined spaces. Unlike 2019's Gears 5, with its open-borders approach to world design, this adventure is far more focused. "The story of Emergence Day is really about what happened to the people of Sera. It was a massive, worldwide event, and we wanted players to feel the impact – so we decided to set this game in a single city."

We know of the city of Kalona by reputation alone. It's infamous for being one of the first cities to crumble beneath the might of the Locust – its loss propelling the nation of Tyrus ever closer to collapse. Gears of War: E-Day will document this tragedy, one harrowing encounter at a time. "Our story is set over consecutive days so that players can become intimate with the city," says Searcy. "We want them to feel the loss of what was here: the history, the people, and the lives they were living."

The implicit promise is that Gears of War: E-Day will be a more intimate experience than Gears 5, the conflict set in the days before anybody had the bright idea to attach a chainsaw bayonet to a standard issue Mark 1 Assault Rifle. "Kalona is a rich environment to tell a great story," he continues. "You'll get to visit downtown city streets, historical landmarks, military installments, industrial Imulsion refineries, and even forested outskirts. And as a battlefield, the game just plays great in a city! It's the best gameplay playground for an intense cover-based shooter like Gears."

E-Day will also look beyond the terror beset on Tyrus to document the budding bromance of Sergeant Marcus Fenix and Corporal Dominic Santiago. The Coalition isn't willing to go into too much detail on their early relationship just yet, although Searcy is quick to heighten expectations. "We think it has the potential to be one of the best stories in the Gears franchise, and certainly the most heart and emotion when you're looking at Marcus, Dom, and the origin of the brotherhood that they forge in this game."

The Coalition is yet to set a release date for Gears of War: E-Day, nor is it scheduled to appear during the upcoming Developer Direct on January 22. So while we wait for more information, you may want to gather some friends and dive back into Reloaded, which marked the series' debut on PlayStation last year. While it's unclear whether E-Day will follow suit with a multiplatform launch, the studio says the remaster was a key milestone on the road to its release.

"It's been so cool to see players come together without barriers for the first time in Gear's almost 20-year history," says Searcy. "For many of the team here at The Coalition, the 2006 original was the game that made us fall in love with this franchise, so it has a lot of meaning to be able to reconnect with Marcus, Dom, and the Locust. Seeing our community fight side by side with new players across platforms reaffirms and reminds us why we make Gears: because gaming brings us together."

With Xbox preparing for its biggest year of the console generation so far, we are exploring the publisher's most anticipated first-party games (and some key Game Pass releases) as part of our Big in 2026 Spotlight series. Join us every day this week for exclusive interviews, new previews, and fresh insights into all of the upcoming Xbox games you need to have on your radar.

Gears of War: E-Day is still on track to launch in 2026, despite the game's absence from The Game Awards 2025, developer The Coalition has confirmed.

Sometimes, when a big game that's due out the following year skips The Game Awards, it can signal turbulence behind the scenes and, even more occasionally, be a sign of an impending delay. But The Coalition apparently didn't want any misunderstandings about its silence on the Gears of War: E-Day last night. 2026 is still the release window, although we're still waiting for it to be narrowed down to a specific date, or hell, season.

"Emergence Begins. 2026," reads a tweet from the official Gears of War Twitter account, sent out smack dab in the middle of the awards show.

Never mind The Game Awards, The Coalition and Xbox have been fairly quiet in general about E-Day since it was announced, so it's encouraging to hear it's still due out in 2026.

The game takes place 14 years before the events of the original Gears of War and centers around younger versions of Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago, with original actor John DiMaggio and Carlos Ferro reprising their roles. The story is set during Emergence Day, in which the Locust Horde carries out a strategic planet-wide assault on Sera, kicking off the Locust War fans of the series are well-familiar with. It was announced in 2024 and was heavily rumored to release this year, but Xbox soon after confirmed the 2026 window, which has yet to change.

In the meantime, here are the best Xbox Series X games you can play right now.

There's a chunky sense of satisfaction to Gears 5. It's ludicrously over the top at times with blood and gore at a moment's notice. The complete antithesis of the likes of the Call of Duty franchise and its attempts at (very) loose realism, and a step away from the relatively sterile nature of the Halo franchise. The entire Gears of War series has been like that with every instalment – but nearly 20 years after the launch of the first game, it's Gears 5 that has aged the best.

It's not hard to play through the Gears franchise, whether through Xbox Game Pass, or physical copies (still easily found). I'm hanging onto the hope that the recently remastered Gears of War: Reloaded will lead to a full series of remasters. For now though, if you're new to the series, Gears 5 is the best place to start. It's a direct sequel to Gears of War 4 – I'm assuming the 'of War' moniker was lost in battle – but does a good job of helping newbies catch up with the story. Crucially, its game design is a ton more fun than the originals.

War machine

The original Gears of War games were very focused on tight areas where a wave of enemies would come at you, you'd kill them, run down a corridor, and move onto the next sequence. There are some notable exceptions but the basic structure remains the same throughout. Wrapped up in good-looking graphics for the time, satisfying gunplay, and none of us knowing any better, it didn't matter back then. It's noticeable now though. Times have changed and open-world games are a big deal.

Gears 5 doesn't go full open-world but it knows how to combine the original concept of set pieces with a wider sense of autonomy and openness. Growth is good. When it comes to finding collectibles, there's more variety in terms of where to look rather than being stuck poking around a narrow corridor. You can wander more and check out the surroundings. Some moments even provide a little more lore of what's going on. This isn't immediately apparent as the first act eases you in but it soon becomes a nice tweak to the usual format. Never fully open-world, it's just enough independence to ensure that Gears 5 is a lot of fun.

Besides that gentle tweak to the format, Gears 5 gets that women can be muscle-bound heroes too. Take a look at your favorite action movies. Remember how Arnie was the sole hero back in the day, or Sly? Gears 5 remembers that Ripley in Alien could be as much of a badass and this time, she's been working on those gains and consuming at least a cow's worth of protein a day. Enter Kait Diaz. She features in Gears of War 4 but in 5, she's the central character and it's refreshing to see. She's still as much of a gym bro turned gun bro, but with a modern take of 'shock horror, women can be like that as well'.

None of this would matter if it wasn't that Gears 5 is fun – but boy, is it fun. I replayed it recently following a 'first' playthrough of Gears of War: Reloaded and loved every second. It's 'switch your brain off' fun, just like those '80s action movies of days gone by. The first act eases you into the storyline and keeps fairly rigidly linear, but it gives you the chance to get into the groove. Each weapon is satisfying. There's seemingly no obvious weak point in your arsenal. Kill something with a headshot and their head explodes with a far too satisfyingly bleak squelch noise.

These creatures aren't human and are solely focused on your destruction so there's no moral dilemma here. It's just a good feeling to commit such potential atrocities. Similarly, fling a grenade and gore goes everywhere. Even your own character can end up covered in blood and gore. So, predictably, this isn't for the faint hearted but it does tap into that unrealistic and excessive vibe that action movies of old – think Robocop – did so well back in the day. Remember how fast things could escalate in The Expendables? This is what you get here, but without the iffy connotations of realizing other humans are dying because of such escalation.

It's somehow even more fun with a friend or two in tow. Everything is better with a friend, after all. You can team up against the Locust Horde and other enemies (no spoilers here!), and watch the blood fly. With the more open-world sequences, you can cover more ground together and come up with more strategies. Then team up again to slice, dice, and chainsaw your enemies (did I forget the chainsawing? Yes, you can chainsaw foes. Yes it feels horrifically awesome), before moving onto the next area of destruction and gore.

It's a curious mixture of old and new. Some games go too open-world and forget to fill that world up with stuff worth looking at, while others are far too tightly woven so you feel like you're on a fixed rollercoaster. Gears 5 juggles those ideas well – never going too far in one direction or the other. If a game makes you smile gleefully just thinking of a memorable moment then surely it's succeeded in everything you could want from such a game? That's Gears 5 all over. Well designed over the top machismo with a hint of a heart as needed.

Looking forward, here are all of the upcoming Xbox series X games we're looking forward to

Gears of War's original art director has recalled how strongly influenced the first game was by the horror genre, a style that was diluted over time in the sequels, as he compared them to the Alien franchise.

"If Gears 1 was Alien, the rest of the franchise was Aliens," art director Jerry O’Flaherty tells FRVR, speaking to how James Cameron's sequel was more of a guns-blazing action movie compared to Ridley Scott's tight, claustrophobic, straight-up horror original.

"It was a lot more, you know, there was a hiding of the bad guy, there was just the tension and the horror that you were pulling out of every location, and I loved that… I loved the horror aspect of what we did in the first one," he adds.

He then explains how the sequels "quickly became a monster game," which, in his view, isn't a problem because of how much fans love the following, much more colorful shooters.

The dulled-out yellow-ish-brown color palette was so overused during the Xbox 360 generation that it's hard to remember just how effective it was in the original Gears of War game. And, according to O'Flaherty, it was all intentional, of course. "It was horror. It was a horror game, and horror is going to be a reduced palette, it's going to be a lot of dark."

2006's Gears of War is still undoubtably an action game in how it plays - you're never really reserving ammo or avoiding encounters aside from a few scripted moments - but it wears its horror influence on its sleeve, for sure. At least, it's a lot more pronounced than the sequels' bombastic approach.

The Coalition is also promising that the upcoming prequel, Gears of War: E-Day, will return to those horror-tinted roots, as well as feature a return to Marcus Fenix and right-hand man Dom on center stage. Depending on who you ask, it's probably a more exciting direction than going to space, which was Rod Fergusson's initial plan for Gears of War 6.

Microsoft reportedly had Gears of War devs work on a project that was "Uncharted with spies" to rival Sony's PlayStation series, but it was scrapped for Gears of War 4

Gears of War studio The Coalition (formerly Black Tusk Studios, as it was called until 2015) teased a project during E3 2013 that apparently might have rivaled the best Uncharted games – a project that was scrapped in favor of Gears of War.

Neither Microsoft nor Xbox studio, The Coalition, has publicly spoken about the mysterious 30-second teaser shown during E3 over a decade ago, but a recent video from video game researcher Liam Robertson of DidYouKnowGaming finally lifts the veil on the previously unnamed project depicted's details. "Microsoft had recognized that the Xbox needed its answer to Sony's Uncharted series," Robertson explains.

"A briskly paced third-person shooter big on action set pieces," if you will. According to the content creator, "In short, the idea for this game was Uncharted with spies – an action-packed third-person shooter where the player controlled secret agents on high-octane espionage missions in various cities around the world." It sounds like a wild mashup of Hitman and Uncharted if you ask me, one that might've done well, but unfortunately, it never came to fruition.

Why? The cancellation came in favor of the team moving its focus to Gears of War 4. "According to studio manager Mike Crump, they reached a unanimous decision to shut down Project Ranger in favor of taking on Gears of War," as Robertson states. "The move proved divisive when it was disclosed to Black Tusk's wider team later that week. Whereas some relished the new opportunity ahead of them, others were dismayed over the project's termination."

Crump acknowledged this disappointment in an interview with Polygon, although he wasn't open about what the project was, saying, "I'd be lying if I said there weren't some people on the team who were disappointed when they found out the thing they'd been working on for so long was going to be shelved." According to Robertson, layoffs followed Project Ranger's end, with veteran Gears of War producer Rod Fergusson hired as the new studio head.

Fergusson would lead the team, which was fittingly renamed "The Coalition" in reference to Gears of War, in its production of Gears of War 4 – a well-received entry in the beloved series that went on to release in 2016, just two years after Project Ranger was axed. Interestingly enough, the Uncharted-style game was supposed to feature Xbox Kinect functionality… which opens up a whole other can of worms, if you ask me.

Robertson's video on Project Ranger certainly offers some unique insights into an otherwise obscure game's history, and it's worth a full watch for anyone looking to learn more about an underappreciated mid-2010s title that made waves following E3.

Searching for something to wishlist? Here are some of the biggest new games this year and beyond to keep an eye on.

The PC launch for Gears of War: Reloaded has stumbled like Marcus Fenix flubbing a reload, with many players criticizing a sudden lack of splitscreen co-op as well as abundant crashes.

At the time of writing, Gears of War: Reloaded sits at 49% positive user reviews on Steam. I played up to Act 3 of the game with an online co-op buddy last night, and the campaign looked and played just fine, but I did encounter some of the crashes that other players have reported.

Multiple Steam users say Gears of War: Reloaded began crashing on startup after they adjusted their graphics settings or linked their Microsoft accounts. The game prompts you to sign in via Microsoft after your first boot.

This step went just fine for me, but after linking my Microsoft account, subsequently disconnecting, and force quitting the game, I also found it impossible to boot Gears of War: Reloaded at all anymore. It crashed on startup multiple, multiple times even after restarts.

I ended up refunding it on Steam, renewing my Xbox Game Pass sub, and redownloading the game through the Xbox PC app. This version of the remaster has performed fine for me for a few hours now, suggesting there is genuinely something wrong with the Steam version.

Steam users have also skewered alleged "false advertising" after the removal of the "Shared/Splitscreen Co-op" tag from the game's Steam page and the lack of splitscreen co-op, a Gears staple, in-game.

Archived versions of the Steam page, as recent as July 8, show that this tag was indeed on the store, below "Online Co-op" and above "Cross-Platform Multiplayer."

A blurb in the page's description, under the subhead "Built for Brotherhood," has also been changed. It previously read (emphasis mine): "Campaign Co-Op: Crush the Locust threat together through campaign split-screen or online co-op. Fight on with your squad in Versus multiplayer running at up to 120fps with unmatched clarity and visual fidelity."

The live version of the Steam page reads: "Campaign Co-Op: Crush the Locust threat together through campaign online co-op. Fight on with your squad in Versus multiplayer running at up to 120fps with unmatched clarity and visual fidelity."

I've seen reports of botched ultrawide support and missing pre-order bonuses as well, but I can't personally confirm those. Suffice it to say, Gears of War: Reloaded has hit some snags on PC.

I am at last having fun with the game, and so is Oscar, who writes: I can finally share meat-tastic cover shooting bliss with my PS5 friends thanks to Gears of War Reloaded.

An extra layer of symbolism has been added to Gears of War Reloaded in its opening. 14 years after the apocalyptic 'Emergence Day', it sees imprisoned hunk of meat Marcus Fenix freed from confinement by his legendary bro Dom Santiago, and reinstated into the COG military (yes, that stands for Coalition of Ordered Governments, and yes, that's Gears' tone in a nutshell). Except this time around, Marcus Fenix has also been freed from the shackles of Xbox.

Within minutes, the PS5's DualSense controller is shaking in my hands as I unload steaming hot lead into hordes of locusts – the underground-lurking invasion force responsible for humanity's turmoil. Comms chatter about how to best squash these enemies comes out from the DualSense's speaker and, more delightfully, holding melee to spin up the lancer rifle's onboard chainsaw purrs from the device – it's like having an incredibly violent cat on my lap. It might just be the very first Gears of War that's leapt off of the Xbox and onto PS5 so far but no matter – Gears of War Reloaded is a reminder that this original outing is still the best.

Waist high

And sure, I'm well aware each of the sequels did bolt on improvements across both narrative scope and the mechanics of enacting brutal violence. But also, there's a simplicity in this first outing that still makes it a cover shooter masterpiece 19 years later. If anything, the smoothness of control in Gears of War Reloaded only drives that home.

The muscled bros that make up Marcus and his COG allies aren't just bulky for the sheer masculine pleasure of it, or to simply riff on a Warhammer 40k-style grimdarkness (chainsaw guns and all – Gears owes a lot to Emperor's Space Marines). As an early and definitive third-person cover shooter, their hulking frames are a design promise across both its campaign and multiplayer. These targets are not small: blast away and see the flesh fly. Get close enough, and allow the chainsaw-based splatter to commence.

In some games, you may think of heftiness as a negative – clunky controls, perhaps, or unresponsive slowness. Not so in Gears of War, which embraces the pleasure of heftiness with all the satisfaction of slapping a thick cut of steak directly onto a hot pan. There's nothing slow here, bullets spraying forth with abandon to ca-thunk into targets, heads exploding.

Every now and then there's a moment's breath for more deliberate violence, a bowls-esque fling and roll of a frag grenade to seal up an emergence hole from which the targets of your ire come; the quiet joy of lining up a headshot with a scoped rifle and seeing that head simply disappear, replaced with a gushing fountain of bliss; 'roadie running' to outflank locusts mounting turrets, the cover-to-cover dash bringing the camera low in order to shake back and forth – a clomping rhythm that feels like a drum-fill lead-in to the violence to come.

Even the act of reloading feels like a pause on the crest of a rollercoaster, a well-timed tap of the button rewarding Marcus with a quicker reload and damage enhanced bullets, genuinely turning the tide in some tense shootouts.

So many of the brutal pleasures in Gears of War are all about the simplicity with which you can enact your vengeance on the locust enemy. You rarely have to worry about ammo, or even care much about where your shots land as you paint pain – heavy brushstrokes across torsos in the direction of skulls, the gore a celebration as enemies turn piñata-like into chunks.

Still, the feedback of these rages is one area where Gears of War Reloaded could have used more blood-red polish. Often, enemies don't react all that much to gunfire, and even popping heads feels a bit cursory. Occasionally, enemies will flip-flop their AI behavior when they do come under attack like a switch has been flipped to jerk off on another route for seemingly no reason.

So too do some of the annoyances I had with Gears of War Ultimate Edition rear their head. Anecdotally it feels like in the solo campaign, squad AI in Gears of War Reloaded can still be a little iffy. That's a shame as, in the Xbox 360 original, it was really solid, and one area I really felt Ultimate Edition dropped the ball. Reloaded does feel a bit better than Ultimate Edition in this regard, but some rough moments persist. The less said about the finale of Act 1 the better, in which you have to bait a blind Berzerker through several doors while your CPU-controlled Dom insists on getting himself killed again and again, resulting in a Game Over.

Beyond that, though, it has to be said the Gears of War Reloaded feels like a huge leap from Ultimate Edition. Reloaded runs like a dream on PS5 Pro, and I think the way the higher fidelity visuals have been implemented do a much better job of capturing the weird modern gothic and industrial labyrinths that made the original compelling to look at – something that really left me cold in Ultimate.

Excellent day

I also still love Gears of War's storytelling. While I still find the culture-shattering trailer scored to Gary Jules' 'Mad World' cover a bit cringe (hey, I was a teenager when Gears hit – I was into metal, my friend), Gears of War does successfully manage to tell a deeper story than all the muscle flexing might have you think.

I love how Gears of War opens in media res, leaving you to learn what sort of conflict Marcus has been thrown into, why he was imprisoned, the relationships between him and his squadmates, and what the higher-ups in command are scheming. Through a combination of mid-mission dialogue and clever environment design, much about Marcus' background and E-Day become clear before an explosive finish. Though it ends with a sequel hook, I still think Gears of War is a tremendous sci-fi blaster in its own right, even outside of the rest of the series it spawned.

Gears of War's dedication to simple smart design across its satisfying shooting and storytelling mean it's aged incredibly gracefully – and is still top of the pile when it comes to the third-person cover shooter genre for me, even if some parts show its age even in Reloaded.

And yet, rather than get me hyped up for the impending Gears of War: E-Day, my enjoyable trip back to Gears of War also leaves me less excited to see more. Gears of War Reloaded emphasizes why the original works so well. Gears of War: Judgment felt weird as a bit of a prequel itself, and I definitely don't like the idea of retreading a past that's explored so well in the original. After all, playing it again, I'm reminded of why Gears of War felt so exciting in 2006 – it just felt so fresh and new in how it implemented the fundamentals. Years and years after the fact, yet another sequel in a series with diminishing returns is going to struggle to capture that.

Gears of Wars Reloaded was played on PS5 Pro, with a code provided by the publisher.

Itching to play something else? Check out our best games on Game Pass for Xbox and PC list to find your next target.

The Gears of War: Reloaded release time – the remastered version of the original 2006 shooter – is almost here, with it set to launch worldwide later today, August 26.

There's a lot for Gears of War fans to be excited about right now, with the prequel to the OG game, Gears of War: E-Day, set to launch at some point next year. With that in mind, there's pretty much no better time to refresh yourself on the series' origins, or get acquainted with it for the first time – no doubt something that Xbox and The Coalition had in mind when preparing Reloaded's launch.

Almost every platform will be able to get in on the action, too, with Gears of War: Reloaded coming to PS5 as well as PC and Xbox Series X|S. And now, there are mere hours to wait until we can dive in. Read on to see exactly when Gears of War: Reloaded launches in your region.

Gears of War: Reloaded release time

• August 26 at 8am PDT
• August 26 at 11am EDT
• August 26 at 4pm BST
• August 26 at 5pm CEST

Sometimes, game launch times can vary a bit depending on what platform you're planning to play on, but this doesn't appear to be the case here. So, you can expect a simultaneous release across PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X|S later today.

Hopefully, the remaster will do the OG version justice. Back in June, GamesRadar+'s editor-in-chief Josh West said during his Summer Game Fest preview that he was "impressed by the quality of remaster developer The Coalition (in partnership with studios Sumo Digital and Disbelief) has put together here," adding that " 4K assets, remastered textures, and HDR support underpin a transformed campaign experience which runs at an impossibly smooth 60fps on all platforms."

It may seem strange to some that Gears of War will be on PS5 this month, but the game's OG designer is "thrilled that more people are going to get to experience a big part of my legacy."

Gears of War: Reloaded is a remastered version of the Xbox classic games, and surprise surprise, it's coming to PS5, too. While it may seem strange to those of us who grew up in the height of the console wars, the series' original lead designer Cliff Bleszinski says he's "thrilled" and doesn't think it's weird at all.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Bleszinski says "It doesn't feel strange. I'm thrilled that more people are going to get to experience a big part of my legacy that I worked so hard on."

Bleszinski joined Epic Games in the early '90s. He worked on Unreal and Unreal Tournament, and was then the lead designer for the first three Gears of War games. His work has left an impact, to say the least.

Growing up, the only two games that made me want an Xbox were Gears of War and Halo. I was happy with Crash Bandicoot, Sly Cooper, and Resistance, but those Xbox flagships had an undeniable cool factor. I got the Gears of War 3 special edition Xbox 360 when my PS3 crapped out while playing Brink, but finally, on August 26, Sony ponies will be able to play as the chainsaw-gun wielding Marcus Fenix.

Even now, the original games are still a delight, but I wouldn't expect anyone to buy a whole new console just to play them, so I'm happy they're coming to PS5. For our hands-on Gears of War: Reloaded preview, Editor-in-Chief Josh West writes, "joining a friend who is on Xbox Series X for a cross-platform co-op session? Quite honestly, it's quietly revolutionary."

While we wait for it to launch, check out the best Xbox Series X games you can play today. If you've just got a PlayStation, then let's hope they cross the aisle soon.

Former Gears of War boss Cliff Bleszinski is in no rush to return to game development, it seems, and after 11 years is still very much pocketing memories of his defunct studio Boss Key Productions.

Boss Key, you may remember, released two games – and had some gorgeous concepts for others – before closing down. LawBreakers was a competitive FPS released in 2017 to fairly positive reviews, while Radical Heights was a battle royale shooter released in 2018 to noticeably less positive reviews.

"11 years ago I started Boss Key," Bleszinski reflected in a July 21 tweet. "Sigh. It was amazing at first and then, well, it broke me for a good long while. Still bitter about the internet finding it hilarious that my studio folded."

In replies to another user, Bleszinski affirmed that "I'm happy consulting at this point" rather than fully returning to gaming. It seems his thoughts have changed since 2020, when he expressed "a slight itch to scratch to maybe poke around and see about making a little game."

At the time, Bleszinski also reckoned that Boss Key "should have started with a small, indie game FIRST before trying to make the shooter we ultimately did." He also argued that "the marketing from our publisher was lackluster, and that's putting it mildly."

Boss Key legitimately had some FPS chops, but Radical Heights, in particular, felt like a victim of the trends of the games industry. The battle royale boom had come and, perhaps not gone, but certainly settled into a collective of genre-dominating giants that made it hard for new games to make any headway even when those games were excellent. And Radical Heights, to put it kindly, was less than excellent. Its now-buried Steam page has preserved its 9,788 reviews, averaging out to 62% positive.

Diving into Gears of War: Reloaded's chaotic multiplayer servers is like being wrapped in a warm blanket lined with sandpaper.

Gears of War: Reloaded's upcoming beta weekend will now be longer and include more maps and modes, seemingly in response to negative feedback from the last beta.

ICYMI: last weekend's Gears of War: Reloaded beta took some heat for technical issues, server instability, and in general, not being all that different from the 2015 remaster, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition. (Yes, there was already a Gears of War remaster; Reloaded is supposed to be a remaster of that with added availability on PlayStation.)

On Xbox Series X and PS5, you can expect the coveted 4K/120 FPS, at least in multiplayer modes, and crossplay and cross-progression are enabled across all platforms. That said, it seems Xbox was careful not too touch the actual bones of the game, which is great, but it seems like players were expecting at least some refinements to pain points like hit detection, sponging, and general lack of polish.

GamesRadar's Josh West said playing the Gears of War: Reloaded beta was like "being wrapped in a warm blanket lined with sandpaper," noting the game's faithfulness to the 2006 original while also highlighting various things that make the remaster feel very 2006, for better or worse.

Anyway, this beta extension isn't likely to quell any of the above concerns, but it will let you play Gears of War: Reloaded for a little longer and experience more of what the full release will include on August 26.

"We heard you. More maps. More modes. More time," The Coalition said in a tweet. "This weekend’s Multiplayer Beta has been extended and Execution will now be playable along with KOTH."

This weekend's Gears of War: Reloaded beta will now run from Friday, June 20 at 12pm PDT to Sunday, June 22 at 9pm PDT, which is nine hours longer than the last beta. Maps available in Competitive KOTH and Execution will now include Canals in addition to Gridlock, Raven Down, Courtyard, and War Machine. For Social TDM, you'll have Gridlock, Gold Rush, Raven Down, Courtyard, and War Machine.

Again, The Coalition has yet to address the feedback around the core game itself, and with a little more than two months from launch it's unlikely there's a whole lot that can be done without a delay, but I suppose this is a harmless enough peace treaty.

Meanwhile, here's everything we know about Gears of War: E-Day.

Gears of War: Reloaded is no longer coming out in Japan for the PS5 due to "regional rating restrictions and platform policies," despite the Xbox and PC versions still being released on August 26.

Gears of War is getting its second remaster very soon, with the big gimmick this time around being that the game is finally making the jump away from Xbox and letting PlayStation players in on the fun (with a bunch of betas coming before it launches on August 26). However, in Japan – where PlayStation has always been significantly more popular – the game will only be releasing on Xbox and PC.

This was announced on a Xbox Wire Japan post (spotted and translated by Automaton, and verified using machine translation), in a post which explains the game won't be releasing on the platform due to "regional rating restrictions and platform policies."

While Japanese players are advised that they'll still be able to play the game at launch on Steam, Xbox Series X|S, and Game Pass, an apology has been issued for anyone inconvenienced by the PS5 version not releasing.

While not as eager to ban games as some countries, Japan has previously banned games with copious amounts of gore like 2022's The Callisto Protocol and the Dead Space Remake. Plus Assassin's Creed Shadows was censored in the country, with the dismemberment toned down vastly (which seems to be a sticking point given that Dead Space is all about the dismemberment).

Automaton mentions that the original release of Gears of War in 2006 did in fact release in a censored state, with some scenes depicting severed limbs being affected.

The post doesn't specify why only the PS5 version is affected when the game is presumably the same across both platforms, so I'm assuming that the "platform policies" section is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here.

We saw some more of Gears of War: Reloaded at Summer Game Fest this year, making an appearance during the Xbox Games Showcase.

The Coalition has confirmed that Gears of War: E-Day will be released in 2026.

The news came following the Xbox Games Showcase in an Xbox Wire blog post, where the developer also gave a first look at Gears of War: Reloaded in action.

The pairing makes for a compelling anniversary celebration for the Gears of War franchise, which debuted back in 2006 on Xbox 360. Reloaded is set to launch on August 26, 2025, and marks the first time the series has landed on a PlayStation platform. It's shaping up to be a pretty dazzling remaster of the 2015 remake of the original game, and should be considered essential ahead of E-Day.

That's because Gears of War: E-Day is a prequel, tracking the events of the original Emergence Day – often referred to by characters in the series, but never properly detailed. E-Day is when the Locust initiated a planet-wide assault on the surface of Sera, and the 2026 prequel will let us experience the horrors firsthand. This origin story will delve into the early life of protagonist Marcus Fenix, detail the making of the Lancer, and reunite us with Marcus' bestie, Dom Santiago.

Xbox has yet to set a firm 2026 release date for Gears of War: E-Day, but we do know that it'll land on PC, Xbox Series X, and will be available on day one through Game Pass Ultimate. There is no word yet on whether E-Day will follow Reloaded onto the PS5, although it would be a safe bet to assume that it will eventually.

Xbox Games Showcase 2025 needs to build on Microsoft's momentum, but it may need to go beyond The Outer Worlds 2 to pull it off.

Gears of War: Reloaded is one of the key upcoming Xbox Series X games for 2025, a sprawling remaster of the exceptional 2015 remake of the 2006 original. Which is all to say, Gears' 20th anniversary celebration begins here. Reloaded also marks the first time that the series will be available on PS5 – and you won't have long to try it for yourselves either.

The Coalition was on hand at the Xbox Games Showcase with a new trailer, with an Xbox Wire blog post confirming that pre-orders are now open for Gears of War: Reloaded, and if you get yours locked in, you'll be able to access a couple of special multiplayer beta weekends towards the end of June (for players on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Game Pass Ultimate subscribers). Existing owners of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition will also be able to access the beta, as they are being treated to a free Reloaded upgrade anyway this August.

Better still, the Gears of War will feature cross-platform multiplayer between all of these platforms for the very first time. Speaking with GamesRadar+, The Coalition's CVP Kate Rayner says that the beta "is a chance for us to really test at scale the cross-platform play experience. We're really excited for players to get their hands on it."

The Coalition's Studio Head Mike Crump adds: "This will be a great way to get people back in, and it gives us an opportunity to test everything before we launch in August – to make sure that the servers are ready for big numbers!"

Gears of War: Reloaded is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X on August 26, 2025. Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers will be able to access it from day one, and for the rest of you first-time adopters, it'll come in at a budget price of $39.99.

Xbox Games Showcase 2025 needs to build on Microsoft's momentum, but it may need to go beyond The Outer Worlds 2 to pull it off.

While there's still no release date for Gears of War: E-Day, series creator Cliff Bleszinski has decided now is the time to just let it all hang loose and reveal he kind of winged it with some of that Locust and Riftworm stuff. Recently on Twitter, Bleszinski shared that a major showdown in Gears of War 3 kind of... makes no sense.

In Gears of War, the Locust Horde are mutated humanoids, the result of genetic experiments, and develop their own governing society. This also included a religion known as the Trinity of Worms which worshipped the Riftworms, giant, 10-mile-long worms which created the Hollow, where the Locust reside. Despite the rich lore surrounding the Riftworms and their relation to the Locust, it turns out some stuff was left blank.

During Gears of War 3, one Locust known as Ketor Skorge, awoke a Riftworm to be used as a weapon of mass destruction in their war against the humans. There's just a tiny detail missing from the fact that Skorge was able to command the Riftworm at will: Bleszinski has no idea how he did it.

According to his tweet, Bleszinski has no explanation for how the Locust "got control of the Riftworm in the first place, and two: how they guided it to their desired target."

While sharing his retrospection, Bleszinski defends his lack of explanation with a simple idea that some gamers can get behind, while others will demand answers for: "Sometimes ya just put stuff in a game you think is cool. You don't have to fully explain everything; let 'em wonder."

The only issue now is that regardless of how much Gears of War fans "wonder," they'll know in their heart of hearts that even the creator doesn't have a clue.

REPO and Schedule 1 receive the highest honor an indie game can possibly get outside 2 seconds in a Nintendo sizzle reel: Geoff Keighley telling the world they're outselling some genuine AAA juggernauts

After a seemingly endless period of rumors and speculation, Xbox has unveiled Gears of War: Reloaded. This is a full, $40 remaster of the original Gears of War set to launch on August 26 across Xbox Series X and PC, including Game Pass, and it's coming to PS5 too.

Gears of War: Reloaded will be priced at $40, but "as a token of our gratitude to longtime fans," you'll get it for free if you've purchased a digital version of the previous remaster, Ultimate Edition, on Xbox or PC. If you've bought Ultimate Edition before today, May 5, you'll get a code for Reloaded via direct message on Xbox.

Reloaded promises 4K, 60 FPS gameplay in campaign, or 120 FPS in multiplayer, alongside a host of other tech features, including audio options like 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos and 3D spatial audio, video options like HDR and Dolby Vision, and VRR support.

You can read the full list of new features in the official announcement, but there are also new graphical tweaks including improved textures, visual effects, and shadows. Plus there'll be "zero loading screens during Campaign."

This remaster will, of course, include the bonus campaign act first included with the PC version of the game, as well as "immediate access to all post-launch downloadable content at no additional cost."

Perhaps the most notable detail here is the fact that the game is coming to PlayStation for the first time, and Xbox promises full crossplay and cross-progression support for all platforms via a Microsoft account.

If you don't want cross-platform features, though, you won't be required to sign into that account, sidestepping the same kind of misstep Sony has frequently tried to make in the past with its own account requirements.

"Gears of War: Reloaded includes platform-specific features that make the most of the hardware you already own," Xbox adds. The details of those enhancements aren't clear, but it's easy to imagine DualSense controller features and PS5 Pro enhancements being among them, and it's wild to think that Gears, a former Xbox exclusive, will be offering what might just be its most definitive port on PlayStation in a few months' time.

Take aim at the best FPS games out there today.

A Gears of War Collection compiling all three games from the original trilogy has been rumored for a long, long time, but whispers are swirling around the internet once more, and the more credible ones say the re-releases won't include competitive multiplayer.

Rumors of a Gears of War: Marcus Fenix Collection have been around since at least 2022, and they're just as believable now as they were back then. Microsoft already bundled five of their iconic games in Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Gears' alien apocalypse was equally impactful in its own generation. Just think back on how many Xbox 360/PS3 games had a urine yellow filter (Fallout 3, MGS 4) and cover-based shooting, even where it wasn't really necessary (Tomb Raider's reboot, Uncharted.)

The latest round of rumors started with content creator Detective Seeds, who claims the Gears Collection is also coming to PlayStation consoles, but won't feature any PvP modes in a recent social media post. Windows Central's Jez Corden corroborated the rumor, saying he's also heard it'll include campaign co-op but not PvP.

Considering how wonky The Master Chief Collection's matchmaking was in its first few weeks, I wouldn't blame the developers for not wanting to stitch together dozens of maps and modes from three different games into one package. It's probably a coding nightmare. On the other hand, Halo: MCC's commitment to preserving 100s of classic maps, some of them two decades old, in a functional, popular game with modern bells and whistles is kind of unbelievable - and was worth the shaky launch, in my opinion.

Microsoft is gearing up to release an all-new prequel called Gears of War: E-Day, however, so it's possible the publisher wouldn't want to split the multiplayer playerbase between two - or even three, if you're including Gears 5 - multiplayer games. And, in fairness, I'll take any excuse to bash through subterranean alien-bug-demon brains once again, especially if the classic shooters are coming to an entirely new audience on PC and PS5, wall-zipping multiplayer or not.

Diablo 4 boss' plan for Gears of War 6 would've taken the series to space, but "we weren't going to start Mass Effect-ing this"

Emergence Day origin story Gears of War: E-Day will be co-developed by shooter powerhouse and longtime Gears supporter People Can Fly, which was built on the enduring legacy of 2004 FPS Painkiller and is most recently known for the looter shooter Outriders.

The official Gears of War social media feeds have been napping ever since a few scant reveals and rumors last year; People Can Fly shared today's news in a blog post of its own. "We are honored to return to the world of Gears of War, a franchise deeply embedded in our studio’s history," the studio says. "As lead developer of the iconic Gears of War: Judgment and co-development partner on Gears of War 1-3, we have always been passionate about the series and its legacy."

Mike Crump, studio head at Gears dev The Coalition, says the team is "pleased to be partnering with the talented folks at People Can Fly who have been a part of our franchise’s legacy for so long."

"Our team at People Can Fly, made up of dedicated Gears of War fans, is pouring everything we have into creating an experience that will exceed expectations," adds People Can Fly development director Guillaume Barry. "While we can’t share more just yet, we’re eager for the day when we can show all the exciting things we’ve been working on."

People Can Fly's history is a fascinating mix of solid-to-great games and easy-to-forget contributions. Gears is obviously in its DNA, but did you remember that the studio also contributed to Fortnite: Save the World back when it was still Epic Games Poland before it rebranded back to its original name and logo? And let's not forget the many editions of Bulletstorm, arguably the studio's most recognizable game, at least to people who tragically haven't played Painkiller. Outriders, meanwhile, played and reviewed well enough, and it actually "surprised" publisher Square Enix, but it feels as though it was swept away by a tide of similarly looty shooters.

All of this is to say that People Can Fly has been at this for over 20 years, and the studio is already fluent in Gears of War, so E-Day tapping them in once again is simultaneously intriguing and unsurprising, like a relative you haven't seen for a decade turning up at Christmas dinner.

Fully committing to prequel authenticity, The Coalition confirmed last year that the original Marcus and Dom actors are "so back" for the prequel Gears of War: E-Day.

Born out of a pandemic, refined through reflection: Gears of War: E-Day is a chance for The Coalition to recapture the spirit of Gears and "tear a lot of s*** up."

Gears of War E-Day finally got a release date, though it's bad news for PS5 owners. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma confirmed that the upcoming Xbox Series X game will not be launching on PS5 after all, with the new boss doubling down on a console-first initiative as the company seems to be pivoting away from the "Xbox Anywhere" approach of recent years.

We finally saw more of E-Day at the Xbox Games Showcase 2026, which also featured a lengthier post-show special on the new game. This brought plenty of juicy new details, from gameplay tweaks to the characters, settings, and narrative beats that will be coming our way later this year when Gears of War: E-Day launches in October.

Below, I've created a handy guide with a detailed overview of everything there is to know about it so far. From the latest Gears of War: E-Day news to pre-orders and gameplay deep-dives, scroll down now!

Gears of War: E-Day release date

Gears of War: E-Day's release date has been set for October 6, 2026. The news came during Xbox Games Showcase 2026, kicking off the show with a lengthy new combat trailer that gives us a taste of all the new goodness coming to the much-loved shooter series.

This was followed up after the show with a more substantial deep dive into all the newness on the way, too, with developer The Collaboration going into the nitty-gritty of what makes this the bloodtes

Gears of War: E-Day platforms

Gears of War: E-Day will launch on PC and Xbox Series X/S. The upcoming game will also be included on day one as part of Xbox Game Pass.

That means the new Gear of War game will be one of the rare few Xbox exclusives on the publisher's menu. In the meantime, it's a great time to revisit all the past games in the series now, so you don't have to worry about any catch-up when the title finally arrives (read our Gears of War review for more information on where to start).

Gears of War has always been an Xbox-exclusive title, with new CEO Asha Sharma unpicking the "Xbox Anywhere" initiative laid out by predecessor Phil Spencer by ensuring that Gear of War: E-Day sticks to the trend. However, with Gears of War: Reloaded out on PS5 alongside Xbox Series X/S, and Fable 4 also confirmed to be heading to the PS5, it's not entirely outside of the realms of possibility that we might see E-Day one day come to the console in the future.

Is Gears of War: E-Day a prequel?

If you're wondering if Gears of War: E-Day is a prequel, yes, yes, it is. In fact, it's set 14 years before the original action game and will star younger versions of both Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago, with both John DiMaggio and Carlos Ferro reprising the roles.

The story will take place during Emergence Day and see our heroes having to face the Locust Horde (a race of genetically altered humans). In case you need a lore refresher, Emergence Day is a full-scale and coordinated planet-wide assault on Sera. It took place only a few weeks after the Pendulum Wars ended (a devastating conflict that claimed millions of lives and left the environment of Sera in shambles). Basically, Sera was in a weak position, and Emergence Day was everyone's worst nightmare come to life.

E-Day also signaled the start of The Locust War in the Gears of War timeline. In terms of the Locust Horde, we got a brief description of them thanks to a post on Xbox Wire. The baddies of the upcoming story are labeled as "subterranean monsters" who are "grotesque and relentless" as they "erupt from below, laying siege on humanity itself."

Gears of War: E-Day trailers

The latest Gears of War: E-Day trailer is described as a gameplay demo reveal by publisher Xbox, and it more than delivers on the meaty gunplay and bullet-slinging violence we can expect come October.

This is our first proper look at what Gears of War: E-Day will look and feel like to play, from glimpsing The Locust once again to checking out some of the awesome new heavy artillery at our fingertips. It also shows off some cool new traversal mechanics, like sliding and crawling, which is sure to make those moments where agility is super necessary feel a lot smoother than in past instalments.

We got to see the first Gears of War: E-Day trailer during the Xbox Showcase 2024 presentation, and it was a weird, somber affair. In the clip above, we see a young Marcus Fenix struggle against a Locust Horde Drone and pretty much watch him get his butt handed to him until the very last second when he finally manages to blow the enemy's head into smithereens.

We also see Dom make an appearance and a brief glimpse at the fallen city of Kalona, showing us the horrific results of the Locust Horde's last assault. It's all very moody and thematic but also packed with some nostalgia as well. For example, the soundtrack used in the teaser is the Gary Jules version of Tears For Fears' 'Mad World'.

Now, if you remember the first Gears of War trailer, it also used Tears For Fears' ‘Mad World.' However, Gary Jules's version of the song is a lot slower in tempo, and the effect is that the trailer seems a lot bleaker as a result, but in a good way. I mean, war isn't meant to be sunshine and rainbows, right?

Gears of War: E-Day gameplay

As per the new Gears of War: E-Day trailer, there are plenty of changes coming to the prequel shooter. You'll be able to slide for the first time, strange as that sounds, and say goodbye to those conveniently waist-high walls to hide behind, because you'll finally be able to crawl or jump between cover.

There is going to be a great emphasis on the horror aspect of the story, in some aspects taking us back to the roots of the series itself, as confirmed by creative director Matt Searcy during an interview with IGN.

"We looked back at what people felt like when they played Gears of War or any of the Gears - Gears 4 included," Searcy explained. "But when people tell you what they remember playing, the things that stood out to them, the feelings, a lot of it is about these, kind of dark, almost horror-esque, scary moments."

The latest trailer from the Xbox Games Showcase also showed off some brutal executions, like literally bursting an enemy's head with the stock of you weapon to shooting arms off your enemies while blood explodes from the shoulder socket. We also see a Locust getting chainsawed in half, if that floats your boat.

Developed with Unreal Engine 5, the series that defined a lot of third-person shooters made today will be (you guessed it) still a third-person shooter. However, a post on Xbox Wire has also said that "The Coalition is working to recreate and improve the series’ trademark third-person action", with new technology. You'll still be charging between cover in life-or-death situations during the game's campaign. However, we may see tweaks and innovations in how the team weaves storytelling into all the action.

"It's us revisiting the tone and the feeling of what makes Gears great, but we're tapping into new techniques, new processes, and new technology that’s going to make the gameplay feel better than ever. It’s going to be awesome, a game that feels both truly new, and authentically Gears," Searcy said.

Can you pre-order Gears of War: E-Day?

Yes, you can finally pre-order Gears of War: E-Day on PC and Xbox Series X/S now! Your Deluxe Edition pre-order (check here for Xbox versions) will gain you five days of early access to the game from October 1, a weapons pack, in-game currency, and five seasonal customization packs to be released intermittently both at and post-launch.

There's also a collector's edition if you're feeling like splashing some more serious cash, which nets you all of the above plus some sweet extras:

• Access to the open beta from August 6
• A collectible diorama featuring Marcus and Dominic
• Replica dog tags
• A steelbook and special edition packaging
• A thank you note from the developer
• A lithograph

Of course, you can also just pre-order the base game if you don't need any extras or Gears of War: E-Day early access periods, and it will also be available day-one on Xbox Game Pass

If you're after more titles, read our lists of the best Xbox exclusives and the best Xbox Series X games to play right now.

Gears of War: E-Day is bringing back John DiMaggio and Carlos Ferro to once again star as Marcus Fenix and Dominic "Dom" Santiago, respectively, developer The Coalition has confirmed.

DiMaggio and Ferro first starred in the original Gears of War way back in 2006, which is somehow 18 years ago now. Given that the next mainline entry, Gears of War: E-Day, is a prequel set 14 years before the events of the first game, it wasn't entirely clear whether we'd get to hear DiMaggio and Ferro's iconic voice lines again, but thankfully that's now been confirmed in a tweet from The Coalition.

"We are so back," reads the tweet, which was shared in celebration of the Gears of War series' 18th anniversary.

DiMaggio and Ferro also played the roles in 2008's Gears of War 2, 2011's Gears of War 3, 2013's Gears of War Judgment, 2016's Gears of War 4, and 2019's Gears of War 5. 

Gears of War: E-Day is an origin story that takes place across several days and explores the long-running series' Emergence Day event, in which the Locust Horde rose from its underground civilization and invaded the Earth-like planet of Sera, killing billions of people and igniting the Locust War that's been a backdrop to each Gears game's narrative.

There's no release date for Gears of War: E-Day just yet, but the last we heard it was reportedly targeting a 2025 launch, y'know, just in case you didn't already have enough upcoming games to look forward to next year.

Diablo 4 boss' plan for Gears of War 6 would've taken the series to space, but "we weren't going to start Mass Effect-ing this."

Diablo 4 lead Rodd Fergusson was previously known for his work on pretty much every single Gears of War game, well before his involvement in Blizzard's dark and loot-filled world, and he's now opened up about what the plan for Gears of War 6 looked like before his departure from developer The Coalition.

Asked about his opinions on the recently-revealed prequel Gears of War: E-Day in an interview with Podcast Unlocked, Fergusson said "it's a little surreal to have something come out about Gears that I haven't been involved in. You know, I spent 15 years with Gears of War and basically every game that was made - I think 9 or 10 total." 

Fergusson said that he was surprised by The Coalition's decision to explore the series' past, rather than continue a story that was only partway done in Gears 5, but it was ultimately "really smart" because fans had been asking to see E-Day - the moment when the Locust first erupted from the ground - for years. But as he previously explained, OG series developer Epic Games never depicted Gears of War: E-Day's events because the team couldn't "do it justice" on the Xbox 360.

Things get extra juicy when Fergusson talks about the plans for Gears of War 6 that he left behind since, surprisingly, the sequel was apparently going to take us off the Earth-like planet of Sera for the very first time. "Gears 6 was to leave Sera," he said. "That was something we were building to. If you paid attention to the story in Gears 5, you come across the UIR [Union of Independent Republics] sort-of rocket technology. We were sort of laying the seeds and the groundwork that in taking over that UIR territory, we've adopted their space program. So what I wanted to do with Gears 6 is take you off Sera to encounter what that could mean to the rest of the galaxy or, at least, the rest of the solar system. Not that you'd be hopping [between planets], but... it was old, Russian-era, sputnik-type tech, so we weren't going to start Mass Effect-ing this. It was really about, 'let's get you to a new place to encounter what this looks like.'"

Gears of War 6 wasn't just going to space, however, it was also going to have to deal with the end of Gears 5, which made players choose between saving JD or Del, the first time in series history where players impacted the story and the previously very tight-knit continuity. Fergusson doesn't reveal what The Coalition's plans were for JD and/or Del in the sixth mainline game, though he does note that the choice was pretty "neck-and-neck."

While we won't see a continuation to Kait Diaz's story any time soon with E-Day still in active development, The Coalition has said it still has eyes on Gears 6 and it isn't "retreating" from the story it began.

It's funny how life works out sometimes. I'm sitting across from Rod Fergusson following the Xbox Games Showcase, and the general manager of the Diablo franchise is complaining that the sound from an adjacent room is deafening. We met in 2019, back when Fergusson was charged with leading production of Gears 5 – the creative director demanding that a new gameplay trailer have its audio amped up so that I'd feel the action in my bones. We're speaking now so that, ostensibly, he can tease out details of Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred, but it didn't take much to get him reflecting on the importance of Gears of War: E-Day – to Gears, to The Coalition, and to the players feverishly rewatching the reveal trailer.

"I was thinking about all of that as I was getting ready to watch the Xbox Games Showcase," he tells me, flashing the Crimson Omen tattoo immortalized across his bicep. "E-Day is the tenth Gears of War game. I've had creative involvement in all of the previous nine, so this is the first I haven't had anything to do with. I didn't even know it was going to be E-Day. You know, I thought I had great ideas for what Gears 6 was going to be, and how to finish that trilogy, so I was kind of wanting to see how they were going to do it… but I love what they are doing."

"E-Day was one of those things we used to talk about when we were doing Gears one through five; players were always asking, 'How come you haven't done E-Day?' A part of it was that we didn't feel like the technology could render it right. It's this massive invasion, where tens of millions of people get killed; we just didn't think we could do it justice on Xbox 360. But now, looking at what The Coalition is doing with Unreal Engine 5, and what they're able to achieve with the Series X, this is the perfect time to have an E-Day story. I'm so excited to see what they do, and I'm proud of them." 

Perhaps it's fate that led Fergusson back into the arms of Xbox, a strange occurrence after the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. And fate that led Fergusson to be an emphatic advocate of both Gears of War and his former team at The Coalition once again, even if he is now separated by a franchise and a thin plywood wall. But what is it about Gears of War: E-Day that has him so excited? To understand that, we need to switch gears over to the creatives at The Coalition. 

Origin story

Gears of War: E-Day depicts a defining moment in the history of humanity. It's an origin story set 14 years before the events of the original Gears of War, following the carnage (and immediate aftermath) wrought on Emergence Day – where planet Sera was thrust into turmoil as hordes of Locust emerged from the ground. It's a period of Gears history that's long been considered sacrosanct, until now. "There's not a lot out there, so this is a rich storytelling space for us to enter," says creative director Matt Searcy. "We follow E-Day from the perspective of the people there, and we get to be very intimate with the characters. It's a cool way to come back to the Locust and re-enter that period."

The Locust and their Emergence Holes effectively died with Gears of War 3 in 2011, along with one of the most beloved friendships in video game history. "This is also an origin story of the bond that defines the franchise," says brand director Nicole Fawcette. Gears of War: E-Day will pull focus back onto Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago, although there's going to be some amount of friction there. "The friendship that you played through in the original trilogy is so enduring, but when you play E-Day it's not going to be exactly as you remember it. Marcus and Dom are coming back from the Pendulum Wars and they've already experienced some loss," she adds.

Dom lost his brother, Carlos, in the civil war waged between the Coalition of Ordered Governments and the Union of Independent Republics over control of the planet's Imulsion supply. And with that death, Marcus lost a friend. "They're dealing with that grief," Fawcette says, "and they haven't really bonded as the best friends that you know them as in the original trilogy. You've never seen them go through this kind of story before." There's also a chance that you've never heard the duo quite like this before either, as Fawcette is elusive on the return of voice actors John DiMaggio and Carlos Ferro: "I can't tell you that,' she chuckles. "Unfortunately, we don't talk about our talent process here while we are in development, so we can't share any of those details today."

Gears of War: E-Day has a lot of ground to cover. The depiction of a war that tears humanity asunder, claiming the lives of millions. A story of survival that gets back to the grim, violent claustrophobia that defined so much of the original trilogy. A chronicling of the friendship that came to define the franchise. And yes, even the weapons we came to love along the way. "In the trailer, you're not seeing the Chainsaw Lancer – that's because it didn't exist then," says Fawcette. "The Chainsaw Lancer was built specifically to take down the Locust, so that's another fun, interesting origin story for us to be able to depict for fans." 

A moment of reflection

An origin story that explores the foundations of Gears of War was born out of a moment of reflection, with The Coalition taking a beat to explore its purpose after shipping Gears Tactics and Gears 5 for Xbox Series X. "When we got to the end of all that we were in a pandemic," says Searcy. "We took a beat to reflect on what Gears meant to us, what parts of the franchise we were most excited about and tried to distill all of that down." 

The Coalition kept coming back to a single frame from the original Gears of War Mad World trailer – a shot where a towering Corpser emerges from the dark, a lone Marcus Fenix struggling to survive its reach. "We realized that to understand where we wanted to go in the future, we first had to reflect on the past. This shot, more than anything, encompassed the vibe – that feeling people have when they think about Gears. That's where we started," he adds. 

"We spent a lot of time talking about the phrase 'Never Fight Alone' which was a term used to describe the co-op mechanic internally during the development of the original game. That was the term later used to describe how important the concept of brotherhood is to Gears – it was even used in marketing campaigns. But we kept coming back to it – it's sort of a North Star for why Gears exists," says Fawcette. "It also gets to the heart of why we continue making this franchise, and we believe in it so much that we use the term as part of our own culture. Because nobody should need to fight alone. We've made an actual monetary commitment to that idea on our side, where we pledge 1% of our net revenues towards mental health advocacy, specifically for suicide prevention and combating loneliness."

'Brotherhood' and 'Brutality'. 'Sadness' and 'Catharsis'. Defining concepts that The Coalition kept coming back to as it tried to figure out where to go next, and determine whether to shift into production of Gears 6 or something else entirely. "They aren't just words to us, like, they fucking mean something," says Searcy on the pursuit of distilling down the raw essence of Gears of War. "These were the same words that fans use to describe the vibe of Gears, and it all brought us back to that one moment in Mad World. And we thought that the best place for the franchise to tell that kind of story again was the day the monsters came out of the ground."

Mad world

The Coalition is quick to stress that Gears of War: E-Day isn't a side story or spinoff. It's the next mainline installment to the franchise and should be thought of as such by players. While the studio isn't able to talk co-op and multiplayer just yet, Searcy is quick to set expectations: "E-Day is the next mainline Gears game that we're building, so you can make some educated guesses there." 

I'm sure that there will be plenty of educated guesses being made by the Gears community as The Coalition battles to get E-Day fighting fit in 2025, but one thing we needn't speculate on is the structure. Gears 5 introduced players to a wider world, sprawling spaces that tried to blur the lines between cover-based combat and open exploration. In a sense, as the studio works to reconnect with the original spirit of the series, Gears of War: E-Day is taking a back-to-basics approach. 

"The Coalition has worked on Gears for like 10 years, and we've got a really good handle on the things that work well in a Gears of War game – and we still want to keep pushing and trying new things," says Searcy. "Gears has always had these linear, epic moments; we've done a bunch of them and we know how to do them well, and we will absolutely be doing that again. E-Day is set in a city, which is cool for us because Gears works awesome in a city. The opportunity for what we can do with combat, with our level design, and characters is pretty amazing."

"It's going to feel new and authentically Gears at the same time," he adds. "We're taking all of the things that we know are awesome about Gears of War and combining it with new techniques, new expertise, and a new game engine." That's key because Gears of War: E-Day will be The Coalition's first full release using Unreal Engine 5 – a platform it collaborated closely on in partnership with Epic Games, as best exemplified in The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience. "The E-Day reveal trailer is in Unreal 5 using our game assets, and that's our visual target." 

"The fidelity and scale that we can bring with UE5 is immense compared to what we've done before. Gears has always had a high fidelity bar that pushes boundaries and we'll continue to do that," he continues. "The technology is going to pay off in a really awesome way for players. From the way the world looks and feels, to the things you can do and the places you can go. We're going to tear a lot of shit up in E-Day, and Unreal Engine 5 definitely helps us with that." 

Having taken all of this information in, I ask The Coalition whether players could draw a line from Gears of War: E-Day to Black Hawk Down, the Ridley Scott war film that tracks the unraveling of an incursion on a 24-hour timeline. "Black Hawk Down is a great reference point, in terms of the intimacy of that experience," Searcy says, although he does note that the game will track Marcus and Dom across a longer stretch of time. 

"It's not a day, it's multiple days – but it is about the event. It's about sticking with these characters from the moment it happens and being with them every minute through the days that play out in the city; it's about experiencing it through their eyes to understand what's happening to them, to the city around them, and the people around them too." 

Gears of War: E-Day is targeting a 2025 release window for PC, Game Pass, and Xbox Series X. While you wait, check out more upcoming Xbox Series X games.

As the year has gone on and more upcoming games have been given release windows, one thing has become clear – 2025 is going to be a massive year for games. Just in case GTA 6 gracing our screens in 2025 wasn't enough, we now know that it's going to be joined by the likes of Fable 4 and Doom: The Dark Ages, not to mention Monster Hunter Wilds and Pokemon Legends: Z-A. Now, though, it's claimed that Gears of War: E-Day could be amongst them, too. 

Gears of War: E-Day was announced during the recent Xbox Games Showcase, and is a prequel set 14 years before the events of the first Gears of War, starring younger versions of both Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago (yes, he's really back). As the name suggests, the prequel is set during Emergence Day, but it's not just for those titular 24 hours, as it takes place over "multiple days" in order to set things up and then be with the characters "every minute, through the days that play out of the city." During the reveal trailer, it wasn't given a release window, but in a new report, The Verge's Tom Warren claims it could be next year.

According to the report, as of a few months ago, Warren had heard that Gears of War: E-Day was planning to release in 2025, ahead of the next Fable game. Officially, Fable 4 hasn't been given a release window beyond its 2025 target, but Warren writes that, according to his sources, the RPG is targeting a launch sometime between October and December next year. 

It's worth keeping in mind that these plans could change in the meantime – in fact, there's a chance they already have. However, if it's to be believed, it sounds like it's going to be difficult to keep up with all the games launching next year – you might want to tidy your backlog up now while you still can.

Check out our roundup of everything announced at the June 2024 Xbox Games Showcase to see what else is coming to Microsoft's consoles.

The Gears of War team had to wait for technology to catch up to their destructive, large-scale ideas before depicting the "massive invasion" that plagues the upcoming prequel Gears of War: E-Day, according to the series' former lead.

Rod Fergusson, who led production on every single mainline Gears game before moving on to become the general manager of all things Diablo, has given his two cents on Gears of War: E-Day, the tenth game in the series and the first one without his participation.

"It's really interesting," Fergusson says in an interview with GamesRadar+ during Summer Game Fest. "I was thinking about it as I was getting ready to watch the show, like, E-Day is the tenth Gears of War game, and I've had creative involvement in all the previous nine, so this is the first one I haven't had anything to do with at all."

Making Gears of War: E-Day has a been long-gestating idea for Fergusson, however, as "E-Day was one of the things we used to talk about when we were doing Gears 1-5." The prequel goes back in time to 14 years before the first game, depicting the moment when the subterranean hordes finally invaded the planet of Sera and kickstarted the war we see during Epic Games' trilogy, and since it's such a pivotal moment in the timeline, fans would often ask Fergusson about a potential prequel. 

Why did it take almost two decades for the game to get made, then? "Part of it was, at the time, we didn't feel like the technology could really render E-Day, right?" Fergusson explains. "Because this is a massive invasion, you know, where millions and millions, tens of millions of people get killed... and so we were just like, we can't do it justice on the [Xbox 360]."

Gears of War: E-Day's reveal trailer gives us a small glimpse of the cataclysmic event, with a younger Marcus Fenix and a still-breathing Dom Santiago staring down the city of Kalona, now burning and under siege. It's an impressively grand, disastrous sight, and since it was made using in-game assets, it should at least give us a taste of the chaos still to come. "Now, looking at what The Coalition does with Unreal Engine 5 and what they're able to do with the Xbox Series X - this is the perfect time to have an E-Day story," Fergusson adds.

While the series is finally going back to a pivotal moment many fans have been waiting to see, Fergusson can't help but mull over another crucial event - the cliffhanger ending in Gears 5 that's been benched. "I thought I had really great ideas for what Gears 6 was going to be and how to continue that or finish that trilogy. I'm kind of wanting to see how they were going to finish it," Fergusson says, and for anyone who's also missing Kait Diaz and the gang, developer The Coalition has said it still has eyes on Gears 6.

"I'm really excited to see what they do," Fergusson adds. "I'm really proud of them."

Elsewhere, Fergusson explained that Diablo Immortal gave the Diablo 4 team the confidence to build a new class that isn’t a “classic archetype of the D&D world.”

Gear of War: E-Day has received a seal of approval from the series' original co-creator.

Gears of War: E-Day is throwing it back to a time when the now familiar subterranean Locust army was nothing more than an unidentified scaly demon horde that had just popped out of the ground more than 14 years before the first game even started. Developer The Coalition decided to go down the nostalgic route with main man Marcus Fenix back in the spotlight and everyone's favorite beefcake Dom Santiago fully resurrected - an approach that seems to have wooed long-time fans and developers alike.

Cliff 'CliffyB' Bleszinski, the lead designer and co-creator of the first three Gears of War games, said E-Day's "back to basics" trailer gave him "chills" in a series of recent tweets. According to Bleszinski, the prequel approach "gives the people what they want (Dom and Marcus)" and leaves "plenty of room for set pieces."

Having worked on the series during its conception, Bleszinski happens to have a few theories about what the game might depict too. Bleszinski points to the "Welcome Home" banner in the reveal trailer, which might indicate that the characters are "fresh off the Pendulum Wars" - the regular human war that preceded the Locust invasion. "Prologue might be a chapter in the Pendulum Wars," he adds, though it should be noted that Gears of War 4 began in much the same way.

Speaking of theories, the co-creator reckons there will "probably" be a "heart-wrenching scene where we see Dom rushing to save Maria before she gets taken." For the uninitiated, Dom's struggle to rescue his wife Maria from the Locust is a recurring point of focus in the original trilogy and led to some of Gears' most iconic scenes, so, yeah, I'd also be surprised if E-Day didn't callback (call forward?) to those events. The prequel already seems eager to tug on our heartstrings if that Mad World remix is any indication.

Elsewhere, Bleszinski mulls over how the Lancer ("chainsaw gun") and Hammer of Dawn (orbital lasers) might come into play since the former doesn't even exist yet and the latter was a new, controversial invention in the Gearsverse that ended the Pendulum Wars. There is indeed a canon explanation for the Lancer's birth, but I'd rather see some rookie casually sellotape a chainsaw and rifle together while everyone else scoffs, "well, that's never going to work."

Gears of War: E-Day is rewinding the clocks, but The Coalition hints it still has eyes on Gears 6: “We’re not retreating from that storyline in any way.”

Gears of War: E-Day is ditching Gears 5's open-world levels for a more linear experience. 

That's according to Gears creative director Matt Searcy, speaking to GamesRadar+ during a group interview at Summer Game Fest 2024. The director revealed that Gears of War: E-Day, the new prequel game taking place years before the original third-person shooter, is set in the city of Kalona, a brand new location for the Gears of War franchise. 

"We've worked on Gears now in our studio for like, 10 years. We've got a really good handle on things that work really well in gears, as well as like things you want to keep pushing and trying. We know for sure that Gears, you know, has those linear, epic moments in them," Searcy said when asked about E-Day taking the series back to its more linear roots. 

"We've done a bunch of them, we know how to do that," the creative director continues, speaking of the linear moments in the Gears of War series. "And we will absolutely be doing more of that," Searcy confirms, pointing to how Gears of War: E-Day is set entirely within a city, and how a cityscape naturally lends itself to more linear opportunities.

"It's gonna feel new and also authentically Gears at the same time because we're able to take all the things that we know were awesome and bring, you know, new techniques and expertise as well as a new engine all of it," Searcy concludes. 

Elsewhere in the interview, Searcy confirms to GamesRadar+ that E-Day won't be set over just one day, but over multiple days. It'd be natural to assume the former, given that E-Day was a singular, catastrophic event in the Gears of War world, but apparently, the new game will focus on Marcus and Dom as they deal with the fallout of the Locust invasion, not just the initial attack.

Gears of War: E-Day's gorgeous trailer wasn't just CG, it used assets "that players will see in the final game."

Gears of War: E-Day debuted at last night's Xbox Game Showcase with a gorgeous (and very shadowy) trailer that showed perennial beefcake Marcus Fenix beating down Locust in a prequel setting. But despite looking like a snazzy CG advert, the trailer supposedly uses assets ripped straight from the game. 

The Gears of War: E-Day trailer was created by Blur Studio, the animation house that previously produced amazing CGI cutscenes for multiple Halo games, which led to many comments online claiming the trailer was totally computer generated. Xbox's marketing director Guy Welch then jumped onto social media to clear things up.

"The trailer is developed with in-game models, textures, environments and props that players will see in the final game," Welch tweeted. "This follows the same method that we used for the Gears of War trailers for the first three games, which were made in Unreal Engine with in-game assets" - only this time, the teams are using Unreal Engine 5.

Jamir Blanco, a cinematic character artist at Blizzard, then chimed in too: "saying it was a 'CG from Blur Studio' diminishes all the technical achievements you probably didn't notice from how good it was. Though it looks like another pre-rendered CG piece from Blur, it was actually a realtime masterpiece using in-game assets and [ray-traced] lighting in the same engine the game will play."

In a statement to Gamesradar+, a spokesperson from The Coalition clarified that the trailer does indeed use "in-game models, textures and environments" and is supposed to represent "our visual target for the game" - though, it is not in fact captured in real time. 

I usually roll my eyes when games get announced with glossy CG cutscenes that absolutely give nothing away and serve only as a "hey, we're making this thing" message. So, it's nice to hear that the Gears of War: E-Day trailer is at least a little indicative of what we can expect the final game to look like, scaly bug demons and all.

Good looks and oversized hunks aside, we also know that Gears of War: E-Day is throwing things back to the series' Emergence Day when, y'know, the subterranean hordes emerged from beneath Sera - the Gearsverse's Earth equivalent. Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago might be back in the spotlight, but The Coalition still has eyes on a potential Gears 6 as the team isn't "retreating" from the cliffhanger leftover from Gears 5. 

No release date yet but Gears of War: E-Day is crawling up on Xbox Series X|S and PC at some point. 

See everything else announced at the Xbox Games Showcase for an overview of all the new games and reveals.

Fans of oversized soldiers and chainsaw-guns might be surprised to hear that Gears of War: E-Day, the iconic series' next outing, isn't continuing the story leftover from the previous two games. But don't worry, developer The Coalition has no plans to simply abandon Kait Diaz and Co.

Rather than serving as a Gears of War 6, Gears of War: E-Day is throwing it back to Emergence Day - the day when the subterranean Locust army popped out of the ground and invaded Sera 14 years before the events of 2006's first Gears of War game - with Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago returning to the spotlight.

While that's an exciting concept in isolation, it also means the narrative that started in Gears 4 and Gears 5 will remain unfinished for a while longer. If you're anything like me, you're probably itching to get back to Gears 5's agonizing cliffhanger and main gal Kait Diaz - and it now sounds like we'll get that resolution... at some point.

"We're super proud about Gears 4 and Gears 5 and the stories that were told," series brand director Nicole Fawcette tells Xbox Wire. The Coalition is supposedly "not retreating from that storyline in any way," but the opportunity to fill in some Gears Gaps was "too good to miss."

Thankfully, despite descending down the prequel hole, the studio is still evolving the almost 20-year-old series in fresh ways. For example, the Locust are more "mysterious, formidable and overwhelming" this time around. The trailer has a younger Marcus struggling to defend himself against one of the uglies - a stark contrast to the way he mows 'em down in later games. But we'll need to wait until Gears of War: E-Day launches on Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Game Pass to get the full picture.

See everything else announced at the Xbox Games Showcase for an overview of all the games and reveals.

At long last, we've been given our first look at the next Gears of War game. Officially titled Gears of War: E-Day, the next title in The Coalition's beloved third-person shooter series is actually a prequel, set 14 years before the events of the first game. 

As you might have gathered from the name, the next installment is set during Emergence Day, and will star younger versions of both Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago. This time, they'll be facing the Locust Horde, which, in a post on Xbox Wire, are described as "subterranean monsters, grotesque and relentless, erupt from below, laying siege on humanity itself."

No gameplay has been revealed just yet, but the dramatic cinematic shown seems to be setting the scene for plenty of high-stakes action. Of course, it goes without saying that Dom's return is particularly exciting, too, especially for fans who never recovered from, ahem, certain events in Gears of War 3. 

Unfortunately – but perhaps unsurprisingly – the reveal trailer hasn't given us any hints as to when Gears of War: E-Day is coming out, so we could be waiting a while before it's finally in our hands. When it does launch, though, we'll be able to play it on day one with Xbox Game Pass.

Gears of War: E-Day was a definite highlight of today's Xbox Games Showcase – Xbox clearly knew we'd be excited about it, too, as it was thrown in right at the end as a "one more thing" announcement. Today's broadcast was packed with other news and trailers though, including a fresh look at Fable, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and more.

Check out our roundup of all the news out of today's Xbox and Bethesda event to keep track of all the latest trailers and announcements.

Gears of War veteran Joshua Ortega has quietly revealed that they've returned to the Xbox Games Studio's series. 

In a tweet, which quote retweeted a previous thread from Ortega about their work on Gears of War, Ortega simply tweeted: "Once again it’s on!" Although this doesn't reveal exactly what the former Gears writer is working on now, it does hint to the fact that they've joined they're back working on the series once again.

If you're not familiar, or haven't read the original Twitter thread from 2019, Ortega joined the series during Gears of War 2's development. As the tweet reveals, Ortega wrote and co-directed the Gears sequel including all of the in-game collectibles and the initial teaser trailer. They also consulted on the game's TV ads and marketing campaigns, and even wrote its manual. 

Ortega then stayed with the series, later going on to write the first 13 issues of the Gears of War comic book prequel for DC Comics, and whilst alongside a plethora of other writers are artists, came up with the characters Jace Stratton, Michael Barrick, Lt. Draper, Gil Gonzalez, Alex Brand, and more. 

Once Gears of War 3 rolled around, Ortega says they worked on the game's story and narrative level design with fellow well-known Gears veteran Cliff Bleszinski before going on to use more of their talents on the franchise. We'd love to tell you that Ortega has returned to the series to work on Gears 6, but at the time of writing this, there's not been a new Gears game announced yet. 

The last crumb of information we had about this highly rumored project was that developer The Coalition had scrapped multiple projects in favor of Gears of War. However, not long before this, rumors of a new Gears of War game were shot down by an Xbox exec - so who knows what to believe right now. 

There's also talk of the Gears of War series getting Halo: The Master Chief Collection treatment, but this is also yet to be confirmed. What we do know though is that Gears of War is getting a live-action movie and "adult animated series" from Netflix - so there's always a chance Ortega could be working on one of these projects, or perhaps something completely new. 

While we wait to hear more, find out all about the Gears of War card game being developed by the studio behind Elden Ring tabletop adaptation.

Gears of War is getting movie and TV adaptations from Netflix, and the game's original designer, Cliff Bleszinski, has opinions on who should and shouldn't be cast.

As soon as news starting spreading about Netflix's Gears of War live-action movie and "adult animated series," fans online started sharing their casting fantasies. Unsurprisingly, a lot of folks want Dave Bautista, best known as Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, to play protagonist Marcus Fenix in the movie. Bleszinski, often nicknamed 'Cliffy B', also shared his support for Bautista as Marcus, adding that he'd like to see "a Latino actor for Dom, dammit."

"Fun fact: Carlos Ferro was cast [in the Gears of War games] after I had played a recent Splinter Cell game at the time and the Latino bad guys sounded like Speedy Gonzalez and I was like WTF is this," Bleszinski said. "Let's get someone who is Latino who has a subtle accent FFS."

Bleszinski also said The Boys actor Karl Urban would be "fuckin' diabolical" as Marcus and that Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds would be "perfect" as Baird. However, he drew the line at Chris Pratt, who is playing the titular plumber in the upcoming Super Mario Bros movie adaptation.

"Oh and keep Chris Pratt away from the Gears franchise, please, FFS," Bleszinski said. He later responded to a fan suggestion to have Pratt play "every Carmine brother," characters who have become a running gag in the series by always dying unceremoniously, by saying, "that.... might work."

Whether or not Cliffy B gets his casting choices, it remains to be seen whether Gears of War is fated to join the ranks of the best video game movies ever or fade away like the Carmine brothers.

Netflix is making a Gears of War live-action film and animated series. 

The official Netflix Twitter shared the news to mark Gears of War's 16th anniversary. Developer The Coalition, formerly Black Tusk Studios, has signed on for a "live action feature film followed by an adult animated series" under Netflix, "with the potential for more stories to follow."

By adult animated series, Netflix is presumably referring to the vibe of mature works like the Castlevania anime and the Witcher's animated movie – not to mention the recent standout Cyberpunk: Edgerunners – as opposed to less gritty Netflix anime like Little Witch Academia and Brave New Animal. Expect a lot of blood, basically. 

The image shared with the news doesn't seem to be any sort of teaser or concept art for these adaptations, but rather a standard bit of art plucked from the series' long history. Netflix has a deep history of adapting video games, including the Castlevania series, which was turned into an anime show. The streamer is also adapting Assassin's Creed into a live-action movie. For more, check out the most exciting upcoming video game adaptations coming to screens.

The most recent Gears of War games, which shed the series' full name, earned pretty high marks. Our Gears 5 review highlighted new mechanics that revitalized the aging series, and our Gears Tactics review praised the spinoff's well-executed jump to the strategy genre. 

In April 2022, The Coalition announced that it would cut the Map Builder from Gears 5 in order to "focus on future projects." What those projects are remains to be seen, but we do know the studio is working in Unreal Engine 5; it released a stunning demo that could give us an inkling at how Gears 6 will look. Just days ago, Cliff Bleszinski, the original lead on Gears of War, claimed the series was sold to Microsoft because Epic Games was out of ideas. 

Former Gears of War lead designer Cliff Bleszinski says that Epic Games “didn't really know what to do with the franchise” after he left, with the company later selling it to Microsoft.

Speaking on IGN’s Unfiltered podcast, Bleszinski predictably had plenty to say about his time at Epic and the sale that took such a huge part of his fame to Microsoft. Bleszinski famously left Epic a couple of years before the sale, but he suggests the writing was already on the wall once he and other key members of the Gears of War team left.

While Bleszinski doesn’t give the impression of someone who necessarily holds a grudge against Epic or the sale of Gears of War, it does sound like he might be entitled to. Speaking of what happened immediately after Microsoft picked up the franchise, Bleszinski says that it was the buyer that reached out to him — not his former employer.

“When the IP was sold to Microsoft the only phone call I got was from Phil Spencer. Right? And that's Phil. Phil is, as they say, a gentleman and a scholar," Bleszinski said. Spencer is the head of Xbox to this day and has seen multiple Gears of War games developed since that time.

Speaking of why he thinks Epic ultimately decided to part ways with Gears, Bleszinski believes it was all about cold, hard cash. “They were growing and they probably needed the income,” he says, before throwing in the comment about Epic not knowing what to do with a franchise that had proven so popular. Not that Epic’s struggled for ideas in general — Fortnite still seems to be fairly popular these days.

While Gears of War is now giving Xbox Game Pass players something to sink their teeth into, Bleszinski is off working in theater after shuttering his own studio, Boss Key Productions, in 2018. And as for Gears, the sixth installment of the franchise is rumored for a 2024/25 release

Looking for a game to play a little sooner? There are plenty of new games 2023 to look forward to.

Gears of War's multiplayer element was very nearly removed from the game.

The first Gears of War is one of Xbox 360's most memorable shooters, not least because of its brilliant multiplayer offering. But things could have been very different. Speaking on War Stories S1 E32, Lee Perry, gameplay designer and lead level designer on Gears of War, reveals how the team almost axed the game's multiplayer modes shortly before launch.

While multiplier was something that the team was always keen on implementing, the studio's small size made it difficult. "In terms of the manpower we had associated with the effort, we didn't have a team of people just making multiplayer maps," recalls Perry. Hefty competition from the likes of Halo also made the team feel as if they were "dramatically losing that battle".

But the biggest obstacle the developer faced was how to implement Gears of War's slower pace into a multiplayer game and still make it enjoyable to play. Initially, the team made maps similar to those in Counter-Strike and Unreal Tournament, but as these games are all about mobility, the maps didn't make for a fun time in Gears of War. "It was always a train wreck," explains Perry. "We were at the start of summer, and this thing is shipping in fall, and there was a very specific moment where we were having those discussions of, do we just cut this?" he says.

Rather than shipping the game without multiplayer, the team worked hard on designing maps built around Gears of War's signature playstyle. Perry explains that the team now "forced the enemies to come out at one location" to avoid the frustration that comes with opponents suddenly killing you out of nowhere. As well as these choke points, low walls and obstacles were added to allow players to see across the battlefield but still be protected by cover. "Much like in the single-player campaign, the whole point was that you had the opportunity to see what those people were doing," Perry explains.

You can hear the whole story of how Gears of War's multiplayer almost didn't make it into the game in the video below. 

If you're looking for something great to play on Microsoft's latest console, check out our guide to the best Xbox Series X games.

The Gears of War franchise could be getting a treatment similar to Halo: The Master Chief Collection according to a new rumor.

The rumor once again originates from the Xbox Era podcast. Earlier this year in January, the podcast speculated that an Xbox-owned franchise would be bundled together in a remastered collection, similar to how the Halo franchise was regrouped for a new launch via the Master Chief Collection on PC and Xbox consoles alike. 

This time though, the podcast hosts are getting a little more specific with their rumourmongering, with Nick Baker namechecking the Gears of War series as the franchise getting a relaunched collection. Additionally, Baker actually believes the collection is launching later this year.

That'd certainly make sense, given how Xbox and Bethesda delayed Starfield and Redfall last week to early 2023. Both games were meant to launch as major Xbox exclusives later this year in 2022, but have now slipped to some point in the following year, with the November 11 release date for Starfield being wiped out.

Baker speculates that we could see this new Gears of War collection debut at Xbox's 'E3' showcase later next month in June. E3 in the traditional sense might've been canceled this year, but Xbox and Bethesda are still holding their typical June conference as if the show was rolling on. You can tune into the showcase on June 12 to see what the future of Xbox and Bethesda Game Studios holds. 

Check out our E3 2022 schedule for a complete look at everything else taking place over the coming weeks and months.

Gears of War 6 is supposedly not due to release until 2024 - 2025 according to a leaker. 

On a recent episode of the Xbox News Cast podcast, guest Rand al Thor 19 explains that according to Jez Corden (of sister site Windows Central), Gears of War studio The Coalition has two projects in the works, one of which is Gears of War 6, which is supposedly expected to release sometime in 2024-2025, and the other is a smaller new IP which is expected just before Gears 6 in 2023.  

There hasn’t been much in terms of official announcements about either Gears 6 or the other smaller IP. According to Rand al Thor 19, the smaller project which they have heard is in development is different from the recently released The Matrix Awakened - an Unreal Engine 5 tech demo that - which was worked on by the Gears studio. 

Unfortunately, this long wait time for the next installment of the Gears series is looking quite likely after it was revealed by the official Gears of War website back in July that The Coalition is shifting to "next-gen development," meaning fans shouldn’t expect any new games "for some time." 

Still, we're expecting big things from the next Gears, as The Coalition confirmed in its shift in next-gen development it'll be using Unreal Engine 5. Could we see a Gears game that looks as stunningly realistic as The Matrix Awakens? We only have a few years to find out...

To find out what games you can look forward to in the near future, take a look at our new games 2022 list. 

Gears of War developer The Coalition is going to show off a demo created in Unreal Engine 5 at GDC.

The GDC panel, which is set to run for an hour, is going to be presented on July 20 at 1:20 PM PT. The demo is called Alpha Point and will showcase how The Coalition has fared working with the Unreal Engine 5 technology, what the studio learned about it in a development environment, and the technology it's taken advantage of. You won't be able to access the panel unless you have a pass for the show though.

It's important to note that this will not be a showcase of anything The Coalition is actively working on, at least in terms of a brand new game. This is purely a tech demo being made to showcase what the studio can achieve with the engine. So, don't expect anything Gears of War or new IP-related from the developer. 

However, it will be useful for developers to see exactly what can be done with the powerful new technology in a capacity outside of Epic Games. We've already seen Unreal Engine 5 in use in a showcase from the Fortnite developer last year, but this will demonstrate what can be done in other hands. 

That means, even if you aren't a developer, while there will be a lot of technical jargon, you will be able to get a sense of what truly next-gen games look like running in Unreal Engine 5. A session description confirms the demo will be running entirely on the Xbox Series X, meaning that it will literally show off what is possible on the console. 

While fans won't get a look at a new Gears of War here, this demo should at least give players some insight on what's coming. The Coalition has moved over to Unreal Engine 5 for future games. All in all, it should be a fascinating glimpse whether you are a developer interested in working with the engine or just a game enthusiast looking for a glimpse at the future of games.

Check out what other games are upcoming up on the Xbox Series X.