I'll play Gears of War: E-Day, but on Game Pass, not at $69.99. I've played every Gears game since the first one. I just don't think I'll put a lot of hours into it, and I don't think a weekend of DDoS attacks says anything about the game itself.
I haven't played it yet, so like my first look at Skyborne in WoW Forever, this is my take on what's out there: the price, the servers, what it is, and whether it's for you.
What Is Gears of War: E-Day?
Gears of War: E-Day is a prequel set 14 years before the first Gears of War, on Emergence Day , the day the Locust first attack. It follows a young Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago, built in Unreal Engine 5, with a campaign you can play solo, in two-player split-screen on console, or in four-player online co-op, per Wikipedia. There's also a Horde mode with classes and a 4v4 Versus mode with ranked and social playlists.
It launched worldwide on 6 October 2026, with Premium Edition owners getting early access from 1 October, on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, and Steam. There's no PS5 version.
Have I Played Gears of War Before?
I've played all of them. I remember when the first Gears of War came out on the Xbox 360, and I played it with my whole family , my twin brother, my mum and my dad, all playing Gears together.
I've never super loved them the way some people do. But it's been a decent enough series: super spongy damage, macho, testosterone, bugs bad, we kill bugs. I don't think it should try to be anything else. If it does, it's forgetting that it's Gears of War, and that it's not that serious.
Why Were Gears of War: E-Day's Servers Down?
DDoS attacks. Over the weekend of 11 October, players had disconnects, login problems, and save sync errors. The official Gears account confirmed it was down to "distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks targeting our online services", per TheGamer. The login problem had been called resolved earlier that evening, then came back, per MP1st. The campaign still worked offline.
Does a DDoS in launch week put me off? No. That's going to happen to every single game. Absolute losers are going to DDoS, and I don't even know what they get out of it, apart from the satisfaction of imagining how annoying they're being.
Is Gears of War: E-Day Worth $70?
Is it fair? No. Is it the standard price? Yes. Fairness and standard aren't the same thing in gaming prices, unfortunately.
| Edition | Price | What's Included |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Edition | $69.99 | Base game |
| Premium Edition | $99.99 | Early access, weapon pack, five seasonal cosmetic packs, 1,000 Iron |
Pricing details via Xbox's launch post. Reviews are strong with critics, sitting at 87 on OpenCritic, but more mixed with players at around 74% positive on Steam.
Should You Buy Gears of War: E-Day or Play It on Game Pass?
I'd Game Pass it. Game Pass is amazing for what you get for the price. I honestly don't understand why so many games put themselves on it, unless Microsoft is just shovelling money at them.
E-Day is included with Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, and that's where a lot of its players are. Its Steam peak is around 27,000 since 8 October, per SteamCharts, while analysts estimated about 1.7 million Game Pass players in its first week, per Wikipedia.
Will I Play Gears of War: E-Day?
I will, probably, because I've got Game Pass and it's free to try that way. Am I going to put a lot of hours into it? Probably not.
I also don't think there's much of an audience for it on my stream. It's a story game, and only certain streamers can pull those off , you can't really drop in and drop out. You have to be watching with someone you watch story games for.
What I've seen of it so far is mostly clips of the combat, and some of it looks good.
