Gears of War: E-Day Hands-On – First Impressions of the Campaign

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While many studios only showed trailers at Gamescom, The Coalition actually let selected media outlets get their hands on the controller. Gears of War: E-Day, the prequel to the series, was playable in a segment from Act 2 of the campaign – and the first impressions paint a clear picture of its direction.

What Do the First Gears of War: E-Day Previews Show?

Several independent outlets, including TheSixthAxis and DayOne, independently describe a very familiar Gears feeling: taking cover, intense firefights in short waves, interspersed with gripping cutscenes featuring Marcus Fenix and Dom. Those who know the classic trilogy should immediately feel at home. What's new, above all, is the narrative focus: E-Day takes place before the events of the original trilogy and shows how the Locust invasion truly begins.

What's New with the Weapon Mod System in E-Day?

A central new feature is a revamped weapon mod system, allowing gear to be customized more precisely throughout the campaign than in previous installments. According to consistent reports, the playable scenes also showed a noticeably reduced open-world component compared to Gears 5 – E-Day focuses more heavily again on linear, choreographed sections instead of freely explorable hub areas.

How Does E-Day Fit into the Gears Series?

From our perspective, this is a smart decision: Gears 5 was praised for its more open sections, but also criticized for diluting the narrative tension of what is fundamentally a very linear series. By returning to tighter, choreographed levels, E-Day clearly positions itself as a return to the roots – fitting for the prequel setting, which inherently aims to tell the pure, unvarnished origin story of the series. Whether this holds true for the entire campaign, of course, cannot be definitively judged after a brief preview segment.