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"Gears of War: E-Day" Preview: Multiplayer can be so beautiful

30/7/2026

Translation: machine translated

The online matches in "Gears of War: E-Day" are convincing in terms of gameplay and boast incredible graphical quality. Especially the new "Horde Siege" mode is hard to beat in terms of spectacle.

“Damn, I want more,” I whisper to myself as I reluctantly put down the Xbox controller. Over the course of three evenings, I’ve been blasting my way through various online modes of “Gears of War: E-Day” as part of a multiplayer preview.

What remains are numerous epic moments full of action, blood, and severed body parts. The brutal blockbuster from Microsoft studio The Coalition is an audiovisual force in multiplayer that is second to none.

For the preview, I only tested parts of the multiplayer mode. You’ll find out how the single-player campaign plays and what surprises await in the dark origin story when it launches on October 6.

Controls with Weight

In the preview, I test both PvP and co-op PvE modes. Before I dive into the fray, however, I complete some training sessions alone. This is sorely needed, as I am new to the world of “Gears of War.” It takes me a good hour to get used to the controls and shed my “Call of Duty” shooter automatisms.

The characters in “Gears of War: E-Day” are deliberately sluggish to control. The muscular super-soldiers and Locust mutants are not graceful athletes who effortlessly jump through levels. No, they are powerful killing machines. I feel their weight with every movement. When I sprint, the ground shakes. Quick changes of direction are hardly possible. And my dodge rolls look like a wine barrel rolling across the floor.

This is not meant negatively – on the contrary. I like this powerful inertia. I feel big. Powerful. Superhuman. Especially when I cut an enemy in half along their spine with the iconic chainsaw gun. Glorious.

I also like the cover system, which is typical for the game series. If I rush headlong into the fray, I get shot down. Instead, I move from cover to cover and try to flank enemies. The right timing is crucial – if I climb over a wall or change cover sideways, valuable seconds pass during which I am vulnerable.

To be able to compare it to previous titles, I play the remake of the first part (“Gears of War: Reloaded,” 2025) and “Gears 5” (2019). If you are familiar with the earlier games, you will notice some differences in the controls.

Overall, “E-Day” feels more intuitive, direct, and less stiff. Taking cover, shooting, dodging – everything flows more seamlessly compared to its predecessors, without losing the impact and the feeling for the weight of the characters. Aiming works more precisely and reliably for me. It’s useful that the reload mini-game (pressing the reload button at the right moment) has been moved to the center of the screen.

The iconic “Roadie Run” – the crouched sprint – has been completely reworked. This is now triggered with a click of the left analog stick, just like in many other modern shooters. The camera no longer zooms in and shakes when running, but rather pulls back and gives me a stabilized overview. In a sprint, I can also slide to slip under obstacles and even jump.

Versus: Solid Multiplayer Fare

In PvP mode, I have two game modes and two relatively small maps available. At launch, there will be four game modes and six maps.

The first map is the Kalona Public Market – a fancy shopping area with fresh food that has been affected by the Locust invasion. The nighttime setting creates a strangely cozy atmosphere despite the destruction – at least when there’s no shooting going on.

I like the dynamic between the open space in the middle of the map and the smaller, enclosed buildings on the periphery. Chaotic, open confrontations alternate with tactical hide-and-seek.

Even better, I find the second map: an outpost of the Coalition army. This level is more winding and vertical than the Kalona Public Market. Those who are familiar with the architecture of the outpost have great advantages in combat. The new slide and jump mechanics are often used in this level.

The two team-based PvP modes (four players per team each) are solid, but nothing special. Team Deathmatch is... well, Team Deathmatch. Shoot, kill, get killed, respawn, repeat.

More exciting is the “King of the Hill” variant “Conquest.” My teammates and I have to capture a moving zone and hold it for as long as possible. Nothing works without teamwork. The mode also forces me to make sensible use of the game’s cover mechanics – only with clever ducking, shooting, and shifting is it possible to hold a zone or capture an enemy zone.

Even though the two multiplayer modes are very basic, I have fun with them. Not least because the powerful characters, the controls, and the advantageous cover strategies still feel so unusual and fresh to me as a newcomer.

However, I can’t imagine spending countless hours on it. But that’s okay. Because as it turns out later, the PvP modes are just small appetizers before the big PvE main course, whose spectacular staging converts me into a “Gears of War” fan.

“Horde Siege”: Oh my God, this is epic!

The “Horde Siege” mode is an evolution of classic Horde PvE modes from past “Gears” spin-offs. In the preview, I test one map – the Kalona district “Golden Quarter.” At launch, there will be a total of three maps.

According to the development studio, “Horde Siege” is the biggest “Gears” multiplayer mode to date. Twelve players (divided into three teams) complete missions on a huge map while being attacked by increasingly large Locust hordes. The Coalition adds a pinch of extraction shooter to the mode: To successfully complete the mission, my team must be extracted from the danger zone by helicopter.

Before I start a “Horde Siege” mission, the game lets me choose the scope of available missions on the battlefield. Three options are available: “Blitz” are short missions that are completed in a few minutes, “Siege” are more complex tasks that require more coordination, and in “Horde” I can expect the longest missions.

It’s great that this selection allows me to flexibly adjust the length of my excursions depending on the available time.

The battlefield in the Golden Quarter is absolute chaos. I run with my team through the ruins of the city and complete main missions. We capture strongholds, transport war goods, or entrench ourselves in strategically important nodes before blasting our way to the rescuing helicopter.

In between, the game constantly presents us with optional side missions. In these, we kill particularly powerful enemies, close E-Holes (holes from which the Locust crawl out), or defend zones as in the PvP mode “Conquest.”

How many side missions we complete is up to us. It’s a positive vicious circle: the more missions we complete, the more temporary upgrades, perks, and weapons we unlock for the current round. And the stronger we become as a result, the more challenging missions we can complete – and we increase our chances for a successful extraction.

Particularly cool: On our excursion in the Golden Quarter, we constantly encounter other teams who are currently completing their own missions. Via proximity chat, we can talk to them and support them – or ignore them and leave them to their fate. In some games, I experience missions overlapping. While our team closes E-Holes for a side mission, another team desperately tries to get into their helicopter.

Overlaps between teams also occur in so-called “Boss Invasions.” In these events, meter-high enemies enter the battlefield. To kill these disgusting monsters, all three teams must work together. Especially in these epic battles, the multiplayer feels less like an online mode and more like a carefully orchestrated sequence from a single-player campaign. This is playable popcorn action cinema at the highest level.

Even apart from such spectacular moments, “Gears of War: E-Day” visually impresses across the board with the Unreal Engine 5. The elaborately designed character models shine with excellent animations, finely crafted armor – and in the case of the Locust, disgusting, lizard-like skin textures. The environments amaze with complex geometry, destructible objects, and beautiful raytracing lighting. No matter where I pan the camera, the visual density is breathtaking.

The numerous particle and smoke effects are also impressive, as are small details like dried blood spatters on my armor. It is probably the most beautiful online multiplayer I have ever played.

In addition to the powerful presentation and the chaos on the battlefield, the progression system should also provide long-term motivation. Before each mission, I choose one of four classes: “Assault” (the all-rounder class), “Breacher” (specialized in close combat), “Marksman” (sniper from a distance), or “Medic” (heals teammates fastest).

Each class has its own weapons, tactical equipment, and other class-specific gear. The equipable items can also be leveled up and fitted with mods – the more side missions I complete per “Horde Siege” excursion, the more resources I unlock for upgrades.

For the preview, I choose the brutal Breacher with a shotgun, chainsaw gun, frag grenades, and adrenaline pack (gives me a temporary health boost in hopeless situations).

I’m excited to see how the melee fighter can be optimized with further level-ups and upgrades, and I look forward to experimenting with the other classes in the final release.

Anticipation for the Campaign

Three evenings in Kalona were enough to make me a “Gears of War” fan. I can’t wait to continue blasting online at launch and am excited to see what other modes and maps await me in this spectacularly beautiful and brutal world.

The highlight will undoubtedly be the “Horde Siege” mode – but I hope that The Coalition will also create some more exciting modes and larger maps in the PvP area.

The multiplayer preview has also whetted my appetite for the single-player campaign. If the “Horde Siege” mode is so spectacularly staged, what can I expect in the story mode?

I still have to be patient until the launch in October. Until then, I’ll catch up on the old spin-offs and dream of many more gory chainsaw executions and stomped Locust heads.

“Gears of War: E-Day” will be released on October 6 for Xbox Series X/S and PC. Microsoft gave me access to a preview build on the Xbox Series X for the preview.