Gears of War: E-Day Preview: Still Active Reloading After All These Years

I had the "fortune" of working for GameStop when the original Gears of War was released for the Xbox 360.

At the time, it was actually a pretty cool job! Our store had more freedom than others to entice customers. We displayed the PSP before release and sold more units than anyone else in our district. We also hooked up Guitar Hero to the PS2 for people to try. Unsurprisingly, the game flew off the shelves.

We also had the foresight to pop in the E3 Access 2005 DVD onto our TV, which included a trailer for Gears of War before its eventual holiday 2026 release. I remember people stopping to watch the presentation, enthralled by what was happening on the screen. Before long, they made their way to reserve several games featured on the DVD, which included Gears of War.

A year later, Gears of War made its way to store shelves, and it absolutely blew me away. I have so many core memories from those first moments of playing through the campaign and multiplayer online. There was no going back: the future of gaming was here.

Flash forward nearly two decades, and Gears of War is still around, but lacked the magic and spark of the original trilogy. So a trip to before it all began with Gears of War: E-Day seems like exactly what the doctor ordered to bring back one of the defining shooters of the Xbox 360 generation. It's tough to say how well the gameplay will hold up over extended sessions, but one thing became crystal clear this past week: jumping around from cover to cover and shooting Locusts in the ruins of Serra has aged like fine wine.

Gears of War: E-Day Feels Incredibly Familiar

Despite Gears 5 ending on a cliffhanger, the franchise is taking a step back from things and bringing us to a familiar setting with the characters we fell in love with. While the campaign was not playable during a recent invite-only preview session, the characters, settings, and enemies felt like it was taking a step back in time to the year 2006.

We were treated to two play modes last week. First was the new Horde Siege, which is an expanded version of the Horde mode first introduced in Gears of War 2. Squads of four will team up to complete various objectives, but in total, up to twelve players will be active in a match at a time.

If you've ever taken part in public events in looter shooters or other online games, then Horde Siege will feel right at home. It struck a nice balance between an intimate co-operative mode to play with friends and the ability to take part in something larger. Every squad has its own objectives, but large-scale missions will pop up from time to time, including engaging and defeating enemy bosses.

There's also the ability to choose the type of missions you'll partake in, which will dictate how long you'll be on the battlefield. You can go in for a short and sweet objective, or stay a little longer and have the chance to deal with more dangers that will literally emerge from the ground as the Locust swarm looks to overwhelm you. The result is an addictive, immersive, and challenging gameplay experience that only Gears of War can deliver.

While cover-shooters aren't anywhere close to being revolutionary today as they were in 2006, there's just something about Gears' core gameplay experience that has stood the test of time. It feels brutally intense, and you can feel the danger lurking around every corner. Working together is the only key to success, something that proved relevant during my preview session. The only way I was able to defeat bosses was by not just working with my squad, but others as well. It's something I cannot wait to experience more of.

Wall Jumping and Shotguns Still Reign Supreme

Stop me if you've heard this one before: the best way to succeed in Gears of War PVP is to become really good at jumping from cover to cover and being skilled with the shotgun. Developer The Coalition is looking to scale that back a bit, which is totally reasonable. There's nothing more off-putting than joining a match of Gears online and getting steamrolled by people who have mastered wall jumping.

That's not to say it's been completely removed from the game; it's still present, and you're still able to do it to a degree. Combined with skilled shotgun play, you'll most likely feel right at home. I, however, am not one of those people. I am, at best, average in my old age, but I was still able to hold my own, and even excel, in the right situations.

I may not be able to solo people like others I encountered during the preview session, but I was able to utilize cover and deliver effective suppressive fire, even taking down my fair share of enemies in the process. It feels like a nice balance between catering to skilled veterans and still being welcoming to newcomers. I was able to hold my own while better players were still able to go wild. I feel like that's a fair compromise, no?

One thing that stood out to me is that, much like Horde Siege, teamwork was essential in PVP matches. Being able to find my role in the match and help our team achieve victory felt rewarding and brought me back to the days of Gears of War LAN parties with friends. Everyone fell into a defined role, everyone worked together and communicated, and everyone had fun.

Now, there is one thing missing from this equation in 2026: the communication. We're a long way away from the days of active voice chat in online gaming for a wide multitude of reasons. One thing that stood out to me, though, was the fact that it felt super clear what was expected from me across all forms of gameplay, even without a microphone. I knew where I needed to support someone, where I needed to shoot, and who was in need of assistance or even a revival.

Does Gears of War's Gameplay Still Hold Up? Honestly, It Feels Like It Does

It's this point that has me really pondering if Gears of War is still culturally relevant in 2026.

The decision to have the game act as a prequel to the original trilogy, taking place during E-Day and giving us a chance to experience the events leading up to the iconic shooter, is one purely based in nostalgia. Given the recent decision to also remaster Gears of War with Gears of War Reloaded, as well as XBOX's decision to take advantage of the IPs in their library, I get the decision here.

It's been seven years since Gears 5, and a decade since Coalition tried to make their mark on the franchise. While the games have been enjoyable enough, they failed to leave the same impression as their predecessors.

Gears of War: E-Day, in many ways, feels like a return to the franchise's roots. Utilizing any and all cover as you deal with the overwhelming onslaught of the Locust in Horde Siege, or attempt to outmaneuver your opponents in PVP, feels like the right balance of tapping into what's worked in the past, realizing you don't need to reinvent the wheel, and delivering an experience that has a place in the modern era of gaming.

I very much enjoyed my time with Gears of War: E-Day's multiplayer offerings and cannot wait to spend more time with them. Even after all these years, the gameplay has held up remarkably well. It's as much fun today to sit behind cover and chainsaw people with the Lancer as it was twenty years ago. The gaming world has changed a lot in the past two decades, but it feels like there's still room for Gears of War in it.