Since the first release of Epic Games’ and now The Coalition’s Xbox-exclusive shooter, Gears of War, one event has been talked about for ages: Emergence Day. 20 years later, we get to experience the day the war between the Locust and Humans began in Gears of War: E-Day. Not only are we going back in time, but we’re also going back to basics. Marcus, Dom, and other COGs across all of Sera must fight for survival against a completely new, alien-like threat. After playing two chapters of Act 2, it’s good to be back.
E-Day’s preview started off in Act 2. Marcus, Dom, and other veterans have made it to the rally point the day after everything went to hell. What is shown is complete confusion and chaos, with everyone being “asked” to step up. Nobody knows what’s going on.
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Yet every former and active COG, having just laid down arms after a brutal multi-year war, teams together. They form new mishmashes of units and immediately go out into the nearby city to save citizens and learn more about their new foe.
Gears of War: E-Day shows just how scrappy and desperate the COGs were.
The story holds nothing back. Even jumping in just a little after the opening moments, the acting and portrayal of every human character on screen is well done. They’re tired. They are considering worst-case scenarios without knowing anything about their loved ones, but they have a duty to the people of Sera. Yet time and again, the voice acting does a great job of the sheer surprise of what’s going on. Nobody really knows what the humanoid-looking Locust are looking for or what their purpose is. Every new enemy type faced introduces a new level of panic as well.
For such a notorious event in the lore of Gears, The Coalition has done well to not hold back. E-day and the hours that follow push humanity to the brink of extinction. About 25 percent of the population of Sera is slaughtered. And just waiting to see how the literal hell on earth plays out, even knowing future moments in the story, is exciting, to say the least. What was playable of Gears of War: E-Day was also a great way to show just how scrappy and desperate the COGs were in these moments.
Take the Lancer, for instance. In Act 2 Chapter 1, you only have the Lancer Mark 1. It’s weaker and only has a bayonet for some close-range stabbing. At the start of Chapter 2, Marcus gets his hands on the prototype of the Lancer that Gears fans recognize. It’s a chainsaw slapped onto a Lancer that also improves its fire rate. The prototype Lancer also just feels more powerful. Bullets do just a little more damage, whereas before the Lancer Mark 1 was almost tickling most normal Locust you fight.
Some basic Gears gameplay elements have been well updated, including active reload.
If you know Gears, you’ll be happy to know that the core gameplay keeps the basics and uses them all to their advantage. Some have been updated, like active reload, to be more weapon-specific. Like if you equip a Gnasher (the shotgun), active reload isn’t just reloading the whole weapon. It’s doing it shell by shell. If you stop the reload early, you’ll just have fewer shells available before you need to reload again.
Every new gameplay addition on top of the subtle reload, cover fire, and weapon updates doesn’t feel out of place. Act 2 Chapter 1 introduces the new Open District level design. Unlike some areas in Gears 5, where it was a big open area that you navigated by vehicle and was full of optional and hidden objectives, the Open District level takes that idea and makes it much more close-quarters.
The one in Chapter 2 was solely on foot and on the city streets as Marcus and the team pushed to the nearby Thrashball stadium to reach a rally point. Walking around, you’ll find citizens in need. Locust might be hunting them down, or they may be trapped in derelict buildings. These are completely optional but highly recommended. Each one you complete rewards you with a weapon mod or other reward. Then, at different points in the level, you change your loadout at COG supply crates.
The Open Districts expand what Gears of War can be while keeping you on your toes.
The crates basically have a collection of every weapon you’ve equipped during your journey. And you can customize the unlocked mods to create the most optimal loadout for you. Both the supply crate and Open Districts continue the fun and even keep you on your toes. Walking around the city was eerily quiet and interrupted by distant gunfire or explosions.
Being surprised by a call for help breaks that eerie peacefulness. It gives you more firefights to do and adds to a feeling that you’re making a difference on a much more personal scale compared to later Gears games being more about the whole war effort.
There was both a major standout and a small flaw for the hour-ish of gameplay. Locust’s Breach Shot absolutely rips. It’s their version of the rifle/sniper rifle. And when dealing with only a weaker Lancer, the Breach Shot consistently popped heads. But even in Act 2, the enemy variety was already feeling stale.
Granted, this is just the scouting party of a many-years-long war; it’d be nice if there were more to fight this early on than massive waves of the same three to four enemy types, including the first Boomers. Plus, with how jumpy the Locust are, the grenades are pretty useless.
Gears of War: E-Day is a great example of a classic series with more to tell.
Gears of War: E-Day also reflects the current state of Xbox and their releases this year. Halo Campaign Evolved included three new missions where Master Chief had a “prove yourself” moment with some Marines on an alien spaceship. One impactful moment in the preview was Marcus being called a “poster boy” of the COGs. In other words, even after a whole war, Marcus isn’t the god of death he’ll become to the Locusts and the one who turns the tide of battle for his comrades. He needs to show he’s more than just a big, beefy guy on a poster.
And like Xbox, they too need to prove once again that in this new era of Xbox, they have the bite behind each bark of their past presentations. Gears of War: E-Day is a great example of a classic series that at times overstayed its welcome but clearly has more to tell. And so far, it has been executed great. Not all features, like split-screen and co-op, were testable, but playing a couple of chapters solo, Gears of War: E-Day can’t get here soon enough.
Gears of War: E-Day is available on PC and Xbox Series X|S on October 6th.
