Vancouver-made Gears of War: E-Day launches Tuesday at $89.99 in Canada, and on Game Pass from day one

Gears of War: E-Day, the series prequel built by Vancouver’s The Coalition, goes on general sale Tuesday, Oct. 6, on Xbox Series X|S and Windows PCs. The standard edition is listed at $89.99 on the Xbox Canada store. Microsoft publishes the game through Xbox Game Studios, and it is included with Game Pass from launch day. On PC it is sold through both the Microsoft Store and Steam, according to the store listing.

Two paid editions are listed in Canadian dollars. The $129.99 Premium Edition adds up to five days of early access, a Bravo Squad Signature Weapon Pack and five seasonal customization packs, starting with the Emergence Pack. A $40 Premium upgrade is available to anyone who owns the base game or has a Game Pass Ultimate membership. Pre-orders placed before launch also unlock an Exfil Dom character skin and an Exfil weapon skin set. Premium Edition buyers have been playing through early access since last week, Windows Central reported.

E-Day is set 14 years before the original Gears of War, on the day the subterranean Locust Horde first erupts from underground. Players follow younger versions of Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago, voiced by John DiMaggio and Carlos Ferro, through the city of Kalona. MobileSyrup reported in June that the Canadian studio wanted to return to the “darker, almost horror-tinged” atmosphere of the first game. At the same event, Xbox chief Asha Sharma confirmed that E-Day would be an Xbox console exclusive, ending speculation about a PlayStation 5 version. The release also marks the series’ 20th anniversary.

The Coalition built the game on Unreal Engine 5. In June it touted 4K at 60 frames per second in the campaign and up to 120 frames per second in multiplayer, MobileSyrup reported. The current Xbox Canada listing describes 4K resolution at up to 60 fps across campaign and multiplayer, with 4K Ultra HD and HDR support on Series X|S. The studio rebuilt the movement and cover systems so players can jump and slide while sprinting. Along with four-player online co-op for the campaign, the game includes 4v4 competitive modes and a 12-player Horde mode in which squads team up against massive enemies.

Only the campaign was available for review before launch, and the multiplayer modes were not available to test, Windows Central noted. As of Friday the game held scores of 88 on Metacritic and 87 on OpenCritic. IGN’s Ryan McCaffrey gave the campaign a provisional 9 out of 10, writing that E-Day “carries its own satisfying emotional weight” and praising a deep roster of weapons that can be modified. GameSpot was cooler, with a provisional 7 out of 10, calling it “a good game, propped up by combat that hasn’t changed all that much over the past 20 years.”

Reviewers flagged a few things buyers should know. IGN saw infrequent but noticeable frame-rate hitches even in Performance Mode on the Xbox Series X and advised against the 30 fps Quality Mode, at least until a patch or two arrives. It also found that AI squadmates sometimes failed to revive a downed player, a problem it said is avoided in online co-op. Split-screen co-op is limited to two players on a single Xbox. Campaign length varied: GameSpot finished in 13 hours on PC, while IGN’s first playthrough took 15 to 18 hours.

Both outlets said they would finalize their scores after playing the Versus and Horde modes on live servers. Windows Central said those modes, especially the 12-player Horde Siege, will be the real test of whether players stick around after the campaign.

For Canadian players, the choice comes down to buying or subscribing. Owning the game outright costs $89.99, or $129.99 for the Premium Edition with early access and the cosmetic packs. Game Pass members can play the standard game as part of their subscription on console, on PC through PC Game Pass and through cloud streaming, the Xbox listing says. They can add the Premium content with the $40 upgrade.

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Sources: Xbox Canada store; MobileSyrup; Windows Central; IGN review; GameSpot review.