Gears of War: E-Day reviews: critics score 87–88 as IGN’s 9/10 praises campaign and Horde Siege

Critic scores for Gears of War: E-Day have settled in the high 80s a week after the Oct. 6, 2026, launch on Xbox Series X|S, PC and Game Pass. Metacritic listed a Metascore of 88 based on dozens of critic reviews, while OpenCritic showed a Top Critic Average of 87 with 92% of critics recommending the game and a ranking in the 98th percentile of titles on the site.

The Vancouver-based studio The Coalition developed the prequel for Xbox Game Studios. It returns to Emergence Day — the night the Locust Horde first attacked — through the eyes of Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago, 14 years before the original Gears of War. Aggregators and outlets describe a cover shooter that modernizes movement and weapon mods without reinventing the series’ brutality.

IGN’s Ryan McCaffrey awarded 9/10 in a review updated Oct. 13 after multiplayer time, calling the campaign a return to the series’ “heart” and praising an “excellent multiplayer suite, particularly its evolved Horde Siege PvE mode.” He clocked a first campaign playthrough at roughly 15 to 18 hours and flagged occasional ally AI revive issues and frame-rate hitches on Series X.

GameSpot’s Richard Wakeling scored the game 7/10, arguing the prequel “has nothing new to say” for longtime fans even as combat and weapon mods remain satisfying. PC Gamer’s Abbie Stone gave 77/100 on OpenCritic’s list, praising “terrific multiplayer” while calling the campaign an exhausting, overlong firefight. Tom’s Guide and Shacknews landed near 9/10 territory on the same aggregator.

Where critics agree is the shooting and Horde Siege. Outlets from IGN to TheSixthAxis describe Locust combat, the new free jump and class-based Horde Siege across Kalona’s city maps as the package’s strongest reasons to stay. Versus modes draw more mixed notes: some praise old-school 4v4 Gnasher duels, while GameSpot called the competitive suite barebones at launch without private lobbies or a deep map pool.

Player sentiment is cooler than the critic average but still positive. AFK Journal’s Oct. 9 scorecard, built from OpenCritic and Steam data, put Steam at about 74.9% positive (“Mostly Positive”) from more than 6,000 reviews, with crashes and performance the top complaints among recent negative posts. The Standard Edition lists around US$69.99; the game is also included on Game Pass day one.

Serious Pick’s takeaway from the published scores: E-Day is among the best-reviewed Gears entries of the past decade for fans of cover shooters and Horde, with a clearer critic–player gap on campaign length, story ambition and PC stability than on the gunplay itself.

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Sources: Metacritic; OpenCritic; IGN (updated Oct. 13, 2026); GameSpot (Oct. 9, 2026); AFK Journal (Oct. 9, 2026).