‘Gears of War: E-Day’ Game Review: Prequel Sets the Stage for Epic Battles
Thanks to Gears of War: E-Day, The Coalition and People Can Fly studios finally return to the moment all players were waiting for. The story of how it all started and how, fourteen years before the original Gears of War game was set, a catastrophe occurred that shaped Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago into the soldiers we know.
In Gears of War: E-Day, humanity is in its final stages of peace that is slowly vanishing. Many soldiers are being demobilized. As soldiers, both Fenix and Santiago are starting to lose their roles as important parts of the military.
But as we get to Kalona, the Emergence Day starts. Locust Horde immediately invades from the underground and starts the destruction. Fenix and Santiago must once again become the soldiers and defend what’s left, so in the end, they can become the legends we know they are.
[Warning: Spoilers from the game Gears of War: E-Day are below!]
Gears of War: E-Day story is a prequel set during the fall of Kalona
From the start, the story in E-Day focuses on a disaster that was the foundation of the original trilogy. It is a foundation and the most significant event in this world. The Locust invasion had already become a known event in this universe. But there was always something missing about the first days of the conflict, when humanity, and especially Fenix and Santiago, had no knowledge of its enemy and were afraid.
The story itself is set in the city of Kalona, with a younger Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago at the center of it. The Pendulum Wars, the long conflict between the Coalition of Ordered Governments and the Union of Independent Republics, have ended, and the people of Sera believed that the worst might finally be behind them.
Out of nowhere, another attack happens. Streets become battlegrounds, buildings collapse, civilians are caught in the crossfire, and military forces are forced to fight an enemy whose strength and intentions are unknown.
Marcus and Dom are at the center of this story, but since it’s a prologue, they are not yet heroes we know they are. They are experienced soldiers who have already survived years of fighting, but the Locust invasion is a different kind of challenge for them. Fighting a conventional human enemy is one thing, but confronting creatures emerging from beneath the ground, attacking unexpectedly, and establishing no visible patterns to use against them is overwhelming and dangerous.
Young Marcus is already visibly stubborn and determined, just like his older self. But Dom, on the other hand, is more openly human still. This helps to show that their younger relationship also carries additional significance because we can see that a lot has happened between E-Day and the first Gears of War.
Another nice nod to the original games is the return of some known locations, but with a different look and style. Kalona becomes a place that slowly disappears as the Locust advance. Nevertheless, the overall narrative is pretty straightforward.
It lacks a certain momentum known from the original games; there’s no place to further explore the history of the places and more detailed events that shaped Marcus and Dom. But ultimately, the story does what it was supposed to do. Tell a prologue to the first Gears of War game, explore how the main characters became the heroes we know, and what really happened on the first day of the invasion.
Gameplay and connections to the original games
Gears of War has always been known for its aggressive and quick type of combat. The original game was and still is one of the most important modern third-person cover shooters in the genre. But even in E-Day, the idea of not changing the gameplay much is why E-Day works.
Marcus can move between cover positions, vault obstacles, slide into protection, and take advantage of different heights and angles across the environment. The cover system allows you to get a better sense of where the enemies are, how you can avoid damage, and what needs to be done to get it over with quickly. Instead of treating every encounter as advancing from one marked piece of cover to another, there is a need to carefully assess the battleground, carefully pick fighting spots, and have an exit strategy.
The weapons remain an essential part of that experience. The Lancer assault rifle, with its iconic chainsaw bayonet, is once again a usable piece of gear that wreaks havoc. Precision weapons offer another way to manage encounters, particularly when enemy positions make a direct assault too dangerous.
Modifications can alter how particular weapons behave, allowing you to adapt the equipment to different combat situations rather than relying on a loadout that may not work. There is, however, a potential drawback to this approach, because if certain weapons become significantly more effective only after being modified, the initial experience with them can feel unnecessarily restrictive. As for the shooting itself, it is still the main part of the gameplay and is fun for most of the game.
As a prequel, E-Day must explore the story beyond the original trilogy without making those games feel less important. Thanks to this prequel, we get an opportunity to get to know Marcus and Dom better before their relationship and reputations were fully established. Their shared military history, the loss of Carlos Santiago (Dom’s brother), and their contrasting personalities provide the groundwork for the brotherhood that later becomes one of the franchise’s most essential parts.
The first Gears of War game introduced us to a world already destroyed by fourteen years of conflict. The main characters are accustomed to destruction, cities in ruins, and the Locust being an established enemy. E-Day reverses that perspective, presenting the invasion from a different side as an unfolding disaster rather than a war.
Later entries expanded the mythology, introduced increasingly spectacular threats, and explored the consequences of humanity’s resistance. The prequel returns to the moment when the enemy was still terrifying because they were an unknown.
Gears of War: E-Day game rating and final thoughts
Gears of War: E-Day shows Kalona’s destruction and turns Emergence Day from just a background history into a catastrophic event that we get to experience through the eyes of main characters. Marcus and Dom remain central characters in the plot, and their developing friendship is as strong as previous projects.
For those gamers who’ve never played in the series or just had a long break from the projects, E-Day is a great starting point and a journey into the world that made Gears of War special. Its combination of brutal combat, horror-inspired atmosphere, and character-driven storytelling is not only nostalgic but interesting and worth our time playing.
Gears of War: E-Day is now available on PC and Xbox Series S/X.
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