Gears of War: E-Day release date speculation – Latest news
When is the new Gears game's own Emergence Day?
Gears of War: E-Day was a surprise and welcome announcement at the Xbox Games Showcase that took place on 9th June 2024, and naturally fans of the series are clambering to find out when the game will be released.
Xbox arguably put on one of the best shows at Summer Games Fest, announcing titles such as Perfect Dark, Doom: The Dark Ages and State of Decay 3, while giving us updates on the likes of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
But Gears of War fans will have rejoiced when we saw footage of Marcus Fenix fighting a Locust Drone in what looks set to be a return to the darker, grittier and outright more frightening tone of earlier games in the long-running series.
E-Day marks the sixth entry in the mainline series, which began back in 2006, and the eighth overall when Gears of War: Judgement and Gears Tactics are taken into account.
The anticipation is building, and so we have compiled all the information currently available on Gears of War: E-Day below.
When is the Gears of War: E-Day release date?
The official release date for Gears of War: E-Day has not yet been confirmed by publisher Microsoft or the game’s developer, The Coalition.
However, based on the release window of the last two games in the main series, Gears 4 and 5, we would speculate that E-Day will release in September or October 2025.
If the game was due to release this year, then it would have been advertised as such during its recent reveal.
Can I pre-order Gears of War: E-Day?
Despite there being no confirmed release date, Gears of War: E-Day can already be pre-ordered on GAME’s website for £69.99.
Other places such as Amazon and CD Keys are yet to have pre-order pages live, but as soon as they do we will update this article with the relevant links.
PC platform Steam also has a listing for the game, but we can only add it to our wishlist at the moment.
The game’s official page on Microsoft’s website states that it will be landing on Game Pass on the first day of release, too, so at some point we anticipate being able to pre-install it - but that will likely come closer to release.
Which consoles and platforms can play Gears of War: E-Day?
Gears of War: E-Day is going to be available to play on Xbox Series X/S and PC. There is currently no confirmation as to whether or not the game will be available on last generation’s Xbox One, but we are predicting that this will be for current-generation systems only.
Gears of War: E-Day gameplay and story details
Exact details on what to expect from Gears of War: E-Day remain slim, but we do know that the game is set 14 years before the events of the first game in the franchise, 2006’s Gears of War.
It will follow younger versions of the series’s most popular and beloved characters, Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago, as they negotiate the fallout of Emergence Day, which saw the vicious alien Locusts ascend on the city Sera from the underground.
In an interview posted on Microsoft’s website, creative director Matt Searcy said that the aim of E-Day was to revisit the tone of the series that fans adore.
"It’s going to feel like a new Gears game, because that’s what it is," he said. "It’s us revisiting the tone and feeling of what makes Gears great, but we’re tapping into new techniques, new processes and new technology that’s going to make the gameplay feel better than ever.
"It’s going to be awesome, a game that feels both truly new and authentically Gears."
In the same post, studio art director Aryan Hanbeck conceded that in recent entries, the Locust Drones within the game (and seen in the announcement trailer) had become canon fodder, but one of the studio’s aims was to redefine them for the new game.
"We transformed the Drone into something fearsome, physically intimidating and utterly brutal," he said.
E-Day looks set to be an origin story for not just the Locusts, but also the friendship between Fenix and Santiago, Searcy confirmed. "People are going to see the formation of this brotherhood that is so iconic to Gears," he said.
Is there a Gears of War: E-Day trailer?
Yes, there is a trailer for Gears of War: E-Day, and you can see it below. It was revealed at the Xbox Games Showcase on 9th June 2024 and presented using the powerful Unreal Engine 5.
It begins with a younger version of Marcus desperately fighting off a Locust Drone in a house, before smashing it in the face with a television set and shooting it with a MK1 Lancer Assault Rifle.
Fans of the series will notice that the gun has a detachable bayonet on the end instead of the chainsaw that has become synonymous with the series. Will this be an origin story for the weapon too?
After nearly slipping into an emergence hole in the ground, Fenix is rescued by Dom, who yanks him back to safety. The pair then look out across a fractured and crumbling city that is lit up by the red glow of multiple emergence holes in the trailer’s chilling finale.
Eagle-eared fans will also notice that this trailer uses a haunting new version of Mad World, a song originally recorded by Tears for Fears. Gary Jules’s equally iconic rendition was used in the original trailer for the first game back in 2006, so this is an obvious nod to the series’s origins.
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Authors
Joshua Lamb is a freelance writer at Radio Times Gaming, covering news and guides. He is also a games journalist and critic at The Times where he reviews the latest titles, having also previously reported on events such as Gamescom and the BAFTA Game Awards.
