During Xbox's big summer showcase, the team announced a brand new Gears game in the form of Gears of War: E-Day - a good five years on from Gears 5 hitting Xbox One. More than anything, E-Day's reveal felt like a relief - we finally knew about the next Gears of War title after The Coalition had gone dark for longer than anticipated. For me personally though, the team's decision to revisit an earlier time period in Gears is so, so welcome, and I really do think this could be something very special for Xbox.
Let's be clear to start with, The Coalition really hasn't made a bad game yet. Gears of War 4 and 5 are great Xbox titles, and even smaller projects like Gears: Ultimate Edition and the team's work on The Matrix Awakens have been successful endeavors as well. However, to me at least, this time period in the Gears universe feels ripe for exploring - and something about E-Day just feels very Gears so far.
The scary nature of the Locust emerging from the depths below — and everything that happened between then and the start of Gears 1 — should make E-Day fit right alongside Epic's original trilogy; which for me, was the highlight of the series so far. Gritty, intimate battles as humanity gets to grips with what the heck is going on with the Locust - that's Gears, and I can't wait to revisit that feeling in E-Day.
Then, we're going to spend even more time with some the franchise's most beloved characters, which is also super exciting to me. E-Day's initial trailer puts plenty of focus on Marcus and Dom — Gears of War's OG dudebros — and you know what, I'll be more than happy to spend lots of time with them again. Truth be told, these two only look like dudebros - the original Gears cast has tons of personality and I felt they unfairly written off at times back in the mid-to-late 2000s.
In the gameplay department, we really don't have anything to worry about, do we? Gears 5 is phenomenal to play, especially at 120FPS on Xbox Series X|S. The Coalition's take on Gears, married with original, battle-worn gear and gadgets from the early days of the Locust war could make for an awesome pairing - especially if the team channels more of what made its Hivebusters DLC so great back in 2020. Less robot tech, more thrown-together monster gear, eh team?
So, yep, everything is laid out for The Coalition to deliver big with Gears of War: E-Day, and ever since its reveal trailer back in June, it's easily been my most anticipated Xbox title. If the developer can take everything it's learnt from working on Gears so far, and combine it with a bit more of that old school Gears identity, this upcoming release could be something very special. Whether it arrives next year as rumored, or sometime after that, you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be there on day one - and I'll be here to tell you lot whether The Coalition has delivered the goods.
