Gears of War: E-Day preview – The Coalition goes back to basics with Marcus and Dom

Gears of War: E-Day launches October 6, 2026 on Xbox Series X/S and PC. Developed by The Coalition alongside People Can Fly, it's a prequel set before the original Gears of War — covering the three days of Emergence Day, when the Locust Horde first tore through the surface of Sera and began slaughtering humanity.

The game puts players in control of Bravo Squad: Marcus Fenix, Dominic Santiago, Lucas Reyes, and Mags Carter. The Pendulum Wars have just ended after nearly 80 years, and the four Gears are at a bar in the city of Kalona when the ground splits open and Locusts pour out. Studio brand director Nicole Fawcette describes the setup as four soldiers trying to figure out what their lives look like after the war, thrown together by shared values and a sense of duty when everything goes sideways. Marcus and Dom aren't close friends yet at this point — they're connected through military service and the shared loss of Carlos Santiago, Dom's brother, killed in battle.

The Coalition built the entire city of Kalona in Unreal Engine 5, even though E-Day is not an open-world game. Studio creative director Matt Searcy is clear about that: it's a linear game with classic Gears-style corridors and combat arenas, with some sections opening up into wider city blocks. The key trick is that the city visibly deteriorates as the three days progress — vistas you see in the background early on become ruins by the time you reach them. The longer the game goes, the more Kalona falls apart around you.

Gears 5 in 2019 pushed the series in a new direction with open exploration areas and a focus on Kait Diaz, but the story didn't land as broadly as the Marcus-and-Dom era. E-Day reads as a direct course correction — darker, gorier, more linear, and anchored to the characters and the moment that defined the whole franchise.