Gears of War: E-Day Scores 87 on Metacritic, Players Split
Gears of War: E-Day scores 87 on Metacritic, the series' best reception since Gears of War 3 — but multiplayer wasn't reviewed.
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Released October 6, 2026, on Xbox Series X|S and PC, Gears of War: E-Day has the series’ best critical reception since Gears of War 3, sitting at 87 on Metacritic for the Xbox Series X|S version (83 on PC). But that score only covers the single-player campaign: multiplayer wasn’t available during the review period.
The franchise’s best score in fifteen years
Developed by The Coalition and published by Xbox Game Studios, E-Day sits at 87 on Metacritic across roughly sixty reviews at the time of writing — none rated negative by Metacritic’s own classification (below 50), something the series hasn’t seen since Gears of War 3. IGN gave it a 9/10, and TechRaptor went as high as 9.5/10, calling it the best entry in the franchise. The game is available day one on Xbox Game Pass — unlike Final Fantasy Resonance, released the same month without the service, or Phantom Blade Zero, which arrives October 29 on PS5 and PC but not Xbox. Xbox Game Studios keeps the critical wins coming in 2026, following South of Midnight.
The one thing everyone agrees on: the combat
If there’s one consensus across every review, it’s combat quality. The Coalition clearly reworked both shooting and melee feel, and that’s precisely what’s driving the high scores.
Story and the semi-open areas, less convincing
The rest of the picture is less unanimous. GameSpot (7/10) flags a disappointing story and semi-open areas it calls dull. The Guardian (3/5) praises the combat but calls the rest of the campaign disappointing. Windows Central’s Jez Corden is harsher still, criticizing the semi-open-world sections as well as some boss fights. PC Gamer’s in-progress review, which hasn’t landed on a final score yet, strikes a similar note, calling the campaign’s pacing a slog.
Steam players are less enthusiastic than critics
On Steam, player reviews sit around 78.5% positive — a respectable figure, but notably behind the press’s enthusiasm.
One major caveat
However glowing, all of these reviews only cover the single-player campaign. Multiplayer, long central to the series’ identity, wasn’t accessible during the review period. There’s no way yet to know how the online side holds up.
What we liked
- Series' best critical reception since Gears of War 3
- Combat system near-universally praised (IGN 9/10, TechRaptor 9.5/10)
- Available day one on Game Pass
What we didn't like
- Story called disappointing by several outlets
- Semi-open-world areas criticized as dull
- Multiplayer completely absent from reviews, still an unknown
The bottom line
PicGamers didn’t review E-Day ourselves, so there’s no in-house score here. The critical consensus is clear: the best single-player Gears campaign in a long time, carried by excellent combat, held back by weaker storytelling and a less inspired semi-open world. The real test will come with multiplayer.
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