Gears of War: E-Day Reviews Land at 87 on Metacritic as Early Access Opens for Premium Owners

Gears of War: E-Day's reviews are in, and they are strong: a Metascore of 87 on Metacritic for the Xbox Series X version and a Top Critic Average of 87 on OpenCritic. Early access opened at 15:00 UTC on 1 October for Premium Edition owners and Game Pass members with the Premium Upgrade, as announced on Xbox Wire, five days before the full launch on 6 October.

This piece is built from the Metacritic, OpenCritic and Steam pages as they stood between 17:35 and 17:45 UTC on 1 October, the official Xbox Wire post and the reviews themselves. We have not played the game.

What score did Gears of War: E-Day get?

Every scored review counted by Metacritic is positive or mixed; none is negative. The PC version sits a few points lower, on a smaller sample. OpenCritic lists 39 reviews, 15 of them from top critics, and 90% of critics recommend the game. Steam's own user score means very little yet: the page still lists 6 October as the release date and had only 55 user reviews.

What are critics saying about Gears of War: E-Day?

The praise is consistent on the mechanics and split on the story. IGN gives it 9/10 and says the campaign stands toe-to-toe with any earlier Gears. PC Gamer's review in progress agrees that Gears has never felt better to play, but calls the series creatively stagnant and the campaign a slog. VGC lands in between at 4/5: relentless action across a 10–15 hour campaign, with the story taking a back seat.

Why the scores could still move

Much of today's verdict is about the campaign alone. PC Gamer is holding back its score because multiplayer was not available before launch, and both VGC and Pure Xbox label their reviews as campaign reviews. Horde Siege, the reworked co-op wave mode, and the 4v4 Versus playlists have barely been judged, so expect late reviews and score updates after 6 October.

The launch also comes with an uncomfortable backdrop: staff at The Coalition are reportedly expecting layoffs after months of crunch, according to a Eurogamer report summarised by IGN.

How to play Gears of War: E-Day early

Early access runs from 8:00 a.m. PT (15:00 UTC) on 1 October until the full launch at the same time on 6 October, on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC and Steam, with cloud play too. It is open to Premium Edition owners and to Game Pass members who buy the Premium Upgrade; Pure Xbox reports the game joins Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass on 6 October. Prices, the $30 upgrade and what each edition includes are in our Gears of War: E-Day editions guide.

On PC, check your hardware first. The official requirements, broken down by PC Gamer, ask for a ray tracing-capable graphics card and 115GB of free SSD space; the minimum tier (RTX 2060, RTX 5050, RX 6600 or RX 9060) targets 1080p at 60fps on Medium with upscaling. On Xbox, online co-op, Horde Siege and Versus need a Game Pass tier that includes online multiplayer, and split-screen is console-only, per Xbox Wire's small print.

What we don't know yet

Player opinion is the missing half. With 55 Steam reviews and no public player count yet, there is nothing meaningful to compare with the critics. We will publish an evidence-based review, weighting critics and Steam players with our usual formula, once the game has been out long enough for at least 500 Steam reviews.