Campaign

Introduction

The Gears of War: E-Day campaign is the origin story of the entire franchise — a prequel set on Emergence Day itself, fourteen years before the original Gears of War. You play as Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago across three brutal days in the city of Kalona as the Locust Horde erupts from underground and the COG's ordered world collapses overnight. The story follows Bravo Squad as it comes together, blending desperate survival with the brotherhood that defines the series. This hub collects chapter walkthroughs, boss strategies, collectible locations and lore guides for every mission, so you can push through the campaign, find its secrets and understand how E-Day reshapes the whole Gears timeline.

Three Days of Emergence Day

Story Beats

Core Mechanics

The campaign is built around the three-day structure of Emergence Day, each day representing a major act with multiple chapters. You control Marcus Fenix with Dom Santiago at your side — or up to four players in online co-op, with all four Bravo Squad members playable. The campaign introduces the rebuilt movement and cover systems gradually, then escalates with Emergence Hole events where you must destroy spawning points while holding off waves. Expect arena-style boss fights, vehicle-free close-quarters street combat and a strong emphasis on squad coordination as the city of Kalona falls around you. Each chapter mixes street-to-street firefights with set-piece encounters, and the three-day structure means the tone shifts from confusion on Day 1 to desperate last-stands on Day 3. The campaign also reintroduces the pendulum of Gears storytelling — quiet character moments between the chaos — so you get both the action and the emotional arc that made the franchise famous.

Advantages

A prequel campaign gives the story real weight: you already know the legend of Marcus Fenix, and watching the war begin humanizes the franchise's mythology. The three-day structure keeps pacing tight — each day has a distinct identity and a clear escalation in enemy pressure. Four-player online co-op with AI-fill for solo players means the campaign is fully playable alone or with a squad. Collectibles and side content reward exploration without bloating the runtime. The three-day structure gives the story a clear spine, and each day escalates both the stakes and the enemy pressure in a way that keeps pacing tight. Because it is a prequel, the campaign is also the perfect entry point for newcomers — you are seeing the war begin exactly as the original audience did. The four-player co-op with AI-fill means you can always find a way to play, whether solo or with a full squad.

Challenges

The campaign is built around a fixed three-day timeline, so there is no open-world freedom — progression is linear through Kalona's streets and districts. Pre-release, the exact campaign length is not confirmed, so players expecting a specific hours-to-beat figure should wait for launch. On the hardest difficulties, the combination of Emergence Hole events and elite Locust can spike sharply in difficulty, requiring coordinated co-op rather than solo heroics. The linear three-day structure means you cannot freely revisit the city; progression is locked to the chapter flow, and missable collectibles require careful searching or a replay. Pre-launch, the exact campaign length is unconfirmed, so players expecting a specific runtime should wait for launch data. The difficulty curve also spikes sharply on the top settings, where coordinated co-op is essentially required to survive the later e-hole events.

FAQ

Quick Tips