[STEAM] I played Gears of War: E-Day's campaign, and it's bleaker than I expected

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(Image credit: Xbox Games Studio)

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Jumping in as Marcus and Dom link up with the military, there are constant reminders that this warzone was a bustling city just hours ago. Fighting to reclaim an overrun bridge, the road is flush with abandoned cars, their drivers left to rot where they died. Train carriages are packed with dead passengers, gore streaked over windows. Across the river, a sports stadium has been converted into a military base – a gripe for one squaddie, who had tickets to the next game.

The Locust are aggressive, pushing over the bridge and flanking wherever they can, making it tricky to hunker down in one spot without being overwhelmed. Running through gunfire to evade one such flank, I try to latch Marcus onto a distant corner wall – the ol' reliable in cover shooters – and he instead dives prone behind a closer pile of knee-high rubble. It's not as effective, but keeps me in one piece long enough to regenerate health and sprint for more effective cover. I'm impressed: where the Gears of War-inspired Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 shook up the cover shooter formula by leaning further into melee action,

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's adaptive cover doubles down on shootouts – with more sporadic cover making for a much more dynamic and believable battlefield.

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(Image credit: Xbox Games Studio) Throughout Gears' ultraviolence and tongue-in-cheek machismo, it's always shown war through a very human lens.

Just two acts in, E-Day's cast all feel like mainstays – and while some characters' survival is guaranteed, as they appear in the main trilogy, there are others I would be gutted to lose.

There are traces of HBO's WW2 dramas Band of Brothers and The Pacific here – footsoldiers finding time to joke even as the world around them burns – and E-Day's cast has the charisma to pull it off. After a battle that leaves a control room awash with body parts, a nervous rookie calls command to confirm their success – only to hang up and be relentlessly mocked for his formality. Later, Dom relishes telling an embarrassing war story involving Marcus, less-than-choice cuts of pig, and cataclysmic diarrhea.

Without these lighter moments, E-Day's bleak setting could prove overwhelming. I'm drawn to cover shooters to switch my brain off and pump dopamine, but the shadow of real-world horror sits over Kalana. The well-documented devastation of

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and

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are never far from thought when gaudy car dealerships and once-bustling train stations are transformed into scenes of desperation.

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(Image credit: Xbox Games Studio) Given how effectively The Coalition has turned Kalana into a waking nightmare, I do hope to see the cost of civilian violence explored in the broader campaign. Throughout Gears' ultraviolence and tongue-in-cheek machismo, it's always shown war through a very human lens – and as much as I enjoy Dom sparing no detail in embarrassing Marcus, there's still room to lean into the heaviness of E-Day's setting.

I hope it does. Gears of War: E-Day is a chance to revitalize the series for modern generations. Its single-city setting shows The Coalition isn't tied to past iterations of Gears, while adaptive cover suggests an ambition to be ahead of the curve in modern-day shooters.

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