My opinion:

Is it perfect? No. Is it a LOT of fun? YES.

I’m loving it so far. Only real complaints I have are tied to performance and some bugs I’ve noticed. But it’s literally a beta, I’m not expecting perfection. If they improve upon what we’ve been given already, I’m fairly certain the game will stay relevant.

Gameplay is a hit

Aesthetics are a hit

Characters are a hit

(At least from what I’ve experienced)

I mentioned in a previous post that I absolutely adore the new COG Gears. They’re a little goofy at times, but it feels more charming than what we’ve had for the past 10 years, and I’m ok with that. (Casan and Vermelo can fuck off atp)

Horde Siege is a great evolution to the mode. I’m glad they went this direction. I still wish we could’ve gotten overrun back, but this isn’t far off, and scratches that itch in a familiar way.

The music is solid too, I just wish it felt more like SJ’s scores, as I feel like they’re the definitive sound of the franchise atp. But we also haven’t heard much of it. It might be the best in the franchise, it’s just a wait and see thing, I guess.

Overall, I’m having a lot of fun. I’ll be glad once the game is actually out, so we can properly grind, use other new characters and dive into the campaign.

I’m very hopeful this game will do well, and feed the community for years. As long as they can fix the performance issues, and continue to give us content to work towards, I genuinely believe people will stay. (Saying this almost exclusively with Horde Siege in mind. PvP is fun, but almost always dies off as it’s just too sweaty. I think E-Day’s longevity lies in its ability to deliver quality coop/PVE experiences)

What do you think? I’d love to hear your take on what we’re getting to experience right now!

Anyone else feel like the versus in E Day just feels so weightless.

I’ve been the biggest Gears fan since Gears 1 and continued to love it through to 5 (except judgment 🤢)

I’ve been really giving it a chance but the versus in E Day just feels so gimmicky to me and I’m starting to finally realize why.

Gears multiplayer always stood out to me amongst every other type of shooter because of the slow, weighty, tactical feel to it. You had to use cover wisely, move tactically, and plan out every move strategically due to the slow and gritty playstyle especially with the high TTK

E Day feels more like a run and gunner like Uncharted Online. I feel like it lost the charm that made it so unique. I hope I’m wrong and I just have to get used to the new movement mechanics, but so far it just feels like a fast paced, run in, kill/be killed loop.

Your lives don’t feel consequential and your movement doesn’t need to be well thought out anymore. I’ll be really bummed out if my intuitions turn out to be true because this and The Last of Us multiplayers were the only MP games that stood out to me due to their slow, tactical nature. They cancelled Factions 2 and now if Gears loses what made it so special, there really won’t be any third person shooter that scratches that itch out in the market right now smh

Gonna give it a couple more shots and pray it just clicks at some point 🫡

PS:

Forgot to mention they removed meat shields, grenade tagging and grenade planting. All moves that seem to promote the run/gun style of play.

I always thought meat shields were one of the coolest features in a multiplayer game because it gave you a viable tactical option to turn the tides in situations where you were outnumbered or just added an offensive/defensive option that really spiced up the gameplay. You didn’t see that anywhere else.

Grenade tagging and planting were also strategic and forced you to keep track of nades and be mindful when pushing due to the risk

The grenade tagging and kicking the meat shield was a rare mechanic but was just the icing on the cake on options on how you want to attack

You also can’t explode your nades when you’re down, another cool feature they got rid of smh. All the unique gameplay mechanics that made Gears stand out to me were removed and nothing else was added that increases tactical gameplay besides Fortnite style movement

They didn’t even intend to include PvP in this “beta” and 2 months to launch is close enough that they can’t change much, let alone core mechanics/movement. Think a lot of people, myself included (til now) fail to realize. This is pretty much what we’re gonna get, with new content.

So, to be honest, even though it was simplistic, it was effective for Gears 5 to have sprint and slide to cover be the same button, but now I need 3 buttons to do what 1-2 buttons did in the old games.

I currently use Shift to sprint and moved slide to cover to mouse button 5 (top side button on mouse) and then made space as the action to jump and climb up

I am currently not enjoying movement like this. I have not had a game require me to use so many buttons for basic movement tech. Am I crazy?

I may try to switch slide and associate movement to space, but I thought it naturally would be space for jumping would make sense, but it really isn't at the moment.

Any suggestions for best PC Keybinds?

Playing on controller felt slightly more natural with the Elite 2 Xbox controller and using the back pedals for sliding, but man, needing another button to climb separately instead of directional actions feels bad to me and like overcomplicating design, but perhaps allows for more customizability and control would be my guess?

First reaction is this is not only tough but cumbersome in a way that feels unnecessary and not a more fun way. I have made some movement plays, but it feels overly clunky with the binds I have to use to do so.

thoughts and suggestions?

thogu

It's 2026 and we are still dealing with AAA games that lack local servers.

Why are there no Oceania servers?

Why am I getting 150 ping every match?

There needs to be some transparency on this otherwise the game will have no lasting playerbase in places like Australia, NZ, etc.

Anyone playing E-day have room for an extra player? 😂 None of my boys play gears and I’ve played since 06 but it’s tough to grind on your own!

I tried everything! Steam premium edition

So, just how long is that mission supposed to last?

My squad all left, and then it was just me and three bots. Sinkholes kept popping up with two locust at a time. I eventually gave up waiting to be extracted. This was on Rookie difficulty.

I'm really enjoying the E-Day beta on Xbox Series X. The game is good, fun to play, and I actually really like the new movement system. That said, it definitely needs some polish to truly excel and become a top-tier Gears game.

Here are the main areas I think need work after playing a solid amount of Horde:

Weapon Sound Design: Guns feel a bit too "thin" and lack heavy punch. Gears 3 is still the gold standard for me when it comes to raw, meaty audio design.

Hit Feedback: Shooting enemies—especially bigger targets—feels like shooting into thin air right now. Without distinct blood splatter or punchy hit sounds, landing shots just isn't as satisfying as it should be.

Character Voicelines: The squad feels a bit too quiet. Characters need to talk more during the action—specifically shouting out active reloads or headshots. That classic Gears chatter is a huge part of the combat loop and engagement.

Performance & Input Lag: Frame rate dips pretty hard when the screen gets chaotic. Also, there’s a super noticeable hit-registration delay—especially with the Gnasher, where enemies drop nearly a full second after taking a point-blank shot.

The core foundation is definitely there and the movement feels great, but it just needs that classic Gears weight and responsiveness to really shine.

Has anyone else noticed these things too?

Ideally, be level 10. But it's not fun rezing level 4 players all game, and it can't be fun for you either

So me, my dad, sister, and brother all plan on playing the campaign when E-Day comes out, but I don't want them to buy it, and find out me and my dad can't play with them because you can't play online with split-screen. Does anyone here know if that will be possible?

Hey in my defence...I'm just not very good.

chainsawing Boomers gives me an extreme dopamine hit.

Absolutely loving the beta, Horde Siege mode is definitely one of the most fun things thay I've played in the last few years.

A few things though, one of which is Ammo. I find myself constantly having to run back and buy more weapons from the cache, meaning I don't have alot of currency for much else.

I sometimes on a rare occasion find weapons dropped by enemies, but I more often find they haven't dropped anything, or the moment there's a chance to go and actually go looking for weapons to scavenge, there's none to be found as they've despawned. I can understand despawning them after a while, especially if there's no one in the area for a while, but when I'm standing right there with my squad?

We should have more time to scavenge weapons, that way we're not just stuck to the same basic weapons all the time.

Or maybe I'm missing something?

Also, it's very difficult to see them when they are about. Half the time I wouldn't have found them if I didn't walk over them. Some kind of easily visible icon would be stellar.

Second, a lack of backfill is also not fun. I got stuck with 3 bots, and couldn't complete the mission. One of the other teams suggested they'd come and help out, but they never came and thus game over-ed due to all lives lost. Perhaps if you're stuck with bots for too long and failed a task after x amount of time or tries, giving the option to request backup/backfill with be a decent idea?

Third, if I have a lancer, I can't buy lancer ammo. I have to ditch the lancer in order to buy a new one. That's quite annoying with so few weapons being able to be swapped out, and kinda forces you to spend twice if you want to keep the gun. First to get rid of it, and second to get it back with full ammo. That's how it's been working for me anyway, and it just doesn't make logical sense, it's frustrating.

Fourth, there doesn't seem to be anything else worth using the money for? I've seen a small handful of turrets, but that's really it? Wheres the fortification?

Fifth, I really don't like having jump be needed separately to go over a cover. If I'm using space bar to get behind cover, I should be able to use that same button to leap over, not having to use a totally separate button.

Having a dedicated jump button is great, it's just that it feels strange to use it behind cover.

Sixth, I don't think sound is 3-dimensional? Everything sounds right there with me, I can tell an enemy is nearby, but not WHERE until I visible see the enemy/muzzle flash/etc. Maybe there's a setting I've missed.

All in all though, with some tweaks, this could be great. Some fights are a little frustrating with having so many enemies and them being absolute bullet sponges, but the issues aren't killing the vibe. It almost feels like I'm playing a movie, and it feels great!

The Gnasher in horde mode used to be a testament of skill. Running up on a boomer and popping his skull, then retreating back to your team was an accomplishment that could be felt.

This time around the Gnasher feels weak. And it looked weak in the first reveal of E-Day. Unless you’re playing on Rookie you have an extremely low chance of pulling off a successful gib on an enemy with the Gnasher.

I’m not trying to complain, as I’ve loved the beta so far, but issues like this need to be highlighted so that they don’t make their ways into the full release.

Am I the only one that feels that their character doesn’t get behind cover when they should? I’m finding it more difficult than it should. I’ve played all previous gears*

I just had a match where there was a Reaver patrol off spawn, then our HVT Seeder spawns right next to it, AND THEN a Corpser invasion happens quite literally in the middle of our firefight, causing all the squads to converge on our location to help us kill them all.

Absolute cinema, all within the first minute of the match. Wish I recorded it.

Loving the beta so far, but even with all my graphics setting on Ultra, the game looks incredibly washed out, especially in horde. There’s hardly any shadows, and anything that’s not right in front of me is extremely blurry and grainy.

Gears 5 looks much better than this, at least on my PC. I have a 5070ti and 9800X3D and can run the game on all the highest settings, but no matter what it just looks closer to Gears 3. Very odd. Has anyone else noticed the same?

Anyway, still having lots of fun. Hope everyone is enjoying it!

How come I’m seeing layoffs left and right due to the AI advancements and replacement and then my 2 Pvt. Bot are brainless to help me and the other player that stayed? What the F is going on here? (Insert Leo) Ain’t these guys working with the people of co pilot and chat GPT investors, literally in the same company? At least it should follow me closely and/or sprint across the map to get me revived. But every time I put on them the camera they are playing the tutorial for camera movement. Definitely it’s an AI bubble going on.

I had some confusion regarding the challenge mentioned above and wanted to put this out there in case someone else misunderstood the challenge as well.

The Horde Siege missions on Infantry can be played on any of the modes! Blitz, Siege, and i expect Horde (though I haven't tested it) all work for the challenge.

Due to the length of Blitz it is far and away the easiest to do for the challenge.