XBOX invited me to spend time with the Gears of War: E-Day multiplayer preview, where I spent time with both Versus and Horde Siege. Versus still felt like Gears, with close-range Gnasher fights, smart use of cover and both teams scrambling for power weapons. What changed most for me was how quickly the action moved.
Horde Siege is the part I kept thinking about once the sessions ended. Versus felt like the competitive Gears I know, while Horde Siege opened the fights up across a much larger battlefield. Three squads chase their own objectives and can come together when a Boss Invasion hits.
Disclosure: XBOX provided access to the Gears of War: E-Day multiplayer preview. I played on XBOX Series X.
Faster Movement Speeds Up Gears Without Losing Its Weight
The first thing I noticed was the speed. Sprinting feels quicker than the Roadie Run, and sliding lets me get into cover without breaking the pace.
Fights developed faster than I expected, so I had to make decisions sooner. I could close the distance, slide into cover and change direction without the slower setup I remember from earlier Gears games. That speed never made cover optional. I still got punished whenever I stayed exposed, and the weapons kept the heavy kick I expect from Gears.
Cover still decides when I can push, when I need to wait and whether I can reach a weapon pickup before the other team. The new movement gets me between those spots faster without making it feel like a different series.
Horde Siege Turns Kalona Into A 12-Person Battlefield
Horde Siege places three squads of four across a large section of Kalona. Each squad receives its own objectives, but all 12 people remain part of the same battle.
Horde Siege feels larger because three squads are fighting their own battles on the same map. My group could be defending one area while another squad was already trading fire nearby. Whenever our paths crossed, Kalona felt like one connected fight instead of three separate matches.
Blitz Siege And Horde Don’t All Take The Same Time
Blitz handles shorter runs, Siege mixes in more objective variety, and Horde keeps the squad in one area for a longer wave fight. I liked being able to pick a mission based on how much time I had instead of every Horde Siege run taking the same amount of time.
Assault, Breacher, Marksman and Medic each have a job to do. I found myself paying more attention to what my squad was missing than I would in a standard wave fight.
Energy collection is shared across the squad, but everyone makes their own purchases at Supply Caches. Grabbing Energy still helps the whole group, even when someone else is the one buying ammo or an upgrade.
Secondary objectives tempted me away from the safer route because Squad Perks and Weapon Parts can improve the run. Weapon Parts only stay with you after a successful extraction, so I never treated those detours as free loot.
Boss Invasions Bring All Three Squads Together
When several squads piled into the same Boss Invasion, the 12-person count made sense. The fight stopped being about my own objective and turned into one big Locust brawl.
Not every stretch worked as well. Some routes between objectives felt too empty once the gunfire stopped. The next fight usually arrived before the lull dragged on, but I want to see whether the other launch maps handle those gaps better.
Versus Keeps Map Control At The Centre
Versus is still Gears. The 4v4 matches start everyone with the same Prototype Lancer, Gnasher, Snub Pistol and Smoke Grenade, then make both teams fight for the stronger weapons on the map.
That meant I had to know where the Longshot or Torque Bow was and decide whether getting there was worth the risk. Sliding between cover made those early fights arrive faster, but it didn’t make a bad push any safer.
At close range, one clean Gnasher shot can end the fight. With only four people per side, losing one teammate changes the whole push.
I didn’t need Versus to reinvent itself. I wanted the Gears fights I already knew with less time spent moving between them, and that’s largely what I got.
Horde Siege Left Me Wanting Another Match
The preview only included one Horde Siege map, two Versus maps and two Versus modes. That isn’t enough to judge the full progression system, matchmaking or how long the map rotation will hold up. The launch version is planned to expand Horde Siege to three maps and Versus to six maps across four modes.
Traditional Horde keeps the squad in one place and lets the pressure build wave by wave. Horde Siege spreads the fight across objectives, optional detours and extraction. I preferred the larger structure, even though I can see why longtime Horde fans may still want the tighter format.
Versus was the familiar side of the preview. Horde Siege was the mode that made me wish the session lasted longer.
The August open beta weekends come next. Gears of War: E-Day launches on October 6, 2026. XBOX Cloud Gaming is planned for launch, although it wasn’t available during this preview.
As always, remember to follow us on our social media platforms (e.g., Threads, X (Twitter), Bluesky, YouTube, and Facebook) to stay up-to-date with the latest news. This website contains affiliate links. We may receive a commission when you click on these links and make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. We are an independent site, and the opinions expressed here are our own.
