Gears of War: E-Day is posting strong early critic averages on the two big aggregators while Premium and early access are already live. When RCG checked Metacritic Monday afternoon, the game sat at 87 Generally Favorable from 41 critic reviews — 38 positive, 3 mixed, and none negative. OpenCritic lists a top-critic average of 88, with 91% of critics recommending it. The full launch lands tomorrow, Tuesday, October 6, 2026.
Metacritic also lists a user score of 8.5 from 4 ratings, marked Generally Favorable. The same page shows extra score blocks that are not clearly labeled by platform, so this report sticks to the main metascore and review count.
Metacritic credits development to The Coalition and publishing to Xbox Game Studios, rates the game M for Mature, and lists it on Xbox Series X and PC. RCG’s earlier post on the launch date is Xbox Dates Gears E-Day Full Launch for Oct. 6.
OpenCritic’s cited scores include TechRaptor at 9.5 out of 10, GameRant, TrueAchievements, and The Games Machine at 9 out of 10, Tom’s Guide at 4.5 out of 5, Wccftech at 7.4 out of 10, and GameSpot at 7 out of 10. GameSpot’s Richard Wakeling writes that “for better or worse, E-Day is distinctly Gears,” even while calling the story disappointing. TrueAchievements’ Tom West says the prequel “hits all the right notes for veteran Gears and newcomers alike.”
Destructoid and TheXboxHub are among the fresh Metacritic posts dated October 5, both in the 90–100 range, as more reviews land ahead of Tuesday’s full launch.
