‘We didn't make E-Day as a reaction to Gears 5’: How The Coalition reinvented Gears

The Coalition has led Gears of War for a decade after Epic sold the IP to Xbox in 2014. With Gears of War: E-Day the studio aims to return to the franchise’s roots, revisiting Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago during Emergence Day. Nicole Fawcette says the game wasn’t made as a reaction to Gears 5 but as an opportunity to tell this story while pivoting to a new engine.

E-Day is set entirely in the city of Kalona and follows Bravo Squad over three days as the Locust burst from the earth and civilisation collapses. Creative director Matt Searcy frames the project as a bid to recapture the tone of the original trilogy: vicious monsters, brutal combat, towering architecture and layered playspaces.

The Coalition has tightened mission design, trading Gears 5’s globetrotting for denser streets and larger arenas that can open across multiple blocks. Built natively in Unreal Engine 5, the game was constructed from scratch with no ported assets; Searcy says every animation, sound, mechanic and system has been rebuilt.

the coalition, gears 5, e-day, emergence day, marcus fenix, dominic santiago, kalona, bravo squad, locust, unreal engine