The latest entry in the Gears of War franchise launches today. E-Day has arrived, with its events taking place 14 years before the original Gears of War, becoming the earliest playable game in the chronological timeline. Gamers who pre-ordered the Premium Edition have had early access since October 1, but today, October 6, marks the full release date for the Standard Edition.

Gears of War: E-Day is available on Xbox Series X/S and PC via Steam or the Microsoft Store. It is also available on Xbox Game Pass for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass members as a day-one title. Those with the Premium or Essential tiers unfortunately won’t have immediate access. Below, we’ve explained all you need to know about the release time in your region.

Gears of War E-Day day one patch arrives as pre-launch update

The Coalition and Xbox Game Studios have already provided players with a day-one patch, covering fixes and improvements across single-player and multiplayer modes. We suppose it’s not technically a day-one patch, as it was made available just ahead of launch on October 5, but either way, below you can find the full patch notes available for all new players on launch day.

Stability and Performance

• Made various stability, performance, hardware compatibility, and reporting improvements across the game

Online and multiplayer services

• Addressed an issue causing some Versus Social matches to remain on the “Waiting for players” screen
• Improved XBOX authentication handling when the system clock differs significantly from the correct time
• Addressed “Bilefrog-Kalona” error, where a split-screen player could be signed out after suspending and resuming the game
• Improved online-session stability when accessing session information

Campaign

• Addressed an issue where players joining an existing Campaign could receive War Journal progress and Forge rewards earned before they joined
• Addressed an issue where players could remain attached to turrets when a cinematic or gameplay moment began
• Addressed an issue where some join-in-progress players might not receive the expected Forge Discovery War Journal progress
• Act 2 Chapter 2: Addressed an issue where the objective could fail to update when entering Allfather’s Plaza after completing activities elsewhere in the mission
• Act 2 Chapter 2: Addressed an issue where the Heavy Gear in the Black Raven Down side objective could appear without a Vulcan
• Act 4 Chapter 1: Addressed an issue where certain side objectives could fail to start if players entered the objective area while introductory dialogue was playing
• Act 4 Chapter 2: Addressed one cause of the Power Station defense objective failing to complete after all visible enemies were defeated

Horde Siege

• Addressed an issue that could prevent certain Siege Blitz Secure objectives from being completed
• Addressed an issue where the extraction helicopter could fail to appear during a Plaza Ruins Blitz mission

Versus

• Addressed an issue in Demolition where a bomb could become stuck in a defusing state if a player was eliminated while beginning the defuse interaction

UI

• Adjusted the size and appearance of Online Diagnostic text
• Addressed one possible cause of the UI repeatedly attempting to claim the same Challenge Mail reward

Source: Gears of War on X

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Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.