Gears of War: E-Day Hit by Steam Backlash, but Players Still Mostly Positive

Gears of War: E-Day has only been out a few days and it’s already in the middle of a culture-war scrap. A wave of negative Steam reviews hit after Premium Early Access opened on 1 October and kept coming through the full launch on 6 October. Most of them target the game’s new characters and cosmetics rather than how it plays.

What people are angry about

Mags Carter. E-Day introduces Mags Carter, a discharged Gear working at Kalona’s Imulsion refinery who gets dragged into the fight alongside a young Marcus and Dom. She’s the series’ first openly LGBTQ character, and a chunk of the negative reviews say the campaign pushes her into the spotlight at Marcus and Dom’s expense.

Pride emblems. The multiplayer profile options include around 20 Pride-themed emblems. They’re optional cosmetics, but they’ve become a lightning rod. An LGBTQ+ user tag also briefly appeared on the Steam store page before it was removed.

The credits. Some players have also gone after The Coalition’s work with Hit Detection, a consultancy that offers cultural consulting to studios.

The complaints that aren’t about any of that

Mixed in with the culture-war reviews are some fair gameplay gripes: no private matches at launch, the meat shield missing from multiplayer, and a campaign that some players (and a few critics) feel runs long with repetitive encounters.

The actual numbers

Despite the noise, the Steam rating hasn’t tipped over. As of 8 October, E-Day sits at Mostly Positive, with about 76% of just over 5,000 reviews recommending it. Critics are keener still: it’s on 87 on Metacritic for Xbox Series X|S and 82 on PC, with around 90% of critics recommending it on OpenCritic. Reviews praise the combat, visuals, darker tone and emotional story.

The Coalition and Xbox haven’t commented publicly on the backlash at the time of writing.

Our take

Gears has always been about the chainsaw, the cover and the crew, and by most accounts E-Day nails all three. A character you don’t vibe with or an emblem you’ll never equip isn’t a reason to tank a game’s score, but missing private matches and the meat shield absolutely are worth shouting about. Play it, then judge it on the game.

Keep it civil in the comments. House rules apply: banter, not bullying.

Sources: Game Rant, TheGamer, Steam. Review scores via Metacritic and OpenCritic.