Gears is back in players' hands for the first time in a while. The E-Day beta opened its Early Access window on August 6, and if you pre-ordered or you're on Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass, you can jump in right now. Everyone else gets the open beta from August 13 to 17.
What's in the beta
Early Access is built around Horde Siege, a 12-player co-op PVE mode, so this first stretch is the wave-defence crowd's playground. The open beta the following week bolts on the competitive side with 4v4 Versus. Anything you earn, character and weapon skins, carries over to the full game, which is the sort of small thing that gets people to actually show up. It's on Xbox Series X|S and PC.
Does it feel like Gears?
Early impressions are the part worth reading, and they're warm. The recurring note from people in the Early Access is that the movement has that specific Gears heft to it, fluid but weighty, rather than the floaty feel a lot of modern shooters go for. "Feels so good to have Gears back" is a fair summary of the vibe.
Usual caveat applies: a beta is a slice, not the finished thing, and betas tend to show a game at its most polished-for-the-demo. But heft and movement are exactly the things a Gears game has to nail, and by the early read, this one does. The full release is October 6, so there's a couple of months to see whether it holds up past the honeymoon.
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