Gears of War: E-Day has five Acts and 26 numbered chapters, plus a Prologue and an Epilogue — 28 playable parts in all. Act 1 has 4 chapters, Act 2 has 5, Acts 3 and 4 have 6 each, and Act 5 has 5 chapters, ending with The Fall of Kalona and the Vraahk fight. Chapter select unlocks as you go, so you can replay any of them for missed collectibles.
How many chapters and Acts are in E-Day?
The campaign is split into a Prologue, five Acts and an Epilogue. Inside the Acts are 26 numbered chapters. Counting the Prologue and Epilogue as separate playable parts gives 28 in total, which is the figure some guides use; others quote 26 because only the numbered chapters appear under each Act in the menu. Both numbers describe the same campaign.
| Act | Chapters | Collectibles | Main boss or set piece |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prologue | — | — | Underground tremor and the first attack on Kalona |
| Act 1 | 4 | 13 | Brumak in Back in the Fold |
| Act 2 | 5 | 38 | Seeder in No Gear Left Behind |
| Act 3 | 6 | 36 | Corpser in Enemy Lines; Brumak in Desperate Measures |
| Act 4 | 6 | 41 | Two Scoria in Critical Failure |
| Act 5 | 5 | 12 | Vraahk in The Fall of Kalona |
| Epilogue | — | — | Evacuation from Kalona |
Acts 3 and 4 are the longest: together they hold 12 of the 26 chapters and 77 of the 140 collectibles. Act 1 is the shortest and works as an extended tutorial for cover, Active Reload and the Lancer. The collectible totals come from our collectibles guide, which breaks them down chapter by chapter.
Every chapter in order
Chapter names below match across independent walkthroughs and the in-game chapter select. Numbers restart inside each Act, so "Act 3, Chapter 2" is Enemy Lines, not the overall eighth chapter. The overall number is in brackets to make cross-referencing with other guides easier.
| Act | No. | Chapter | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 (1) | Emergence | Melee with a pipe, first Snub Pistol fights, the ground opens |
| 1 | 2 (2) | Survival of the Fittest | Police HQ and the first organized Locust push |
| 1 | 3 (3) | A Gear in Need | Survivor rescues around Pay N Save |
| 1 | 4 (4) | Back in the Fold | Recruitment, Mags introduced, Brumak encounter |
| 2 | 1 (5) | Bravo Squad | Captain Grey forms Bravo Squad at the stadium FOB |
| 2 | 2 (6) | Hold the Line | The densest chapter: three parts, 27 collectibles |
| 2 | 3 (7) | No Gear Left Behind | Search for Charlie Squad, Seeder fight |
| 2 | 4 (8) | Flyboys | King Raven flight section, no collectibles |
| 2 | 5 (9) | Overrun | Fall back from the airfield to the west tower |
| 3 | 1 (10) | Stranded | Fairlight extraction fails |
| 3 | 2 (11) | Enemy Lines | Locust tunnels and the Corpser |
| 3 | 3 (12) | Last Foothold | Cooper Station and the stadium evacuation |
| 3 | 4 (13) | The Convoy | Lowering the convoy bridge |
| 3 | 5 (14) | Desperate Times | Fort Vigil under siege |
| 3 | 6 (15) | Desperate Measures | Fort Vigil defense and a Brumak |
| 4 | 1 (16) | Hope and Ruin | Prospect Bay and the second train; 13 collectibles |
| 4 | 2 (17) | Technical Difficulties | Power station breaker |
| 4 | 3 (18) | Tough As Nails | Long chapter with 14 collectibles |
| 4 | 4 (19) | Signals | The weather station |
| 4 | 5 (20) | Paths Diverge | Admin building and a massive Locust creature |
| 4 | 6 (21) | Critical Failure | Refinery converter and two Scoria |
| 5 | 1 (22) | One Problem at a Time | Return train to Kalona |
| 5 | 2 (23) | Ghost Town | The abandoned city |
| 5 | 3 (24) | Storm Clouds | Raven's Nest |
| 5 | 4 (25) | Resolute | Dry dock and flood controls; launching Resolute |
| 5 | 5 (26) | The Fall of Kalona | Bridge, Skytrain, detonator and Vraahk |
How many chapters are in Act 5?
Act 5 has five chapters: One Problem at a Time, Ghost Town, Storm Clouds, Resolute and The Fall of Kalona. It is the same length as Act 2 on paper, but it plays faster because it holds only 12 collectibles and fewer optional detours. Most players clear it in two to three hours.
The Act is a run back into a city you already know, now emptied out. Resolute is the chapter where people most often get stuck: the flood controls have a valve that jams, and the objective does not complete until all three have been turned. If the marker seems to vanish, look for the third valve before assuming the game has bugged.
The last chapter, The Fall of Kalona, is not just a cutscene. It contains the final fight against Vraahk in two stages — one on the east bridge and one at the detonator — followed by the Epilogue. If you want to know how to handle him, our Vraahk boss guide covers both stages without spoiling the last scene.
How long is each Act?
A typical chapter takes 30 to 40 minutes on Normal, so the Act lengths follow the chapter counts closely. These are planning estimates for a first run that picks up some, but not all, collectibles.
| Act | Typical time | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Prologue + Act 1 | 2–2.5 hours | Tutorial pacing, short chapters |
| Act 2 | 3–3.5 hours | Hold the Line alone can take over an hour |
| Act 3 | 3–3.5 hours | Six chapters and the Corpser |
| Act 4 | 3.5–4 hours | Largest areas, most collectibles |
| Act 5 + Epilogue | 2–2.5 hours | Fewer detours, two-stage final fight |
That adds up to the 14–16 hours most players report for a first run. Hunting every collectible, Hard Case and secondary objective pushes it higher; our how long to beat guide compares story-only, main-plus-extras and completionist times.
Chapter select and replaying chapters
Chapters unlock in the campaign menu as you reach them. You can replay any unlocked chapter at any difficulty, and collectibles found on a replay still count toward your War Journal and achievements. Nothing in the campaign is permanently missable.
- Cleaning up collectibles: replay Hold the Line, Hope and Ruin and Tough As Nails first. Between them they hold 54 of the 140 collectibles.
- Achievements: Memories From E-Day (all collectibles) and Side Piece (all secondary objectives) both accept any difficulty, so do your cleanup replays on the lowest setting.
- Finding gaps: the War Journal sorts what you have collected by Act and chapter, so compare it with the table above before replaying anything.
- Checkpoints: chapters are long and checkpointed. If you quit partway, note the chapter name so you can pick it from the menu later.
How E-Day compares with earlier Gears campaigns
E-Day returns to the five-Act structure the original trilogy used, after Gears 5 split its campaign into four Acts with large open areas. It is deliberately more linear than Gears 5: each chapter has a clear route, with optional side rooms and secondary objectives rather than open hubs. The Coalition has called E-Day its longest campaign so far, at more than 14 hours.
If you are looking for the chapter names because you are stuck rather than to count them, start with the walkthrough, which lists the spots where objectives commonly fail to trigger. For the story behind each Act, the ending explained page picks up from Act 5.
Quick answers
- How many Acts are in Gears of War: E-Day? Five, plus a Prologue and an Epilogue.
- How many chapters? 26 numbered chapters; 28 parts if you count the Prologue and Epilogue.
- Which Act is longest? Act 4, with six chapters and 41 collectibles.
- What is the last chapter? Act 5, Chapter 5: The Fall of Kalona.
- Which chapter has the Corpser? Act 3, Chapter 2: Enemy Lines.
- Can you skip chapters? Only after unlocking them; chapter select does not open future chapters early.
Sources
References used for this page. Last editorial update: October 12, 2026. Dated snapshots are labelled in the text.
