Gears of War: E-Day Trailers

Every official trailer, in order

All of the main trailers premiered on the official Xbox and Gears of War YouTube channels. View counts are snapshots from launch day and will keep climbing. Below, we break down each one.

The announce trailer (2024)

▶ Official media

The game was revealed at the Xbox Games Showcase in June 2024 with an in-engine trailer. Its soundtrack is a reworked version of Gary Jules' cover of "Mad World", arranged by E-Day composer Adam Lastiwka. That was a deliberate callback to the famous 2006 advert for the original Gears of War.

It remains the most-watched E-Day trailer by a wide margin, at around 4.5 million views on the Xbox channel. It is also the trailer embedded on our homepage.

The gameplay reveal and E-Day Direct (June 2026)

On June 7, 2026, the Xbox Games Showcase was followed immediately by a dedicated Gears of War: E-Day Direct. The Coalition used it for a deeper look at the origin story, including a gameplay demo. The October 6 release date was announced at this event.

The same showcase is where Xbox CEO Asha Sharma confirmed the game would be an Xbox console exclusive. See our PS5 page for what that means.

The multiplayer reveal (August 2026)

▶ Official media

The multiplayer reveal introduced Horde Siege and the refined 4v4 Versus mode, with its modernised controls and movement. It was scored with Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls", the first sign of the game's official Metallica tie-in. With around 2.4 million views, it is one of the most-watched multiplayer trailers for the game.

Our Metallica page covers the full collaboration, and the beta page explains how players first tried these modes.

The story trailer (Gamescom 2026)

▶ Official media

Xbox Game Studios, The Coalition and People Can Fly premiered the story trailer at Gamescom Opening Night Live on August 25, 2026. It runs about two minutes and shows the chaos of Emergence Day on Sera. It sets up the prequel campaign, 14 years before the original game.

• The setting: the city of Kalona, as the Locust break through the ground.
• The enemy's aim: the Locust's own rallying cry is about burning the city and taking the surface, which ties into the villainous Scorched Legion.
• Bravo Squad: Marcus, Dom and two new squadmates are assigned together as Bravo Squad, a moment the full game's cutscenes confirm.
• The tone: soldiers are shown realising this is not a skirmish but the start of a war, with no support coming.

Note that the story trailer contains strong language. For how the story actually unfolds, see our ending explained page (spoilers).

The "Adagio" launch ad

In September 2026 Xbox released a launch advert called "Adagio". It is set to a haunting rendition of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, adapted by E-Day composer Adam Lastiwka. Xbox described it as capturing the horror and human cost of Emergence Day.

It is easy to confuse with the Metallica trailers, since all three arrived close to launch. "Adagio" is the orchestral one; the launch gameplay trailer uses Metallica.

The launch gameplay trailer

▶ Official media

Xbox released the launch gameplay trailer on October 1, the day early access began. Xbox Wire confirmed it features Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Its description promoted the October 6 launch and early access via the Premium Edition.

The same announcement listed the platforms: Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC and Steam, with cloud gaming through Game Pass Ultimate and GeForce NOW.

Which trailer should you watch first?

• New to the game: start with the story trailer for the setting and characters, then the launch gameplay trailer for how it plays.
• Multiplayer fans: the multiplayer reveal covers Horde Siege and Versus.
• Series veterans: the 2024 announce trailer's "Mad World" callback is made for you.
• Want the mood without gameplay: the "Adagio" ad focuses on the human cost of Emergence Day.

All four of the videos embedded on this page play right here, without leaving the site. Click a cover image to start one.

What the trailers show about the game

Taken together, the trailers outline the whole package. The story trailer sets up the campaign in Kalona with Bravo Squad. The multiplayer reveal introduces Horde Siege for up to 12 players and the 4v4 Versus mode with sprint, slide and jump.

The launch trailer and Direct show off the Unreal Engine 5 visuals, which reviewers later praised as some of the best of the year. If you want to see the game running rather than edited footage, full playthrough videos are listed on our walkthrough page.

Other official videos

Alongside the main trailers, the official channels released shorter character and cosmetic videos. These include a Death's Rendezvous Marcus skin showcase, part of the Premium Edition's Emergence Pack, and an Exfil Dom video for the pre-order skin. There are also official trailers for the Collector's Edition and the Limited Edition controllers.

See Premium Edition and Collector's Edition for details on those items.