Gears of War: E-Day is the big holiday title from Xbox’s first-party portfolio, launching exclusively on Xbox Series X/S and PC on October 6, 2026. It’s a prequel to the original trilogy, and takes place 14 years before the events of Gears of War, focusing on Emergence Day when the Locust first appeared.
In many ways, it’s a return to form for the franchise, featuring the original duo Marcus and Dom, as they battle hordes of Locusts through the grey and gritty metropolis of the planet Sera.
However, it looks nothing like the original, thanks to its state-of-the-art visuals empowered by Epic’s Unreal Engine 5. It’s arguably one of the best-looking games launching in 2026, and if you’re planning to pick it up on PC, you may want to sneak a peek at its minimum and recommended specs.
Gears of War: E-Day PC system requirements explained
| MINIMUM | RECOMMENDED | |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 64-bit |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 5 2600X / Intel i7-6850K / i5-10400 | AMD Ryzen 5 5600 / Intel i5-11600K |
| Memory | 12 GB RAM | 16 GB RAM |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 / NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 / AMD Radeon RX 6600 / Radeon RX 9060 / Intel A580 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 / NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060ti / AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT / Radeon RX 9060 XT / Intel B580 |
| Direct X | 12 | 12 |
| Storage | 130 GB (SSD required) | 130 GB (SSD required) |
Unsurprisingly so, Gears of War: E-Day is one of the most visually demanding games launching on PC this year. Every Gears entry has pushed the franchise forward in terms of fidelity, with Gears 4 introducing dynamic weather systems, and Gears 5 adding software-based ray tracing for the first time.
Gears of War: E-Day is no different. The team at Coalition has used the new Megalights technology to add hundreds of light sources, which significantly improve the fidelity of the game’s many distinct environments. Naturally, this comes at a cost, as you would learn by reading Gears of War: E-Day PC system requirements below.
As is evident, Gears of War E-Day is one of the first AAA titles with NVIDIA’s RTX 50 series graphics cards as a base GPU requirement. The whopping 130 GB hard drive space isn’t too surprising, however, given how both Gears 4 and 5 required 100 GB space on both PC and console.
Kate Rayner joins us to talk about how @CoalitionGears is using Unreal Engine to achieve the believability of a world in chaos for @GearsofWar: E-Day.
— Unreal Engine (@UnrealEngine) June 17, 2026
Hundreds of light sources with MegaLights greatly improve the visual fidelity of everything from environment destruction to… pic.twitter.com/QGF36XPOot
It’s worth noting that no other fidelity-intensive upcoming releases of 2026, such as Silent Hill: Townfall and Control Resonant, compare to Gears of War E-Day’s beefy PC requirements. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 could rival it, but Activision has yet to reveal its system requirements.
You can learn more about Gears of War: E-Day on Xbox Wire.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Gears of War: E-Day built on Unreal Engine 6?
No, Gears of War: E-Day is an Unreal Engine 5 title.
Does Gears of War: E-Day use Denuvo DRM?
No, Gears of War: E-Day doesn’t use Denuvo Anti-Tamper DRM on PC, at least not at launch.
