The Gears of War games in order of release are Gears of War (2006), Gears of War 2 (2008), Gears of War 3 (2011), Gears of War: Judgment (2013), Gears of War 4 (2016), Gears 5 (2019) and Gears of War: E-Day (6 October 2026). In story order E-Day moves to the front, because it is a prequel set on Emergence Day, 14 years before the first game (Wikipedia’s E-Day entry). Judgment comes next, and the other five stay in release order.
Two things make this series harder to line up than it looks. Gears of War: Reloaded (August 2025) is a new version of the first game, not an eighth entry, and of the eleven Gears products we checked in Microsoft’s store catalog, the only one with no purchase option on Xbox is the Ultimate Edition it was built from. And on PC you can buy only four of the seven mainline games. This guide gives both orders, a map of the first game’s versions, and where each game runs today. It spoils the series’ structure, not its plot twists.
Verified on 13 October 2026 against Wikipedia, Metacritic’s game pages, Steam’s store API and Microsoft’s public store and Game Pass catalog feeds. Prices, subscription catalogs and scores change, so check the checkout page before you pay.
Quick Start: Which Gears Games Should You Play, and in What Order?
For most people the answer is release order, with Reloaded or the original as game one, and E-Day last. If you only have time for one game, make it E-Day. Pick your route below.
- Want the full story with the smoothest learning curve? Play Gears of War, 2, 3, then Gears 4, Gears 5 and E-Day. Fit Judgment in between 3 and 4, or skip it.
- Want the story in chronological order? Play E-Day, Judgment, Gears of War, 2, 3, 4 and Gears 5.
- Only one game? E-Day. It starts on the day the war starts, so its setup does not depend on the earlier games, and our E-Day story explained covers the background in five minutes.
- On PC? You can own four of the seven. Gears 2, Gears 3 and Judgment are Xbox-only, so plan on Xbox Cloud Gaming for those three.
- Short on time? Skip Judgment: it has the lowest score of the seven, and nothing we found in the later games depends on it.
| If you are… | Play this | Skip or delay this |
|---|---|---|
| New to Gears | Gears of War, 2, 3, then 4, 5 and E-Day | Judgment and the spin-offs until you want more |
| A returning fan who finished 1 to 3 | E-Day first, then Gears 4 and Gears 5 if you skipped them | Re-buying game one in a new version unless you want crossplay |
| Here for the chronology | E-Day, Judgment, then the original trilogy, 4 and 5 | Nothing, but expect a 25-year jump at Gears 4 |
| A PC player without Game Pass | Reloaded, Gears 4, Gears 5, E-Day | Gears 2, 3 and Judgment: they have no PC version in Microsoft’s catalog |
| A PS5 player | Reloaded, the only Gears game with a PlayStation version in Wikipedia’s platform lists | Everything else: E-Day is Xbox and PC only |
| A completionist | All seven, then Gears Tactics | Nothing |
The takeaway: the choice that changes your route most is your platform, not your taste. PC and PlayStation players are locked out of half the series.
Gears of War Games in Order of Release
There are seven mainline games, and release order puts E-Day last and Judgment fourth. FramesGames counts eleven because it also lists Gears Tactics, Gears Pop! and two remasters, so the total depends on your rules. We count games that add a new main-series campaign, which gives seven.
| Release order | Game | Released | Metacritic score | Story year (A.E.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gears of War | 7 Nov 2006 | 94 | 14 (Wikipedia’s entry for the first game) |
| 2 | Gears of War 2 | 7 Nov 2008 | 93 | about 15 (Gears of War 2’s Wikipedia entry) |
| 3 | Gears of War 3 | 20 Sep 2011 | 91 | about 17 (Gears of War 3’s Wikipedia entry) |
| 4 | Gears of War: Judgment | 19 Mar 2013 | 79 | about 6 weeks, a prequel (Wikipedia’s Judgment entry) |
| 5 | Gears of War 4 | 11 Oct 2016 | 84 | 42 (Gears of War 4’s Wikipedia entry) |
| 6 | Gears 5 | 10 Sep 2019 | 84 | about 43 (Gears 5’s Wikipedia entry) |
| 7 | Gears of War: E-Day | 6 Oct 2026 | 88 | 0, a prequel |
The takeaway: E-Day’s 88 is the series’ best score since Gears of War 3’s 91, ahead of Gears 4 and Gears 5 at 84 each, and Judgment’s 79 is the lowest of the seven. Scores are the headline figures on Metacritic’s game pages, checked 13 October 2026, and E-Day’s rests on 73 critic reviews, so expect it to move. “A.E.” means after Emergence Day, as used on Wikipedia’s Gears of War franchise page.
Gears of War Games in Story Order
Story order is E-Day, Judgment, Gears of War, Gears of War 2, Gears of War 3, Gears of War 4, Gears 5: release order with E-Day and Judgment moved to the front. The table shows how each placement is stated, and where sources differ.
| Story slot | Game | Where it sits | How firm is the placement? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | E-Day | Emergence Day itself, in the city of Kalona (Wikipedia’s E-Day entry) | Firm: set 14 years before the first game |
| 2 | Judgment | A trial about six weeks after Emergence Day, told in flashbacks that start early on the day itself (Wikipedia’s Judgment entry) | Mostly firm: a prequel, but the gap is stated as six weeks in some places and about a month in others |
| side | Gears Tactics | About one year after Emergence Day on Wikipedia’s Gears of War franchise page | Soft: FramesGames says 12 years before the first game, a year off |
| 3 | Gears of War | Its plot begins 14 years after Emergence Day (Wikipedia’s entry for the first game) | Firm |
| 4 | Gears of War 2 | Six months after the Lightmass Bomb detonation that ends game one (Gears of War 2’s Wikipedia entry) | Firm |
| 5 | Gears of War 3 | Two years after Jacinto is destroyed (Gears of War 3’s Wikipedia entry) | Firm |
| 6 | Gears of War 4 | 25 years after Gears of War 3 (Gears of War 4’s Wikipedia entry) | Firm |
| 7 | Gears 5 | Months after Gears of War 4 (Gears 5’s Wikipedia entry) | Firm |
The takeaway: only Judgment and Tactics have a loose placement, and both are off by weeks or a year. The years in the table are Wikipedia’s A.E. figures, and the “about” ones are rounded from its “months after” and “two years after” wording.
Where the 43 Years Go
Two jumps hold 39 of the story’s 43 years. From E-Day (0 A.E.) to Gears 5 (about 43 A.E.), the time between games breaks down like this:
| Gap in the story | Length | Share of the 43 years |
|---|---|---|
| E-Day to Gears of War | 14 years | 33% |
| Gears of War to Gears of War 3 | about 3 years | 7% |
| Gears of War 3 to Gears of War 4 | 25 years | 58% |
| Gears of War 4 to Gears 5 | about 1 year | 2% |
The 14-year gap everyone quotes for E-Day is real, but the 25-year jump to Gears 4, where JD Fenix takes the lead, is almost twice as long. Of the 14 years between E-Day and the first game, none of the seven mainline games covers more than the first weeks, and Tactics adds about the first year.
Why E-Day Is a Prequel Set 14 Years Before the First Game
E-Day is a prequel because the first game’s plot begins 14 years after Emergence Day (Wikipedia’s entry for the first game) and E-Day is set on Emergence Day itself (Wikipedia’s E-Day entry). It follows Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago, with Mags Carter and Lucas Reyes, as the Locust Horde erupts from underground and attacks Kalona. It launched on 6 October 2026 on Windows and Xbox Series X|S, with Premium Edition buyers getting early access from 1 October.
Judgment complicates the “first prequel” label. It is also a prequel, its trial is set about six weeks after Emergence Day, and its flashbacks begin early on the day itself. So E-Day is not the first game to touch Emergence Day. It is the first to make the day the whole campaign and to put Marcus and Dom on it, where Judgment follows Kilo Squad under Baird and Cole. That is our reading of the two Wikipedia entries, and it is why the graphic above puts Judgment second, not first.
For what happened on the day and the six weeks of peace before it, read our E-Day story explained. For the full launch picture, the Gears of War: E-Day everything confirmed guide is the hub for everything we cover on the game, and our August open beta guide shows what the multiplayer looked like before launch.
Which Version of Gears of War Does Reloaded Replace?
Reloaded replaces one version: Ultimate Edition, the 2015 Xbox One and 2016 Windows remaster it was built from. It does not replace the 2006 original, and it covers the first game only, not the trilogy. Wikipedia’s entry for the first game calls it an updated port based on Ultimate Edition, and Shacknews describes it as a facelift of the original campaign and multiplayer.
Microsoft has not said Reloaded replaces anything, so this is our reading of its store data. We checked eleven Gears products in Microsoft’s US catalog on 13 October 2026, and the Xbox Ultimate Edition is the only one with no purchase option; the other ten can be bought. The Windows Ultimate Edition is still listed at $19.99.
| Version of game one | Platforms | Catalog price, 13 Oct 2026 | Game Pass lists |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gears of War (2006 original) | Xbox | $11.99 | Console, cloud |
| Ultimate Edition (Xbox One, 25 Aug 2015) | Xbox | No purchase option | Console, cloud (Wikipedia’s Ultimate Edition entry) |
| Ultimate Edition for Windows (1 Mar 2016) | Windows, Microsoft Store | $19.99 | PC |
| Gears of War: Reloaded (26 Aug 2025) | Xbox Series X|S, Windows (Microsoft Store and Steam), PS5 | $39.99 | Console, PC, cloud |
The takeaway: if you owned the digital Ultimate Edition on Xbox before 4pm UTC on 5 May 2025, Reloaded was a free upgrade, delivered as a code to eligible Xbox accounts (Pure Xbox). Everyone else chooses between a $11.99 original, a $19.99 Windows remaster and a $39.99 Reloaded.
What Reloaded Actually Changes
Reloaded changes how game one looks and connects, not what happens in it. Ultimate Edition ran at 1080p, with the campaign at 30 fps and multiplayer at 60 fps ({WP_UE}); Reloaded adds 4K, HDR, variable refresh rate and spatial audio, runs the campaign at 60 fps and multiplayer at 120 fps, and keeps the previously released Ultimate Edition DLC (Wikipedia’s entry for the first game). It also adds crossplay and cross-progression, which Ultimate Edition predates (Insider Gaming).
Two older changes carry over because Reloaded is built on Ultimate Edition. Per Wikipedia’s Ultimate Edition entry, it added five single-player chapters to Act 5 that had only existed in the 2007 PC release, and it added skill-based matchmaking to multiplayer. Reloaded also marks the series’ first release on a non-Xbox console, which is why the PS5 version is only Reloaded.
Metacritic shows 79 for Reloaded, from 59 critic reviews, against 94 for the original. The plot is the same, so the gap is about the 2025 package and not the story. We did not break down the reviews, so we do not claim why; if you are choosing between the $11.99 original and Reloaded, read recent feedback for your platform first.
| Your setup | Best version of game one | Why |
|---|---|---|
| PS5 | Reloaded | It is the only one on the platform |
| PC, no Game Pass | Reloaded, or the $19.99 Windows Ultimate Edition if you only want the campaign | Reloaded adds the later upgrades, and the Windows Ultimate Edition costs half as much |
| Xbox with Game Pass | Reloaded for crossplay, the original for authenticity | All three console versions are in the console list, so the choice costs nothing extra |
| Xbox, no Game Pass | The $11.99 original | Same plot for under a third of Reloaded’s price |
Where to Play Each Gears Game Today (and the PC Gap)
All seven mainline games appear in Microsoft’s console Game Pass list, but only four can be bought on PC. Gears 2, Gears 3 and Judgment are listed for Xbox only, and on PC they appear only in the Game Pass cloud list, which means streaming.
| Game | Xbox console | PC | Game Pass lists |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gears of War | $11.99 original or $39.99 Reloaded | Reloaded, $39.99 | Console, cloud; Reloaded also PC |
| Gears of War 2 | $11.99 | None | Console, cloud |
| Gears of War 3 | $11.99 | None | Console, cloud |
| Judgment | $11.99 | None | Console, cloud |
| Gears of War 4 | $19.99 | $19.99, Microsoft Store only | Console, PC, cloud |
| Gears 5 | $44.99 Game of the Year Edition | Steam $29.99 or Microsoft Store | Console, PC, cloud |
| E-Day | $69.99 | Steam $69.99 or Microsoft Store | Console, PC, cloud |
The takeaway: the cheapest honest route depends on the platform. At list prices, owning all seven on Xbox costs $182.93 ($11.99 for each of the four older games, plus $19.99, $44.99 and $69.99). A PC player pays $159.96 for the four they can buy (Reloaded $39.99, Gears 4 $19.99, Gears 5 $29.99, E-Day $69.99) and still misses three games. The Xbox total uses the $44.99 Game of the Year Edition of Gears 5, so the gap is a little smaller on like-for-like editions.
E-Day is a day-one Game Pass game only on Ultimate and PC Game Pass, as our E-Day editions vs Game Pass breakdown explains. PC players who want Gears 2, 3 and Judgment have to stream them; our GeForce Now vs. Xbox Cloud Gaming comparison covers how that service compares, and the Xbox Game Pass on handheld PCs setup guide covers setting it up on a handheld. Gears 4 does not appear in Steam’s store search, so on PC it is a Microsoft Store game.
What Is Not in the Seven: Spin-Offs, DLC and Remasters
Four extras sit around the seven, and none changes the order above. Gears Tactics is the only spin-off with its own scored campaign.
| Extra | What it is | Story year (A.E.) | Good to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gears Tactics | Turn-based tactics game, Windows 28 Apr 2020 (Wikipedia’s Gears Tactics entry) | about 1 | Metacritic 80; Steam $29.99; follows Sergeant Gabriel Diaz |
| Gears Pop! | Mobile and Windows game, 22 Aug 2019 | Not stated | Not a campaign game; no placement published |
| RAAM’s Shadow | Gears of War 3 DLC (2011) | 9 | Set before game one’s events in the years after Emergence Day |
| Hivebusters | Gears 5 DLC (2020) | 43 | Steam $19.99; same story year as Gears 5 |
Platform dates and story years come from Wikipedia’s Gears of War franchise page. If you like this order-first approach for other long-running series, we have the same treatment for Doom games in order and Call of Duty games in order.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Gears of War games are there?
Seven mainline games: Gears of War, 2, 3, Judgment, 4, Gears 5 and E-Day. Counting Gears Tactics and Gears Pop! makes nine, and counting Ultimate Edition and Reloaded as separate releases makes eleven, which is the total some guides use. We use seven because the other four do not add a new main-series campaign.
Do you need to play the earlier games before E-Day?
No. E-Day starts on the day the war starts, so its setup does not rely on the earlier games. Our opinion, not a developer statement: the Marcus and Dom friendship pays off harder if you have already seen where it goes, so a returning fan loses nothing by playing it first, and a newcomer who wants the best emotional order should play it last.
Should you play Gears of War: Judgment?
Only if you want the series’ first weeks from Kilo Squad’s side. It has the lowest Metacritic score of the seven (79), it is an Xbox 360-era game that Microsoft’s catalog lists for Xbox consoles only, and nothing we found in Gears 4, Gears 5 or E-Day depends on it. A completionist should play it; everyone else can skip it without losing the plot.
Is Gears of War: Reloaded worth $39.99 over the $11.99 original?
It depends on where you play. On PS5 it is the only option, and on PC it is the only way to get the game on Steam. On Xbox, the original is under a third of the price with the same plot, so Reloaded is worth it mainly for crossplay, 4K and the higher frame rates. If you already pay for Game Pass, all three console versions are in the console list, so pick on features, not price.
Can you play Gears 2 and Gears 3 on PC?
Not natively. Microsoft’s catalog lists both for Xbox only, and neither appears in the PC Game Pass list. They do appear in the cloud list, so streaming through Xbox Cloud Gaming is the PC route, and an Xbox console is the other.
Is Gears of War: E-Day on PS5?
No. It launched on Windows and Xbox Series X|S only (Wikipedia’s E-Day entry). Reloaded is the only mainline-series game with a PlayStation version in Wikipedia’s platform lists.
Sources
- Wikipedia. Gears of War (franchise). Release dates, platforms and story years (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gears_of_War)
- Wikipedia. Gears of War (video game). Plot setting and Reloaded (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gears_of_War_(video_game))
- Wikipedia. Gears of War 2. Setting (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gears_of_War_2)
- Wikipedia. Gears of War 3. Setting (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gears_of_War_3)
- Wikipedia. Gears of War: Judgment. Setting, protagonists and platform (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gears_of_War:_Judgment)
- Wikipedia. Gears of War 4. Setting (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gears_of_War_4)
- Wikipedia. Gears 5. Setting and release (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gears_5)
- Wikipedia. Gears Tactics. Genre and release (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gears_Tactics)
- Wikipedia. Gears of War: E-Day. Release, setting and cast (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gears_of_War:_E-Day)
- Wikipedia. Gears of War: Ultimate Edition. Release and changes from the original (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gears_of_War:_Ultimate_Edition)
- Metacritic. Game pages for Gears of War, 2, 3, Judgment, 4, Gears 5, Gears Tactics, Reloaded and E-Day. Checked 13 October 2026 (https://www.metacritic.com/game/gears-of-war-e-day/)
- Insider Gaming. Gears of War Ultimate Edition vs Reloaded: what is different. August 2025 (https://insider-gaming.com/gears-of-war-ultimate-edition-gears-of-war-reloaded-differences/)
- Pure Xbox. Gears of War: Reloaded is getting the free upgrade treatment on Xbox. May 2025 (https://www.purexbox.com/news/2025/05/gears-of-war-reloaded-is-getting-the-free-upgrade-treatment-on-xbox)
- Shacknews. Gears of War: Reloaded announced. May 2025 (https://www.shacknews.com/article/144150/gears-of-war-reloaded)
- FramesGames. Gears of War Games in Order: All 11 Games in 20 Years (https://framesgames.com/gears-of-war-series-history)
Steam store listings for Gears of War: Reloaded, Gears of War: E-Day, Gears 5, Gears Tactics and Hivebusters were checked through Steam’s store API on 13 October 2026. Prices, purchase options and Game Pass list membership come from Microsoft’s public US store catalog and Game Pass catalog feeds, queried the same day.
Images on this page are AI-generated illustrations and our own graphics, not game footage. Gears of War is a trademark of Microsoft.
I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.