E-DayGuide
Xbox Store
Game Info

What Engine Does Gears of War: E-Day Use?

Gears of War: E-Day runs on Unreal Engine 5 with DirectX 12. See what was rebuilt, the MegaLights and ray-tracing features, and console and PC performance.

Published 2026-10-0411 cited sources
On this page

Short answer

Unreal Engine 5, with everything rebuilt from scratch

Gears of War: E-Day is built on Unreal Engine 5 and DirectX 12 by The Coalition. It is the first game in the series that ports nothing from earlier titles: characters, enemies, weapons, animation, sound and the world were all made new.

The engine choice has a practical consequence on PC. The game requires a graphics card with hardware ray-tracing support, even at minimum settings.

Engine
Unreal Engine 5
Graphics API
DirectX 12
Developer
The Coalition
Close-up of a snarling Locust with pale skin and glowing ammunition belts across its shoulders
Official close-up still of a snarling Locust with pale skin and glowing ammunition belts. Every character model was rebuilt for the new engine.

An empty hard drive

Technical director Kate Rayner describes the starting point as an empty hard drive. Before E-Day the studio had shipped what it called five Gears in five years, each built on inherited code. Moving to Unreal Engine 5 let the team stop updating old systems and rebuild them.

One result is a single gameplay sandbox shared by the campaign, Horde Siege and Versus. The Coalition is open about the cost: some legacy features, such as Meat Shields and Private Lobbies, did not make launch.

Rendering features

Graphics technology named in official posts and store pages
FeatureWhat is stated
MegaLightsA UE5 lighting system; E-Day is among the first games to ship with it.
Hardware ray tracingSupported through DirectX; required on PC.
HDRHDR10 on Xbox; HDR available on Steam; calibration improved for launch.
Resolution4K listed on both store pages.
Variable Refresh RateListed among Xbox capabilities.
Variable Rate ShadingListed in the Steam description.
DestructionMicro-destruction of cover plus large sinkholes.
BallisticsAll projectiles are simulated with travel time.

Art director Aryan Hanbeck says the lighting technology was chosen for tone: dynamic shadows and darker, scarier spaces.

PC upscaling and frame generation

Supported technologies on PC
TechnologyVendorNotes
DLSS 4.5 Super ResolutionNVIDIAWith Dynamic Multi Frame Generation
ReflexNVIDIAReduces input latency
FSRAMDThe Steam page names FSR “Redstone”
XeSSIntelSupported
TSRUnreal EngineBuilt-in upscaler
Advanced Shader DeliveryXbox PC appAMD hardware at launch; NVIDIA later in October

NVIDIA is the game’s exclusive PC partner. Multi frame generation became optional at launch after being disabled in the beta.

Performance on Xbox

The Xbox Store description promises 4K resolution and up to 60 FPS across campaign and multiplayer, and lists “60 fps+” among the game’s capabilities. Pure Xbox’s review describes two modes on Xbox Series X: a Quality mode at 30 FPS and a Performance mode at 60 FPS, where the image can look a little soft. Split-screen runs at 30 FPS according to the same review.

A press report from the June 2026 showing cites 60 FPS with hardware ray tracing in the campaign and 120 FPS in multiplayer. Official store pages do not repeat the 120 figure, so treat it as a reported target.

Official posts do not publish separate figures for Xbox Series S. The beta notes mention hitching on Series S in Quality mode after long Horde Siege sessions, with a restart as the workaround, and say improvements were made.

Shader compilation and loading

Advanced Shader Delivery ships precompiled shaders with the game, cutting the time spent compiling them and reducing first-run stutter. It works through the Xbox PC app. The launch notes say players on other storefronts may still benefit if the Xbox PC app is installed on a Windows 11 machine.

An SSD is required on PC. The Coalition’s beta notes warn that mechanical drives cause severe loading problems, missing assets and crashes.

Who made it

The Coalition, based in Vancouver, has made every Gears game since 2015 and is the developer listed on both store pages. Xbox Game Studios publishes it. The studio’s creative director is Matt Searcy, and the score is by Adam Lastiwka; the soundtrack album releases on October 6.

Quick questions

Is Gears of War: E-Day on Unreal Engine 5?

Yes. Xbox states it is built on Unreal Engine 5 and DirectX 12.

Does E-Day require ray tracing?

On PC, yes. The minimum specification requires a GPU capable of hardware ray tracing.

Does E-Day run at 60 FPS on Xbox?

The store page says up to 60 FPS. Pure Xbox reports a 60 FPS Performance mode and a 30 FPS Quality mode on Series X.

Next step

Gears of War: E-Day System Requirements for PCSee whether your PC meets the ray-tracing hardware requirement.

Sources

Where these answers come from