Gears of War: E-Day
The first 3 hours are a test
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 2 reviews are negative (57%); after 15h it's 1 in 4 (26%).
- The opening is criticised more than in 86% of games we track.
- 40% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “You Want What On the Front of a Gun?!” (Unlock during Act 2 of the Campaign) and “The Scorched Legion” (Unlock during Act 2 of the Campaign): from 88% to 70% of starters.
- 83% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 12,158 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 296 reviews: 28.6h for positive, 41.3h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (82.8% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Emergence Begins Unlock during Act 1 of the Campaign. 100%
- We Must Improvise Unlock during Act 1 of the Campaign. 97% −3
- The Bigger They Are… Unlock during Act 1 of the Campaign. 93% −3
- You Want What On the Front of a Gun?! Unlock during Act 2 of the Campaign. 88% −6
- The Scorched Legion Unlock during Act 2 of the Campaign. Most players quit here 70% −18
- Got to the Choppa Unlock during Act 2 of the Campaign. 67% −3
- Get Back You Eight-legged Freak Unlock during Act 3 of the Campaign. 63% −4
- Twice the Pride, Double the Fall Unlock during Act 3 of the Campaign. 58% −5
- …The Harder They Fall Unlock during Act 3 of the Campaign. 56% −2
- End of the Line Unlock during Act 4 of the Campaign. 51% −5
- The Only Good Bug is a Dead Bug Unlock during Act 4 of the Campaign. 45% −6
- Nothing Left but the Fight Unlock during Act 5 of the Campaign. 44% −1
- For My Boys Unlock during Act 5 of the Campaign. 43% −1
- Remember Kalona Complete all Acts of the Campaign (any difficulty). 41% −3
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (55)
story milestone ending side
- Emergence Begins Unlock during Act 1 of the Campaign. 100%
- We Must Improvise Unlock during Act 1 of the Campaign. 97%
- The Bigger They Are… Unlock during Act 1 of the Campaign. 93%
- Brotector Save another player from a struggle with a Locust. 88%
- Chainsaw Go Brrrrrrrrr Let a chainsaw do what it does best against a Locust in Campaign or Horde Siege. 88%
- You Want What On the Front of a Gun?! Unlock during Act 2 of the Campaign. 88%
- The Scorched Legion Unlock during Act 2 of the Campaign. 70%
- Got to the Choppa Unlock during Act 2 of the Campaign. 67%
- FNG Complete Boot Camp. 65%
- Get Back You Eight-legged Freak Unlock during Act 3 of the Campaign. 63%
- Twice the Pride, Double the Fall Unlock during Act 3 of the Campaign. 58%
- Explosive Indigestion Play a game of explosive cornhole with a Bilefrog. 57%
- Payback's A Pitch Take revenge on an Armored Wretch that stunned you. 57%
- …The Harder They Fall Unlock during Act 3 of the Campaign. 56%
- End of the Line Unlock during Act 4 of the Campaign. 51%
- Two Grubs, One Gut-Punch Show two Grubs what a single Gut-Puncher round can do. 51%
- The Only Good Bug is a Dead Bug Unlock during Act 4 of the Campaign. 45%
- Nothing Left but the Fight Unlock during Act 5 of the Campaign. 44%
- For My Boys Unlock during Act 5 of the Campaign. 43%
- Remember Kalona Complete all Acts of the Campaign (any difficulty). 41%
- Form-Up! Receive the max reward from a Perk Cache in Horde Siege (any difficulty). 36%
- Quartermaster Unlock all Supply Cache items in the Campaign. 34%
- Okay, Boomer. Carve-up a Boomer. 32%
- It Only Game, Why You Heff to Be Mad? Win a game of Conquest without the enemy team scoring. 25%
- Just Let Me Get One More… Get 100 Revives. 18%
- Somebody Set Up Us the Bomb Plant the bomb in Demolition and have it explode without the enemy defusing it. 18%
- Stacks, On Stacks, On Stacks Spend 150,000 Energy at the Supply Cache in Horde Siege (any difficulty). 17%
- Crepe du Raven Carefully inspect the underside of a Raven in Horde Siege. 16%
- Spotted and Slotted Pulse 1,000 enemies with the Pulse Drone in Horde Siege. 15%
- I Am Heavy Weapons Guy Kill 10 enemies in a row using a single detached turret. 14%
- Best I Can Do Is a Pizza Party Complete any 100 Secondary Objectives in Horde Siege. 12%
- You're My Brother Complete all Acts of the Campaign on Co-Op (any difficulty). 11%
- I'm All Amped Up Maintain 30 seconds of Adrenaline with the Injector in Horde Siege. 11%
- Today We Are Canceling the Apocalypse Complete all Acts of the Campaign on Insane difficulty. 8.6%
- Days Since Last Accident: 0 Commit a workplace safety violation on Battleship in Versus. 8.6%
- Who Loves Ya, Baby? Revive 20 players from other squads in Horde Siege. 7.6%
- Field Service Reach Player Level 100 and Re-Up for the first time. 7.0%
- Memories From E-Day Find all Collectibles in the Campaign (any difficulty). 6.5%
- Side Piece Complete all secondary objectives in the Campaign (any difficulty). 6.3%
- Right in the Ticker Convert a Ticker to express air mail and return to sender. 5.1%
- Relax. I'm the Map. Discover all Hard Cases in the Campaign. 4.6%
- For Whom the Bell Tolls Beat the Campaign on Insane difficulty, achieve 100% completion (Any difficulty) 3.6%
- Never Fight Alone Extract from Horde Siege with all squadmates alive on Allfather difficulty. 3.1%
- Lift Outta Hell Complete and Survive 50 Horde Siege Missions (Infantry difficulty or higher). 2.9%
- Like a Boss Successfully complete 25 Invasion Events in Horde Siege (any difficulty). 2.7%
- Turn It Up to 11 Execute 50 enemies Stunned by the Sonic Disruptor in Horde Siege. 1.7%
- I Didn't Hear No Bell Save your entire squad while you're moments from death in Horde Siege. 0.8%
- Siege Specialist Reach max level with the Assault, Breacher, Marksman, and Medic classes in Horde Siege. 0.8%
- This Is My Rifle Unlock all Weapon Mods in Horde Siege. 0.4%
- Got Your Wings Re-up for the final time and claim your wings. 0.1%
- I WILL MASSACRE YOU Kill 50,000 Enemies in Horde Siege (any difficulty). 0.1%
- The Lucky Ones Died on E-Day Earn all other Achievements. 0.1%
- Dead Serious 100% Campaign on Insane, 25,000 kills in Versus, max Player Level, and max 4 classes. 0.1%
- Down, but Not Dead Revive 250 squadmates from DBNO with the Stim Vaporizer in Horde Siege. 0.1%
- HEY NOW, YOU'RE AN ALL STAR… Get 25,000 kills in Versus. 0.1%