Gears of War: E-Day Campaign Length Revealed

Gears of War: E-Day's campaign takes 10-14 hours on normal difficulty, with five acts and optional side content. Here's the full mission list and how long to beat it.

How long will you spend chainsawing Locust in Gears of War: E-Day? If you're planning to dive into the campaign, you're looking at roughly 10-14 hours on normal difficulty, especially if you dabble in collectibles and side missions. That's a solid chunk of action, but not so long that it overstays its welcome.

In a typical playthrough, you can motor through the main story in about 11 hours, stopping occasionally to hunt down hidden items or upgrade packs. You might complete around 60% of the optional content before rolling credits. The game's war journal tracks everything you missed per mission, so completionists can easily go back for a full sweep.

The campaign is split into five acts, each with multiple chapters. Acts 1 and 5 are on the shorter side, while Acts 2 through 4 are the meaty, lengthy portions of the narrative. You could comfortably play one act per night and finish the campaign over a week. Here's the full mission list:

Act 1: Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4 Act 2: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5 Act 3: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6 Act 4: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6 Act 5: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5

If you want to go back to an earlier act to grab a missing collectible or gear upgrade, you can do so from the main menu. That's handy for anyone aiming for 100% completion without restarting the whole game.

Beyond the campaign, Gears of War: E-Day offers multiplayer modes that could eat up plenty of your time. Horde Siege is a new take on the classic horde mode, with three teams of four players working together to survive waves of enemies and complete objectives. It sounds like a chaotic, cooperative timesink.

Increasing the difficulty will extend your playtime, but be warned: on higher challenge levels, enemies become bullet-sponges and can quickly drain your spare lives. So if you're looking for a tougher fight, expect a longer, more punishing road.

Overall, Gears of War: E-Day seems to offer a focused campaign that respects your time, with enough optional content to reward exploration. Whether you blitz through in 11 hours or take your time over 14, there's plenty of incentive to come back for more.

Will you be picking this up on day one, or are you waiting for a sale? Let us know in the comments!