Today the State of Unreal 2026 was held, Epic's show dedicated to the news of the Unreal Engine, but also to show the games that make the most of the capable engine. And of course The Coalition could not miss with Gears of War: E-Day.

The Canadian team presented a long demonstration of the gameplay of the title captured entirely on XBOX Series X, showing us how it was able to exploit the capabilities of the engine.

In the video, Kate Rayner of The Coalition took the floor to remind us how this year we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Gears of War, a franchise that since its historic debut in 2006 has always had its foundations in the various iterations of the Unreal Engine. For the creation of Gears of War: E-Day, the studio made the drastic decision to start completely from scratch using Unreal Engine 5. Metaphorically formatting the hard drives, the team reconstructed every single asset to fully restore the drama of Emergence Day, the darkest day when the fearsome Locust horde emerged from the underground. To convey the emotional impact of this devastation, an extremely raw and dark visual style has been adopted, where the skilful use of light and shadow goes far beyond simple aesthetics, elevating the historic visual style of the saga to an unprecedented level.

The demonstration then delved into the technical details, showing the incredible capabilities achieved on the XBOX Series X. Compared to the past, where environments were limited to very few light sources capable of generating shadows, the new MegaLights technology now allows you to manage hundreds of simultaneous dynamic lights, maintaining 60 frames per second. Exploring the Pay 'n Save supermarket in the city of Kalona, we were able to admire how even the televisions on display project shadows calculated directly on the basis of the video transmitted on the screens, or how the refrigerated counters are equipped with multiple internal light points capable of simulating the typical lighting of those departments in a hyper-realistic way.

The combat system will benefit enormously from these advances. During the intense shootouts in Gears of War: E-Day, we will notice that every single blaze of our weapons will generate its own dynamic shadow, literally immersing us in the heart of the action with a realism never seen before. Environmental destructibility has also been taken to new standards: by hitting glass or columns, impact points will realistically shatter thanks to a collision system managed by hardware raytracing, ensuring that debris interacts consistently with light and reflections from the surrounding environment. In this technologically advanced scenario, the famous worm holes will also make their return, opening to show perfect volumetric lighting for the smoke and debris raised.

All this translates into the possibility of exploring the entire city of Kalona in a world illuminated by tens of thousands of dynamic lights. A goal made possible by the abandonment of pre-calculated lighting in favor of the Lumen system, combined with Nanite technology that will guarantee us a level of geometric detail a hundred times higher than in the past. The Coalition is pushing Unreal Engine 5 and XBOX hardware to its absolute limits, and we can't wait to dive into this experience from October 6, when the game will be officially available.

We leave you to the footage, also followed by a further cinematic trailer released by the team. Enjoy the viewing!