Last updated: 3 July 2026

Gears of War: E-Day Co-op Guide — Split-Screen, Online & Horde Siege

E-Day's campaign was built around playing as a full four-person squad, and the game backs that up with more co-op options than any previous Gears campaign. Here's exactly how solo, split-screen, online co-op, and the multiplayer modes fit together.

01Campaign Co-op: Solo, Split-Screen or Online

• Solo: the full campaign can be played alone as any of Bravo Squad's four characters — Marcus Fenix, Dominic Santiago, Mags Carter, or Lucas Reyes — from the very first mission.
• Online co-op: up to 4 players can play the entire campaign together, with each player taking one of the four squad members.
• Split-screen: 2 players can play locally on the same Xbox Series X|S or PC, side by side. Split-screen is console/local only — see the PC note below.
• You can also mix the two: 2 players on one split-screen setup can team up with 2 more players online for a full 4-player squad.

02Crossplay Between Xbox and PC

Xbox Series X|S and PC players can play together across the campaign, Versus, and Horde Siege — buy the game once and it works on both, and a friend on Steam or Windows can squad up with someone on console without any extra setup. Since E-Day doesn't release on PlayStation, crossplay here effectively means the whole player base is on one shared network, which should make matchmaking faster than a split Xbox/PlayStation player base would.

03Versus: 4v4 Competitive Multiplayer

Versus is Gears' traditional competitive mode, here set on maps across Kalona and its surrounding districts. It's 4v4, team-based, and separate from the campaign — you don't need to touch it to experience the story, but it's there if you want the classic Gears PvP loop on E-Day's launch day.

04Horde Siege: The New 12-Player Mode

Horde Siege is E-Day's new large-scale co-op mode:

• Up to 12 players, split into three squads of four.
• Before each match, every player selects a class — Assault, Marksman, Medic, or Breacher — each with different roles in the defence.
• All three squads cooperate to defend locations across Kalona against large-scale Locust attacks, tackle shared objectives, and fight world-boss encounters on maps bigger than a standard Horde arena.
• It sits alongside — not instead of — the classic 4-player Horde format Gears fans already know, giving groups a way to scale up beyond one squad.

05Getting a Squad Together for Launch

If you're planning to play with a full group on day one: everyone needs their own copy (or Game Pass access), and since split-screen is local-only, decide up front whether you're doing 4 separate online connections or a mixed local/online squad. The open beta starting August 6, 2026 is a good way to test co-op and Horde Siege with your group before committing to launch-day plans — see our editions and pre-order guide for beta access details.