Gears E-Day Facing Early Wave Of Negative Reviews As Complain It's Too “Woke”

Gears Of War: E-Day Is Already Being Review-Bombed Because It’s Woke Published Oct 5, 2026, 4:10 AM EDT Sam Woods is TheGamer’s Senior Reporter. He’s been in games journalism since 2020 and has undertaken a variety of roles in that time. These have included roles such as SEO Editor, Managing Editor at DualShockers, and Global Head of Gaming, and he's also been seen on the BBC. He was promoted to the Senior Reporter position in 2025 following a series of high-quality reports and exclusives for TheGamer. Since 2020, Sam has written over 3,000 articles and specializes in telling the stories of the people behind the games. He’s interviewed the biggest game directors, some of the industry’s top talents, told the stories of how indie games came to be, and spoken to players about what really makes them tick. He’s also interviewed some of the world’s biggest musical artists to find out how the medium has inspired their work, and TV and Film actors about their roles in video game adaptations. He even hosted a PAX panel in 2021 and made a documentary in 2024 surrounding the creation of a Disney game. Alongside this, Sam focuses on breaking news. He got the scoop on Perfect Dark’s cancellation, provided context on some AI drama, and revealed that Lady Dimitrescu’s actress would love to step back into the character’s giant shoes. These articles have been picked up by the biggest gaming sites, including IGN, GameSpot, and PC Gamer. He also loves to dive into the numbers behind the games. Sam’s journey in games journalism has taken him all over the world. He’s covered Gamescom in Germany, Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles, and Tokyo Game Show in Japan, each on three occasions. He’s been learning Japanese since 2024 with the intention of identifying and translating Japanese-language news and bringing it to English-language audiences first, something he’s done countless times. Sam’s first review was 2020’s Battletoads reboot, and he’s since reviewed games in The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, and Pokemon franchises. Gears of War: E-Day isn't even officially out yet. The Premium Edition launched with early access last week, but the regular version of the game is still over a day away, launching on October 6 at 9 am PT/12 pm ET/5 pm BST. That hasn't stopped it from becoming the latest target of the culture war, though: following the launch of the Premium Edition, the game has been slammed with a flurry of negative Steam reviews, as players whine that, because of a new "girlboss" character, it's too "woke". Gears Of War: E-Day Is In The Sights Of The Culture War Because Of A New "Woke Girlboss" Gears of War: E-Day quickly became a target of the culture war as it was noted that The Coalition partnered with Hit Detection, a video game consulting company designed to help companies gather data about their game. It provides "cultural and sensitivity evaluations," alongside market research, mock reviews, and sales data. It then caught flak for including a range of profile customization emblems tied to sexuality, including bisexual, demisexual, and lesbian, bizarrely upsetting some players, as they simply could choose not to use them. All of this has culminated in a steady flurry of negative reviews for the title, with many branding it "woke". Gears of War: E-Day's current reviews aren't bad. It sits with a "Mostly Positive" rating on Steam, with 75 percent of all reviews being positive. Over the weekend, though, a bunch of negative reviews poured in, deeming the game "woke", in part because of a new character. "I wanted to play this game for Marcus and Dom, and got this weird injected character story instead with a lesbian with struggles..." reads one negative review. "It seems like they've chosen to continue making the GOW franchise a 'military bad', 'girlboss' propaganda piece," adds another. The overwhelming consensus among this crowd, and the most popular buzzword, is that the game "woke" for including these elements, and almost every review either parrots the words "woke" or "girlboss". Aside from that, the game has received high praise from both reviewers and players, with the only genuine sticking point coming from performance issuesdue to UE5. Systems Released October 6, 2026 ESRB Mature 17+ / Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact Developer(s) The Coalition Publisher(s) Xbox Game Studios Engine Unreal Engine 5 Genre(s) Third-Person Shooter, Action, Adventure, Horror