Book Review - The Art and Making of Gears of War: E-Day
October 6th 2026
Gears of War is back and players are embracing its return to the series roots with E-Day, acting as a prequel and the day the Locust Horde crawled out of the ground on Sera. With previous artbooks released for Gears in the past, it was no surprise that a look at the latest entry from The Coalition was revealed, titled The Art and Making of Gears of War: E-Day, sharing a look at the work that went into its development.
This new volume was released on the same day as the game, October 6th, 2026, which is very uncommon in the artbook world, and is published by Insight Editions in the US, and Titan Books here in the UK. A copy has joined the collection, so I can now give my thoughts on what is a very mixed bag.
Production Quality
I start my reviews here as this is what you first notice out of the box, and it is sadly not the best of news. The book is rather hefty, coming as a 24.5cm x 31cm hardcover and thicker than most, largely due to the high-quality paper used for the 256 pages.
For me this is great, however, it causes the biggest issue of the book. Large thick pages like this don’t like to lay flat without support from the binding, but there is no flexibility here to help this happen, causing image loss in the centre fold. Binding is tough on books this large, its needs to be strong enough to hold in the heavier paper, but also not leave you having to hold down the pages with pressure, which still doesn’t fully open each spread. The page block is rigid against the spine and the pages can only curve out as a result. The images below captures this, with the second showing they don't lay flat, even with good pressure applied.
The print quality is interesting too, because Insight Editions have over the last couple of years really stepped up to another level. There is art printed here that looks incredible on the page, which is always helped when using paper like this. However, a lot of the artwork is very dark, but given the quality elsewhere, I’m unable to say if that’s by design or a result of the printing process, but I advise sitting near a bright light when looking through to help. As for the cover? A logo and title used for the cover of an artbook feels like a placeholder that didn’t get updated.
Content
The Art and Making of Gears of War is titled this way for a reason, this isn’t a dedicated ‘Art of’ book as seen for the series before, it is much more in-depth with the development details and lore of the game. There is a lot of reading throughout, but that’s in no way a bad thing.
There is so much detail about E-Day shared across the book, from the decision to make the prequel over Gears of War 6, to the game engine, music, and more. A lot of this is shared through interviews with the team, including Creative Director Matt Searcy, Lead Concept Artist Kev Chu, and Art Director Aryon Hanbeck, each sharing rich insights about their work.
There is an engaging mixture of information to read about, you could be reading about how the team made decisions to keep continuity, how the improvements in Unreal Engine 5 helped the game, or the sound design, but then also learn about in-game lore too. I enjoyed reading about each character’s relationships and backgrounds, the Locust and their creatures, and the places you visit in the city of Kalona. Not focusing on just lore or the making of the game is what makes the ‘Making of’ part of the release work really well, so Gears fans will get a lot out of learning more about E-Day.
On the art side there are concepts, in-game models, key art, and more to pore over. This part isn’t as strong for me, but there are still a lot of concepts that I really like. Depictions of battle scenes and the environments really stand out, capturing the chaos of Emergence Day beautifully and transporting you back into the world of Gears. The character and enemy art packs a punch as well, especially the Locust who are looking at their best with more horror inspired designs. The concepts and designs definitely capture the essence of early Gears of War, making the enemies scary again and conveying the effect of war.
You’d be forgiven for believing that some of the images are screenshots, when in fact they are concepts, because a surprising amount are done in 3D. I do appreciate the mixture of 2D, 3D, and final renders, though if there were any sketches or more rough concepts, those would have been nice to see too. More early art for the new additions feels lacking, such as for the Scoria and Bilefrog, but this book seems more focused on sharing tone and scenes, as opposed to early and unused designs for characters, locations, and assets, as seen in previous Gears artbooks.
The production quality mentioned earlier needs to be brought up, because it directly affects the artwork shared throughout. You’ll notice in the previews that images can be very dark, but it’s the image loss in the centre fold that is pretty brutal here. Unlike most artbooks that will fit a huge amount of artwork in, The Art and Making of Gears of War: E-Day has chosen to go bigger with fewer images, so many cross the fold and are impacted. A more classic artbook approach with 5-12 images per spread would have worked better to avoid the issue, but that’s easier said in hindsight and not the fair on the designers who wouldn't see this issue coming. As a result, it makes sense to bring forward the Use of Space part of the review.
Use of Space
The page design is actually very good, it’s clean, consistent, and well organised. Everything has room to breathe and that’s always fantastic. The textured backgrounds and colour themes look great without distracting from the art. The approach is completely undone by the binding though, and it’s so frustrating to see. You can feel it was made to maximise some of the pieces and showcase the impressive detail they have, but it is like a Corpser is dragging parts of them into the fold, undoing the work of the designers, and of course, the artists.
Sadly, this isn’t the first time a book from Insight Editions (Titan Books over here) has done this, because this is exactly what happened with The Art and Making of Dune Awakening last year, a book made in the same format. I’m sure it may not bother some as much as it does me as a collector, but it can’t be ignored either as art crosses the fold on more than half of the spreads. This is not to say that most of the art is ruined though, because a lot is unaffected as you can see in the previews.
Artist Credits
I wish the bad news was over, but there are no artist credits to be found in the book. Some of the images get descriptions, but there is nothing on the page to indicate who did what, nor are they even listed in the front or back as is often the case.
Value
The Art and Making of Gears of War: E-Day has a full price of $50 in the US, or £39.99 in the UK, placing it right in the centre of the expected range for a video game artbook. It is where I would have expected it to be priced when revealed, and so I have no problem with this. Taking account the binding issue, it becomes hard to recommend at full price, so fans may benefit from waiting for a discount.
The good news is that on the day of its release, prices are already lower. Using Amazon for consistency as always, in the US it is down to $44.59, a small drop, but it is still something for fans that want to the book. In the UK it had been dropped to £29.95, an excellent saving, making it more enticing to those that like what they see. Discounts come and go of course, but in this case, I would recommend finding a good deal.
Verdict
The Art and Making of Gears of War: E-Day ultimately doesn’t quite live up to the grand spectacle the game is giving the players, despite its positives. If you are after a ‘Making of’ book, this is easy to recommend because it’s in-depth, fits a lot in, and shares the thoughtfulness and passion of the creatives.
If you were looking at this for just the artwork though, you could feel let down. The art and renders are superb and there is a lot to admire, but when you’re forcefully pinning down pages to take it all in, I can’t help but feel confused as to why the binding wasn’t addressed before the release. Most of the pieces are still viewable in full, but I would suggest waiting on a price drop if this is what you are solely after.
Overall, I enjoyed reading through the book, it’s well written, The Coalition have created some wonderful concepts, and the page design is strong. It’s taking the book from the screen to the printed page that lets it down, and I hope this is looked at for future artbook releases.
For those interested in The Art and Making of Gears of War: E-Day, you can order or wishlist the book below;
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