Gears of War: E-Day runs a Prologue plus 26 numbered chapters, and they are split across five acts. Act 1 holds four chapters, Act 2 has five, Act 3 and Act 4 each have six, and Act 5 closes with five. Four chapters take considerably longer than the rest: they are open districts with secondary objectives.
How long the campaign takes to finish
Playing solo as Marcus on Normal for the first time takes around 11 hours and 40 minutes, beginning with the Prologue and ending at the “GEARS OF WAR: E-DAY” title card. This estimate includes watching every cutscene and tackling most optional tasks in the open chapters, while leaving many collectibles unfound. Ignoring secondary objectives and collectibles cuts the time; choosing a higher difficulty adds to it.
| Act | Chapters | Running time | Collectibles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prologue | 1 | ~10 min | 0 |
| Act 1 | 4 | ~1 hr 14 min | 13 |
| Act 2 | 5 | ~3 hr 10 min | 38 |
| Act 3 | 6 | ~2 hr 40 min | 36 |
| Act 4 | 6 | ~2 hr 58 min | 41 |
| Act 5 | 5 | ~1 hr 31 min | 12 |
Use the chapter durations below as estimates, since exploration, deaths, and difficulty affect how long each takes. The narrative unfolds over about two days: it begins hours ahead of Emergence; Acts 2 and 3 move from Day 1 into Day 2’s early hours; Act 4 takes place on Day 2; and Act 5 concludes before dawn on Day 3.
Full chapter list in order
The Prologue is cutscene only, about 10 minutes with no gameplay. Its name shows on the loading screen as “PROLOGUE,” and its captions read “5 HOURS UNTIL EMERGENCE,” then “3 HOURS UNTIL EMERGENCE / SANCTUM OF THE FALLEN,” and finally “EMERGENCE HOUR ZERO / DOWNTOWN KALONA.” After that, the numbered acts begin.
Act 1
| # | Chapter | Length | Collectibles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Emergence | 17 min | 3 |
| 2 | Survival of the Fittest | 18 min | 4 |
| 3 | A Gear in Need | 12 min | 2 |
| 4 | Back in the Fold | 26 min | 4 |
Act 2
| # | Chapter | Length | Collectibles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bravo Squad | 25 min | 5 |
| 2 | Hold the Line | 1 hr 58 min | 27 |
| 3 | No Gear Left Behind | 14 min | 5 |
| 4 | Flyboys | ~12 min | 0 |
| 5 | Overrun | ~21 min | 1 |
Although it has no title card, Overrun is the fifth chapter of Act 2. It begins after the landing cutscene, when you take control again on the airfield runway and see only a “CHECKPOINT” notice. Flyboys and Overrun last about 32 and a half minutes combined; the point where control returns on the runway marks the division between them.
Act 3
| # | Chapter | Length | Collectibles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stranded | 25 min | 5 |
| 2 | Enemy Lines | 34 min | 6 |
| 3 | Last Foothold | 54 min | 14 |
| 4 | The Convoy | 17 min | 3 |
| 5 | Desperate Times | 18 min | 5 |
| 6 | Desperate Measures | 12 min | 3 |
Act 4
| # | Chapter | Length | Collectibles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hope and Ruin | 50 min | 13 |
| 2 | Technical Difficulties | 13 min | 2 |
| 3 | Tough as Nails | 51 min | 14 |
| 4 | Signals | 19 min | 5 |
| 5 | Paths Diverge | 20 min | 2 |
| 6 | Critical Failure | 25 min | 5 |
Act 5
| # | Chapter | Length | Collectibles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | One Problem at a Time | 12 min | 1 |
| 2 | Ghost Town | 13 min | 3 |
| 3 | Storm Clouds | 8 min | 0 |
| 4 | Resolute | 37 min | 5 |
| 5 | The Fall of Kalona | 21 min | 3 |
Storm Clouds is the shortest chapter in the game at about 8 minutes. The Fall of Kalona is the finale, carrying the final boss, and its caption reads “DAY 3 – BEFORE DAWN / ALLFATHERS LEGACY BRIDGE.” The closing title card appears a little after the chapter ends, followed by the credits.
The four long open chapters
Four chapters take considerably longer than the rest: each features an explorable district and optional secondary objectives. Their combined duration is 4 hours and 33 minutes, accounting for well over a third of the campaign. Skipping optional content in these chapters offers the biggest chance to cut your playtime.
- Hold the Line (Act 2, Chapter 2) — about 2 hours, 27 collectibles. Caption “DAY 1 – 1300 HOURS / ORIA STADIUM FOB.”
- Last Foothold (Act 3, Chapter 3) — 54 minutes, 14 collectibles. Caption “DAY 1 – 2430 HOURS / DOWNTOWN KALONA.”
- Hope and Ruin (Act 4, Chapter 1) — 50 minutes, 13 collectibles. Caption “DAY 2 – 0700 HOURS / FORT VIGIL.”
- Tough as Nails (Act 4, Chapter 3) — 51 minutes, 14 collectibles. Caption “DAY 2 – 1200 HOURS / PROSPECT BAY.”
These chapters hold the biggest collectible counts in the game. No other chapter has more than six. They also carry the secondary objectives, which appear as a banner reading “SECONDARY OBJECTIVE,” its name, and “HOLD X TO START”; the first one you find pops up “SIDE OBJECTIVE DISCOVERED.” Examples include “BLACK RAVEN DOWN” in Hold the Line, “ROOFTOP MAYDAY” in Last Foothold, “MISSING CONVOY” in Hope and Ruin, and “SPECIAL CARGO” in Tough as Nails. All of them are optional.
Hard Cases sit in these open chapters too, flagged by a “HARD CASE NEARBY” notice when one is close. That same notice can turn up in linear chapters as well, including Technical Difficulties and Ghost Town.
Hold the Line also splits into parts partway through. You will see “HOLD THE LINE – PART 2” (caption “DAY 1 – 1330 HOURS / DOWNTOWN KALONA”) and later “HOLD THE LINE – PART 3,” each over the same “ACT 2 – CHAPTER 2” line. These are sections of the one chapter, not new chapters, and the pause menu keeps reading “Chapter 2: HOLD THE LINE” throughout.
Which chapters have a boss
Several chapters feature a major enemy encounter, signaled by a kill objective, a floating health bar, or both. These battles occur in the latter portion of their chapters.
| Chapter | Act / # | Boss |
|---|---|---|
| Back in the Fold | Act 1, Ch 4 | A Brumak (“Kill the Brumak”) |
| No Gear Left Behind | Act 2, Ch 3 | A Seeder (“Take down the Seeder”) |
| Enemy Lines | Act 3, Ch 2 | A giant many-legged creature fought underground |
| Desperate Measures | Act 3, Ch 6 | A Brumak again (“Kill the Brumak”) |
| Paths Diverge | Act 4, Ch 5 | A massive, four-legged creature battled in the street |
| Critical Failure | Act 4, Ch 6 | Flying Scoria (“Kill the Scoria”) |
| The Fall of Kalona | Act 5, Ch 5 | Vraahk, the final boss, fought twice (“Kill Vraahk”) |
Flyboys and Storm Clouds put you on the door guns of a King Raven; neither chapter displays a boss bar.
How the game shows your act and chapter
At each chapter’s start, a title card appears near the bottom center of the screen. It places a small “ACT n – CHAPTER n” line above the chapter name, shown in capitals. The card remains for roughly six seconds, often after you have control. Many chapters then display another caption with the time and location.
To check where you are at any moment, open the pause menu. The top right corner shows “ACT n,” “Chapter n: NAME,” and “Collectibles x/y” for whatever you are currently playing. That corner is the reliable answer when a card has already faded or never appeared, as with Overrun.
Choose COLLECTIBLES in the pause menu to open the War Journal. It has a tab for each act, and LB and RB switch between them. Chapters with collectibles appear as separate rows with counts such as “2 / 3”; locked slots indicate items you have yet to find. Flyboys and Storm Clouds do not appear because neither chapter has collectibles.
Collectibles per act
There are 140 collectibles across the campaign, spread through 24 of the 26 chapters. The Prologue has none. The pause menu tracks the current chapter’s count, while the War Journal lays out every chapter’s total.
| Act | Total | Breakdown by chapter |
|---|---|---|
| Act 1 | 13 | 3, 4, 2, 4 |
| Act 2 | 38 | 5, 27, 5, 0, 1 |
| Act 3 | 36 | 5, 6, 14, 3, 5, 3 |
| Act 4 | 41 | 13, 2, 14, 5, 2, 5 |
| Act 5 | 12 | 1, 3, 0, 5, 3 |
The chapter times given here all assume plenty of those pickups stay on the ground, so do not read them as the length of a full 140-collectible clear. If your goal is to reach the credits, you can skip the secondary objectives and collectible hunting to make the campaign shorter.
