With Gears of War: E-Day in the middle of its open beta, players are getting stuck into its PvP, gnashing their way through hordes of enemies while darting about from cover to cover — just as they did in Gears of War back in the day.
And 20 year-old arguments first had on the Xbox 360 are flaring up again on the current generation of consoles, as some Gears fans bemoan sweaty movement all over again.
If you’ve ever played Gears PvP you’ve probably seen other players move in and out of cover incredibly quickly, making themselves hard to pin down and shoot, all while using the Gnasher to hit hard from close quarters. It’s called wall bouncing, and while E-Day doesn’t replicate it exactly as it works before, players are still able to move about very quickly.
“We have forms of wall canceling in there, but you won’t be able to do [wall bouncing] the way you’ve done it in the past,” The Coalition creative director Matt Searcy told IGN in June. “There are lots of other things you can do. There are [ways to] play with it, it’s not entirely gone. We think we found a balance in terms of how that really feels. But back to my catchphrase, it is a new game. If you come back expecting it to play exactly like a previous Gears game, it won’t be that way. [It] will probably be an adjustment, but it is also built around the same mechanics.”
Fast forward to today, and in the wake of the E-Day open beta, players are getting to grips with how the new movement works, and showing off their movement skills. Professional Gears of War esports player Nate “Rocky” Arroyo tweeted a clip of his movement, below, and it’s extremely fast. Sure, this is gameplay from a pro Gears player — most players won’t be able to play like this. But still, the clip has sparked a vociferous debate about the supposed right and wrong ways to play Gears PvP, with some expressing their disbelief that people want to move like this at all.
E-Day Movement is so peak 😮💨 #GearsEday pic.twitter.com/yr92B36Qoe
— nate (@_Rccky) August 8, 2026
“Motherf***ers like you are the reason PvP is dead in Gears,” one person declared in response. “I was looking at this s**t and started getting angry,” another added. “I’m playing the beta too, but oh my f***ing god, sweats ruin everything. At least most of the player base doesn’t move like this guy.” “That’s all Gears PVP is anymore shotguns and wall hugging,” another complained. “People like you are the reason Gears multiplayer lasts four days before people quit playing,” one person commented. “Thanks now the player base will drop 99% in a month,” another predicted. “Have fun wall-bouncing in empty servers.”
Another added: “I will never play Gears multiplayer again in my life man, I’m gonna just enjoy the single player, live in peace, and let whatever tf yall be doing in MP keep happening.”
The thing is, movement like this has been a thing in Gears pretty much since Gears of War 2 came out in 2008. It is not a new phenomena, and, clearly, despite The Coalition’s best efforts, it is present and correct in E-Day. Some fans have pointed this out, stressing that coping with fast movement is a long-running part of the Gears PvP experience, and being able to deal with it is part of the joy of mastering combat.
Xbox Games Series Tier List
Xbox Games Series Tier List
Indeed, what we’re seeing here isn’t technically wall bouncing, at least not how it worked in previous Gears games. The beta meta, as it were, involves gaining what feels like a sort of speed boost using the ‘up A out of corners’ technique. This, in combination with wall humping, has pretty much the same effect in that it makes you very hard to shoot, but actual wall bouncing is slower now.
Still, Rocky’s clip, which is well on its way to half a million views on X / Twitter alone, has set the tone of discussion in a negative way. The majority of responses I’ve seen are along the lines of those above — with some saying it’s put them off playing multiplayer at all. I’ve also seen some say they’re too old to cope with Gears movement like this, either doing it themselves or trying to shoot other players who are doing it. Anecdotally, there exists a sizable audience of Gears fans who are looking at getting the gang back together for E-Day having dropped off the franchise some time ago. If they’re of a certain generation, perhaps Rocky’s clip will give them a healthy dollop of anxiety about doing so.
Gears of War is Truly back. pic.twitter.com/yKX0gWEJZd
— Helios (@Hi_Helios) July 30, 2026
Some Xbox fans have said they’re concerned that E-Day won’t hold the attention of casual players “once more people figure out this is optimal gameplay.” “I downloaded the beta, fired up the first game, got chopped for five minutes, left, had a sudden realisation that I’m too old for this bulls**t,” one person said on the Xbox subreddit in response to Rocky’s clip. “Roll on single player story mode.”
“Casuals have never played Gears multiplayer they play campaign and horde,” another countered. “The series will never grow as long as they keep the wall bouncing s**t in it. Gears players lose their s**t if you suggest getting rid of it though so they probably never will.”
Gears of War: E-Day is out October 6 and confirmed to be a console exclusive on Xbox.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
