Gears of War
Gears of War is a 2006 third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It is the first installment of the Gears of War series, and was initially released as an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 in November 2006. A Microsoft Windows version, developed in conjunction with People Can Fly, was released in November 2007. The game's main story, which can be played in single or co-operative play, focuses on a squad of troops who assist in completing a desperate, last-ditch attempt to end a war against a genocidal subterranean enemy, the Locust, and save the remaining human inhabitants of their planet Sera. The game's multiplayer mode allows up to eight players to control characters from one of the two factions in a variety of online game modes. Gameplay features players using cover and strategic fire in order to win battles.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA, read 5 September 2026.
Your like matters. Every heart nudges this game's GamingPickz Score and where it ranks (a small 5% of the score), so the lists get better for everyone.
- Released
- 2006
- Developer
- Not recorded
- Platforms
- 4 systems
- Critics
- Not scored
- Steam Deck
- Unknown
- Download
- Not stated
The record
| First released | 7 November 2006 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Not recorded |
| Publisher | Xbox Game Studios |
| Platforms | PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Steam Deck |
| Genres | First-Person Shooter |
Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata Q636219, seeded 30 August 2026.
How long is Gears of War? How long to beat it
Total play time for Gears of War is about 31.4 hours to do everything, and around 9 hours to reach the end of the main story. These are player-submitted times from HowLongToBeat, not our own, shown with the number of players behind each.
| How you play | Hours | Players logged |
|---|---|---|
| Just the main story: straight through the critical path | 9h | 565 |
| Main + the extras: story plus the side content most people do | 12.2h | 199 |
| Completionist: everything: 100% the game | 31.4h | 30 |
Source: HowLongToBeat community submissions, read 2026-10-19.
Where Gears of War sits on the grid
The grid places every game in the catalogue on measured axes rather than on an opinion. This is where Gears of War lands on each map it has the data for, with the share of the catalogue it beats on each axis.
- Year
- 69ahead of 21% of the catalogue
- Reach
- 60ahead of 95% of the catalogue
Percentiles are against the games that carry a reading on that axis, not the whole catalogue: counting a game with no figure as a zero would flatter everything that has one. How the grid works.
What readers say about Gears of War
Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.
Loading reviews…
Did it run on your PC?
Tell other players how it ran on your machine. One tap, from your saved PC if you have one.
Where Gears of War appears
The ranked lists and finder pages Gears of War qualifies for, from its own genre and platform to what it takes to run.
Get the weekly rundown
One email a week: what moved in the rankings, what launched, and what dropped in price. No more than that, and unsubscribing takes one click.
We send the weekly email and nothing else. Your address is never sold, shared or used to build a profile, and it is not readable by anyone visiting this site. See our privacy policy.
Common questions about Gears of War
What platforms is Gears of War on?
Gears of War is available on PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Steam Deck. It first released in 2006.
How long does it take to beat Gears of War?
about 9 hours for the main story, 12.2 hours with the main extras, 31.4 hours to complete everything, from HowLongToBeat's player-submitted times. These are community medians, so your own run may be shorter or longer.