Gears of War: E-Day Incursion Mod Adds Halo, Star Wars and Warhammer 40,000 Skins

Gears of War: E-Day players on PC have a new way to radically change the look of their squad. Incursion, a mod created by game designer Tom Whaley, also known online as Unreal_Dev, introduces a built-in-style skin selection feature that can outfit major characters in armor and uniforms inspired by Halo, Star Wars, and Warhammer 40,000.

The pack is centered on the fantasy of assembling an especially unusual COG team. Rather than limiting players to the game's standard character appearances, Incursion provides options for Marcus, Dom, Mags, and Lucas that range from Spartan-style armor to Star Wars Clone Troopers and the imposing Space Marines of Warhammer 40,000. It also includes appearances that remain closer to the Gears universe for players who want variety without going fully crossover-focused.

Incursion's most practical appeal is its approach to character modding. Players can choose skins through a new option on the main menu or change them through the pause menu while playing. That is a notable convenience for a scene where visual character replacements can otherwise involve separate downloads, file swaps, and reinstalling mods whenever someone wants to try another look.

Embedded X/Twitter post

A streamlined way to customize the E-Day squad

Character-skin mods are hardly a new idea in PC gaming, especially for a series with silhouettes as recognizable as Gears of War. But the implementation matters. A standalone model replacement can be fun for screenshots or a replay, yet the process becomes less appealing when changing back to another character design means manually undoing the previous installation.

For useful background on this topic, read Magic: The Gathering's Product Pace Debate Intensifies After Mark Rosewater's Response.

Incursion bundles that experience into a selector. Once the mod pack is installed, players can move between supported skins without repeatedly managing individual files. The result is less like installing a single cosmetic alteration and more like adding an extra wardrobe menu to the game.

That functionality also makes the mod useful beyond the novelty of seeing familiar characters in armor from other fictional settings. It gives players room to match the visual mood of a particular playthrough. A team dressed in in-universe Gears gear can preserve the harsh military tone of E-Day, while Halo-inspired choices can make the squad feel more like a futuristic special-operations unit. The Clone Trooper and Warhammer 40,000 options push much further into fan-made crossover territory.

Supported characters and crossover styles

The mod's current focus is on four central characters:

• Marcus
• Dom
• Mags
• Lucas

Each is eligible for the mod's selectable visual treatments. Halo-inspired Spartan armor is an immediately natural fit on a Gears character, since both series are built around heavily armored soldiers fighting desperate wars against overwhelming threats. Space Marine designs make an even more exaggerated match, emphasizing the bulky proportions and battlefield presence that Gears fans already associate with its soldiers.

Clone Trooper skins provide a very different visual contrast. Their cleaner white armor is far removed from the weathered, industrial look generally associated with Sera and the COG. That contrast is part of the point: the pack allows players to indulge in a fancast-style team lineup that would never be expected from the official game.

Importantly, these are unofficial fan modifications. The skins are not presented as official crossover content, and the availability of Incursion does not indicate any formal partnership involving the franchises represented in the pack.

Installation still requires the game itself

Incursion can simplify managing cosmetic swaps, but it is not a replacement for the game. Players need their own copy of Gears of War: E-Day in order to use the mod pack. Installation guidance is available on its Nexus Mods page, where users can review the setup process and current requirements before modifying their game.

As with many PC mods, players should take care to follow the provided instructions closely and be mindful of game updates. Patches can sometimes affect mod compatibility, especially with tools that alter menus, character models, or asset loading. Players who want to keep multiple configurations may also wish to back up relevant files before making changes.

The ability to select a skin from the menu rather than reinstalling separate character packages should reduce some of that friction. Still, the mod exists outside the official support pipeline, so updates and compatibility fixes depend on the creator and the broader modding community rather than the game's developer.

E-Day's early sales discussion adds context

The mod arrives during a period of close attention around E-Day's commercial start. Rhys Elliott, head of marketing analysis at Alinea Analytics, recently estimated that the game sold around 230,000 copies in its first week, characterizing that result as a soft launch. Those numbers are unofficial estimates and have not been supported by sales data released by Microsoft.

The analysis suggested that Game Pass may have reduced direct game sales by giving subscribers another way to access E-Day. That distinction is important when considering modern Xbox releases: a lower estimated number of copies sold does not necessarily describe total player reach, as subscription access can shift part of an audience away from a traditional purchase.

There is no indication that Incursion is connected to that sales conversation. It is, instead, a community-made customization project. But mods can help sustain discussion around a game after launch, particularly when they offer easy-to-understand features that produce shareable screenshots, videos, and unconventional squad combinations.

The Coalition has also addressed development concerns

Earlier in the month, concerns emerged that employees at The Coalition feared possible job losses amid continuing cuts across Xbox. The studio's leadership responded to those reports by promising that the next Gears title would not require such a long wait to create.

E-Day itself launched without two features long associated with the series: meat shields and chainsaw duels. Their absence was especially noticeable to veteran players because both mechanics have helped define the series' close-quarters identity. The decision was tied to the development team building the game from the ground up rather than using earlier Gears releases as a direct base.

That context makes a project such as Incursion feel distinctly separate from the official development priorities. While the studio works through the challenge of establishing a new technical foundation and determining what familiar systems return in future entries, mod creators can focus on playful, niche additions that would be unlikely to fit a core production schedule.

Incursion does not change E-Day into an official crossover game, but it does give players an efficient way to imagine one.

A mod built for experimentation

For players interested in cosmetic experimentation, Incursion's selector-based design is the main attraction. The Halo, Star Wars, and Warhammer 40,000 looks draw attention, but the convenience of moving among options without a cycle of manual file management is what turns the collection into a more flexible tool.

That matters for a game like Gears of War, where the look of the squad carries considerable weight. Armor, character silhouettes, and the rough military aesthetic are deeply tied to the franchise's personality. Replacing those familiar visuals with other famous sci-fi designs can alter the feel of a mission even when the gameplay itself remains unchanged.

Players looking for a lore-friendly replay can use the Gears-appropriate options. Those who want to lead a squad of Spartans, Clone Troopers, or Space Marines through E-Day's battles can go in the opposite direction. Either way, Incursion offers a single menu-driven framework for switching the team's appearance at will, turning character customization into an ongoing part of the playthrough rather than a one-time installation choice.