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

Gears of War: E-Day players looking to make the squad look considerably less like a COG military unit and considerably more like a cross-franchise convention have a new option. Incursion, a mod pack created by game designer Tom Whaley, who uses the handle @Unreal_Dev, adds a skin selector for Marcus, Dom, Mags and Lucas.

The selection includes armour and character looks drawn from the worlds of Halo, Star Wars and Warhammer 40,000. Spartans, Clone Troopers and Space Marines are among the crossover-themed choices, alongside skins that fit E-Day’s own Gears setting. The purpose is aesthetic customization: the supplied information describes a way to change how the four characters look, not a new campaign, gameplay overhaul, or official crossover program.

Its especially useful feature is convenience. Rather than treating each character replacement as a separate project with its own files, Incursion combines the options into one selector. Players can choose a look from a new main-menu option or change it through the pause menu during play. That means a squad can be adjusted without the usual routine of manually replacing mod files or reinstalling a different character mod every time the mood changes.

A skin selector rather than a pile of swaps

In modding, a skin generally means a visual replacement or cosmetic layer applied to an existing character. It does not automatically mean the character has received a new voice, weapons, animations, abilities or story role. Incursion’s appeal lies in giving players an easy interface for these appearance changes within E-Day itself.

That distinction matters because “multi-mod setup” can mean a lot of housekeeping. When separate mods are used for each character or outfit, a player may have to manage which files are active and undo one installation before trying another. Incursion is designed to reduce that friction by putting multiple choices behind one selection system. The player can apparently move among them at leisure after installation rather than repeatedly rebuilding their mod setup.

The four named recipients are Marcus, Dom, Mags and Lucas, so the package is focused on the playable or central squad members identified in the supplied details. There is no basis here to assume that every model in the game, multiplayer character, enemy or NPC is covered. Likewise, the information only establishes that skins can be selected from the menus; it does not establish whether cosmetic changes affect cutscenes, every gameplay scenario, or any online mode.

What Incursion adds

A dedicated skin-selection option in the main menu.
In-game skin changing through the pause menu.
Cosmetic options for Marcus, Dom, Mags and Lucas.
Crossover-themed looks associated with Halo Spartans, Star Wars Clone Troopers and Warhammer 40,000 Space Marines.
Additional Gears-appropriate skins for players who want a less conspicuous makeover.
A consolidated alternative to managing several individual character-skin mods.

The crossover is amusing precisely because the properties bring very different visual languages to the same battlefield. Halo’s Spartans are futuristic super-soldiers, Clone Troopers are instantly recognizable by their white armour, and Warhammer 40,000’s Space Marines are famously oversized and ornate. E-Day’s setting is already built around armoured infantry and muscular silhouettes, which makes it a natural, if very unofficial-looking, canvas for those styles.

There is a practical side, too. In a third-person action game, character presentation stays on screen for long stretches. A mod that lets players quickly choose between an in-universe look and a dramatic crossover skin provides variety without claiming to rewrite the game beneath it. That is likely why the pause-menu selection is important: it turns the pack into a customization tool instead of a one-time file installation.

Installation: what players should verify first

Incursion requires a copy of Gears of War: E-Day. Installation directions are provided on the mod’s Nexus Mods page, and players should follow those instructions rather than assume that a general modding method will apply. The available information does not specify supported platforms, installation steps, compatibility requirements, or any restrictions beyond needing the game itself, so those details should be checked directly on the mod page before changing game files.

That caution is not a warning that Incursion is unsafe or unreliable; no such claim is supported here. It is simply sensible mod practice. A consolidated mod pack is meant to cut down on repetitive swapping, but players should still use the creator’s current instructions and review any listed prerequisites or limitations. Updates to a game can alter how mods behave, and mod pages are the appropriate place for creators to document those changes.

For players focused on finishing the base game before experimenting with cosmetics, Joking Joystick’s Gears of War: E-Day completion roadmap covers collectibles, optional objectives and post-campaign goals. Incursion concerns character appearance, while completion tasks remain a separate part of the game.

Why a bundled approach matters

Mods often solve two distinct problems: they can introduce something new, or they can make an existing customization process easier to use. Incursion appears to do both on a modest, targeted scale. Its skins are the attention-grabbing portion, but its selector is the more consequential design choice. A menu-driven switcher gives a player a reversible, low-effort way to test different squad looks without treating every option as a separate installation job.

This also keeps the mod’s scope relatively clear. The supplied details call it a skin selector and describe visual options, so it should be understood as a cosmetic mod pack rather than evidence of new official content. The Halo, Star Wars and Warhammer 40,000 appearances are player-facing mod choices, not confirmation that those franchises have entered Gears canon or that an official licensed collaboration has occurred.

That clarity is valuable when a mod features characters or armour styles from prominent series. A skin can create a striking fantasy—perhaps a Clone Trooper standing next to a Space Marine in a Gears squad—but a cosmetic mash-up is not the same thing as a narrative crossover. Players should set expectations around what has actually been described: selectable appearances for four named Gears characters and a simplified way to manage them.

E-Day’s wider moment

Incursion arrives while E-Day is also drawing discussion around its early commercial performance and the future of the series. An estimate from Alinea Analytics put first-week sales at roughly 230,000 copies, characterizing the opening as soft. That figure is unofficial and was not backed by sales data from Microsoft, so it should be treated as an estimate rather than a confirmed sales total.

The analysis connected the estimate to Game Pass potentially reducing conventional sales, but that is an interpretation rather than an established fact. Subscription access can complicate attempts to judge a game solely by unit sales, particularly when there is no corresponding official data in the supplied information. It is therefore not possible to reach a firm conclusion about E-Day’s audience or business performance from that estimate alone.

There has also been concern about jobs at developer The Coalition amid broader Xbox cuts. The studio’s head responded to reports of staff worries and said the next Gears game would not take as long to make. Separately, E-Day launched without two familiar series features: meat shields and chainsaw duels. The supplied information attributes their absence to the team building the game from scratch rather than using prior Gears entries as a foundation, and suggests those features are expected to return in future installments.

Against that backdrop, a cosmetic mod is not a replacement for missing mechanics, a measure of sales, or a solution to studio uncertainty. It is something smaller and more immediate: a way for people who already own E-Day to put a personal, often deliberately absurd spin on the squad. Players who want Marcus and company to remain visually grounded in Gears can use the in-universe options; those who want a Spartan, Clone Trooper or Space Marine energy can switch to that instead.

For a game about heavily armoured soldiers facing catastrophe, Incursion’s premise is straightforward: if the squad is heading into danger anyway, it may as well look like it came from several other galactic wars first.