It’s been a long time since Gears of War creator and original designer Cliff Bleszinski was guiding the franchise, but he eagerly watched the premiere of new footage of the latest game, Gears of War: E-Day, during the Xbox Games Showcase. And like a proud father, Bleszinski shared his enthusiastic response to what he saw.
“Loved the struggle with that one Locust, but it’s weird how the other ones (not the ‘naked’ ones) went down so easy,” wrote Bleszinski on X. “The tough one didn’t seem to be drastically armored different to show that it’s a badass. Great rescue and reveal, though.”
Bleszinski also weighed in on the origin of the chainsaw lancer in E-Day.
“Thinking about ’em going with a straight up chainsaw pre-lancer,” noted Bleszinski. “Gameplay wise-if they’re going to go ‘one hand chainsaw, one hand gun’ mode and someone at some point saying ‘why not put the saw on the f***in’ gun already!?'”
The relative ease with which some of the Locusts were dispatched was something that Bleszinski took issue with, as he believes “Locust should have thick skin and armor and the game feedback loop should evolve to show that.” But he seemed very pleased with other aspects of the game.
“Yes, there’s that sweet destruction I was hoping for,” said Bleszinski. “The longer glimpse of what the Coalition has been up to is exciting. Super low cover is a nice touch too … Reavers and Seeders look GREAT. Love the legs on the Reavers and their wall climbing.”
Following the presentation, Bleszinski summed up his thoughts.
“So yeah, E-day looks great, amazing feature set, great tech improvements-and, most importantly-looks like it has heart. On top of all sorts of insane violence and destruction.”
Bleszinski announced his retirement from game development in 2018. However, he recently shared his ideas for a game he calls Hollow Point, which he described as “John Wick meets Carrie by way of Lovecraft Country.”
As for Gears of War: E-Day, it will be an Xbox console exclusive. It will be released on Xbox Series X|S and PC on October 6.