Although Cliff Bleszinski has long been out of the picture for the Gears of War series after creating the first three installments, he remains a popular figure within the community. This is perhaps unsurprising, given he is the series’ originator and a person never afraid to speak his mind.
And now, he’s speaking out again, this time about Gears of War: E-Day. In an interview with The Expansion Pass, he shares his thoughts on this prequel, which is set before his own games and features younger versions of the characters he created. Bleszinski is very positive about it.
“I think they’re doing all the backwards stuff to give people what they want. You know, we talked a lot about E-Day. There were stories written about it, but to live through it… I think the possibilities for cinematic moments are huge with what they’re doing.”
“I got goosebumps when I saw Marcus fall into that hand, go down, end up being Dom, and all the comments… people online loved that, because they had the ultimate gaming bromance. To go back to that, rather than putting Zombie Dom as a multiplayer option. Like, come on, man.”
He believes this will lead to a better and more vibrant game, and he takes the opportunity to criticize the enemies, particularly in Gears of War 4:
“I think they’re really leaning into it. You’re not going to be fighting these stupid robots or this crazy Lamant, it’s just about making the Locust scary again. Seeing Marcus fight a single Locust in that trailer, I thought that was brilliant. And showing the desperation of life on Sera – the welcome banner on the wall showing ‘hey, congratulations, the Pendulum Wars are over.’ But psych, now you’ve got a bigger and scarier threat to deal with. That’s what happens when humans fight too much: a third party comes and screws things up.”
So, it seems we know what Cliffy B will be doing when the game eventually releases, but he says he hasn’t pre-judged what he’ll think, and if the game doesn’t live up to expectations, he’ll say so:
“I have high hopes for it, and I can’t wait to see what they put out. If I like it, I’ll be honest about it. And if I don’t, I have nothing to lose, to be honest.”
On June 7th, Microsoft will host its annual Xbox Games Showcase, followed by a dedicated Gears of War: E-Day stream. The game is expected to release later in the year, though we don’t know exactly when, and it has not yet been announced for PlayStation 5. Hopefully, we’ll learn more about all of this in a little under two months.