It's been a long time since Cliff Bleszinski had anything to do with the Gears of War series after creating the first three instalments, but he remains popular within the community - which is perhaps not so surprising, considering he is, after all, the series' creator and someone who has never been afraid to speak his mind.
And now he's spoken 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 takes place before his own games and features younger versions of the characters he created, but Bleszinski is very positive
"I think they're doing the whole go back to give the people what they want. You know, we we've talked a lot about E-Day. There's been stories written about it, but to experience that... I think the possibilities for cinematic moments are tremendous with what they're doing.
"I got goosebumps when I saw Marcus falling in that hand, went down, wind up being Dom, and all the comments... people online just loved it, because they had the ultimate gaming bromance. To go back to that, as opposed to just 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 criticise the enemies, particularly in Gears of War 4:
"I think they're really riding the ship. You're not going to be fighting those stupid robots or the crazy Lamant, it's just going to be making the Locust scary again. Seeing Marcus struggle with just one Locust in that trailer, I think, was brilliant. And showing the hopelessness of life on Sera - the welcome home banner on the wall showing, 'hey, congratulations, the Pendulum Wars are over.' But psych, now you have a bigger, scarier threat to deal with. This is what happens when humans fight too much: a third party comes in and screws stuff up."
So it seems we know what Cliffy B will do when the game is eventually released, but he says he hasn't decided what he thinks in advance, and if it doesn't measure up, he'll speak his mind:
"I have high hopes for it, and I can't wait to see what they put out. If I like it, I'm going to be honest about it. And if I don't like it, I've got nothing to lose, to be honest."
On June 7, Microsoft will host its annual Xbox Games Showcase, followed by a dedicated stream for Gears of War: E-Day. The game is set to be released later this year, though we don't know exactly when, and it hasn't been announced for the PlayStation 5 yet. Hopefully, we'll learn more about all of this in just under two months.