Cliffy B: Watching Gears of War 4 is like seeing an ex

While Blezinski has fond memories of both series, the new Gears of War game that’s in the works at Microsoft, which acquired the license in 2014, strikes him a little differently. In an interview, Blezinski said it was kind of like seeing an ex: you want them to go on and be happy, but if they could do it with someone worse looking than you, that’d be perfect.

“I hope they don’t screw it up,” Blezinski laughed during the interview with VideoGamer.

Related: Gears of War 4 pre-orders open, Season Pass detailed

You can understand why. Although he was a major component in the development of the Unreal Tournament franchise, Cliffy B’s first project as lead designer was the Gears of War series, which he saw through from its inception to the release of the final game in the original trilogy, Gears of War 3.

Fortunately then so far he seems reasonably confident about the way it will be received. GameSpot has it that when Blezinski saw the trailer for Gears of War 4 — which hearkened back to the original Gears of War Mad World trailer — that he grew “misty,” which is quite a solid endorsement.

Of course, the Gameplay itself will be where Blezinski will be hoping Gears of War 4 shines the most. With a mixture of a gritty single player/cooperative campaign and a gory and over-the-top multiplayer mode, it looks set to capture much of the ethos of the original series.

However, we do have to wonder how happy Cliffy B will be with the relatively colorful backdrops and characters. Although not quite like the cartoonish nature of many contemporary shooter releases, this Gears of War still does away with the de-saturated look, or “brownification,” as Blezinski calls it, of the original trilogy, for something more true to life.

How do you feel about how the near Gears of War is shaping up?