Gears of War: E-Day gets the official Cliff Bleszinski seal of approval

Gears of War: E-Day had its big coming out party today at the Xbox Games Showcase, with an extended look at gameplay and confirmation that it will be an “Xbox console exclusive“—still coming to PC, but not PlayStation 5. It was a decidedly nostalgic presentation, particularly for a game positioned as leading the way into the future of Microsoft’s console biz: “It’s only fitting that as we return to Xbox, we return to Gears,” Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said during today’s showcase.

And despite what sounded like some early consternation, the new game has been given the official seal of approval from original Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski—although he was clearly a little nervous about the whole thing.

Bleszinski’s first major success in the games industry came in the form of Jazz Jackrabbit, a long-ago hit for Epic Games, and his work on Unreal Tournament made him one of PC Gamer’s “Game Gods” of the year 2000, alongside American McGee, Stevie Case, and Alex Garden. But it was his work as the lead designer of the first three Gears of War games that really cemented his legacy.

Bleszinski left Epic in 2012, and while he’s not fully retired—he said so in another post today—he hasn’t been up to much on the game front in the years since aside from the ill-fated LawBreakers (which I will once again remind you was quite good). But he’s still a man of many opinions, about videogames as much as anything else, and he’s not afraid to put ’em out there.

“Those Locust are dying mighty easy, just sayin’,” Bleszinski posted on X during the first part of the showcase. After noting that Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford called the first Gears of War “a grinder” when he played it, Bleszinski continued, “Locust should have thick skin and armor and the game feedback loop should evolve to show that—damage on ’em/animation feedback, etc…”

Later on though, as the full-on Gears of War: E-Day Direct kicked into gear, his opinion shifted—not that he was being bluntly negative about it in the first place, but his tone on E-Day clearly lifted as the more detailed showcase got rolling.

“Yes, there’s that sweet destruction I was hoping for. The longer glimpse of what the Coalition has been up to is exciting. Super low cover is a nice touch too,” Bleszinski posted. He also enthused about the updated look of the Reavers and Seeders, and the increased fatness of the Boomers.

When all was said and done, Bleszinski liked what he saw. “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. Now get off my fucking lawn already!”

Gears of War: E-Day is set to launch on October 6, and is up for preordering now on Steam—but not, somewhat ironically, on the Epic Games Store.