Gears of War 4 was being imagined as a first-person shooter at one point. The Gears series is one of the biggest franchises on Xbox and is a foundational piece of the brand. While the original Xbox had Halo, the Xbox 360 needed another big exclusive franchise and found it in Gears of War. The series was dark, moody, gory, and incredibly different from the first-person sci-fi franchise that was Halo. However, this variety was essential to ensuring Xbox’s success and helped give the platform a reputation for having awesome shooters of all shapes and sizes. The series has expanded a lot since its inception with five mainline games, a prequel game, and even an RTS spin-off.
However, Gears of War 4 almost shook things up in a big way. When speaking on the XboxEra podcast (via VGC), former Gears of War lead Cliff Bleszinski shared what his vision for the fourth game looked like before he departed from Epic Games and the series got sold off to Xbox for good. He noted that he considered taking the series to a first-person perspective and put the visual of chainsawing a locust in first-person in the minds of the audience. Unfortunately, it never came to be and it seems unlikely that it will anytime soon. Perhaps a first-person Gears game is possible eventually, but it would probably be a spin-off as it would dramatically alter the gameplay of the Gears franchise. As already noted, this has been done before, but it was kept to a spin-off.
A Gears of War first-person shooter would likely mean removing the cover shooter mechanics the series is known for amongst many other things. It would be a pretty significant retooling of how Gears of War feels, but it is a cool idea on paper if someone could find that balance. Either way, the next Gears of War game appears to be in the works, but it’s unclear when we’ll see it.
What do you think of a first-person Gears of War? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
