Eurogamer said:

While they maintain that the devil is in the detail, Fergusson and Osieja both concede that Gears of War 4 is a little on the cautious side in terms of its core mechanics. "It's hard to [take risks] when you're taking over the franchise for the first time," protests Osieja. "We have no credibility. Outside of Rod and a couple guys we brought from Epic, none of us have made a Gears game before. Who the hell am I when it comes to Gears?"



Fergusson confesses that he had anticipated more pushback from returning players during the initial reveals and the Xbox Live beta. "I was expecting to have to defend ourselves more around whether we were credible as Gears of War maker. But people accepted it really fast, and I was like 'oh crap', and I had to pivot to 'look at all the new stuff!'" It was important, he adds, for The Coalition to "show respect" for the series before starting afresh - an evidently well-rehearsed choice of words that recasts Epic's trilogy as a war veteran, to whom due reverence must be paid.