The new Gears of War game currently in development at Microsoft’s Black Tusk Studios in Vancouver is shaping up well, according to Xbox executive Aaron Greenberg. He visited the studio recently, and reports on Twitter that he left feeling “very impressed” with what he saw.

He adds that the Gears of War franchise is “in good hands with a very talented team.” Microsoft acquired the Gears of War franchise from Epic Games earlier this year, and put Black Tusk Studios to work on the game, which will presumably be released for at least the Xbox One.

Though Cliff Bleszinski–an instrumental designer on the original trilogy–is not working on the new game (he has his own thing now), Microsoft has hired veteran Gears of War producer Rod Fergusson to lead development for it.

It is still early days for the new Gears of War game (it’s in the concept/prototype phase), and no assets for the title have been released yet beyond some purposefully blurry concept art. Fergusson says, however, that the new game will retain the essence of the Gears of War series while also pushing the franchise forward. He also says that Microsoft’s acquisition of the series allows Black Tusk to “expand its breadth and do a lot more stuff with it.”