The next Gears of War game for Xbox One developed by Black Tusk will hearken back to the core essence of the series, Black Tusk producer Rod Fergusson has said.

“With Black Tusk, we have to show that we have a legitimate claim to this IP and be able to show we know how to do it right before we do it differently,” Fergusson told Polygon in an interview. “There are some things that even though people try to copy us, we don’t think they’ve nailed. I think the cover system, there’s a feel to a Gears of War game that I’ve yet to find in another game where it feels the same. Whether it’s the fluidity, the weight, the heaviness to the characters, the way that it feels like to be in cover, the roadie run character, those sorts of things.”

Fergusson didn’t share any details about where and when in the Gears of War universe the next game will take place, but did mention that the previous games left big gaps in the timeline and many unanswered questions.

“There’s lots of stuff, backstory from the E Day, Pendulum Wars all the way to Gears 3, there’s a lot of room in there,” he said. “But I don’t know if that’s the place to go. I think there’s lots of other places to go as well.”

Fergusson was an executive producer on the first two Gears of War games and a director of production on Gears of War 3. In 2012 he left Epic Games and joined Irrational Games, where he helped the team ship BioShock Infinite. Fergusson then launched a new studio for 2K in the San Francisco area, but left that job for Black Tusk before we found out what he was working on.

Microsoft, which purchased the Gears of War franchise from Epic Games earlier this year for an undisclosed sum, has yet to announce a release date for the game.

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