Gears of War 5 Combat Feature Inspired by Bioshock Infinite

Gears of War 5 will be releasing soon, and players around the world will be able to dive into the latest entry in the legendary video game franchise. The combat of the Gears of War franchise has been one of its hallmark features that keep drawing players back with each new game. However, the way players initiate a combat situation in Gears of War 5 will be different from its predecessors thanks to some inspiration from Bioshock Infinite.

In an interview with GamesRadar, Gears of War 5 Creative Director Rod Fergusson explained how his time working on the fan-favorite game of Bioshock Infinite helped inspire the idea of players having the ability to initiate fights in Gears of War 5 instead of the enemies always beginning the battle.  

“In the previous Gears games, when you went into a room the Locust would immediately see you and begin to shoot at you. The minute you walk into a room they instantly knew you were there. In every Gears game you kind of open a door to a room and immediately slide into cover because bullets are coming. But now, in Gears 5, we have this idea of player-initiated combat,” said Fergusson. 

“That idea was something that Ken was very adamant about, player-initiated combat – to give the player the choice of how and when to engage,” Fergusson continued. “So we brought that to Gears 5. In certain circumstances and in certain battles, you can go into levels and you can actually see the Swarm occupying the space but they aren’t aware of you yet.”

The reasoning for this change in how combat will begin in Gears of War 5 is to allow for players to have many more choices when it comes to how they would like to approach a specific combat scenario and have the opportunity to plan an attack instead of being forced into fights like in previous Gears of war games. 

“It just creates a lot more choice and really changes up the gameplay. So you can actually play the game the way that your style supports,” said Fergusson. “I tend to like to stay at the back and then snipe everyone, but some people are frontliners and go right in. So now it’s up to you how you want to play.”

What are your thoughts on how combat will be initiated in Gears of War 5? Are you a fan of having control of when a fight starts, or would you rather have your enemies decide when the battle begins? Let us know over on Twitter at @primagames!