Lead designer of the original Gears of War trilogy Cliff Bleszinski takes to Twitter to share some positive thoughts on the game's upcoming fourth installment.

Cliff Bleszinski has taken to Twitter to tease that fans will be 'very pleased' with the upcoming Gears of War 4. The lead designer of the first three games in the series has apparently been discussing development of the new game with an unnamed friend who's helping write the sequel.

Bleszinski made his name in the 1990s with work of PC classics ranging from Jazz Jackrabbit to Unreal, but console gamers will likely know him as the father of Gears of War. The hugely popular franchise started out as a Halo stopgap for the Xbox 360, but has since blossomed into one of Microsoft's most valued IPs.

After a trilogy of Gears of War titles and some two decades, Bleszinski made the decision to leave Epic Games in 2012. The subsequent release of a spin-off subtitled Judgement failed to make much of an impact in terms of sales or critical reception.

Undeterred, Microsoft converted Black Tusk Studios into franchise vanguard The Coalition, commissioning a remake of the original Gears of War and a fourth mainline installment. The former released last year, while the latter is expected to launch later in 2016.

Now, Bleszinski seems keen to demonstrate that he's still a big fan of the series he helped get off the ground. It certainly sounds as if the designer has high hopes based on his conversations with one of the game's writing staff — which could be Tom Bissell, according to speculation from Gamespot.

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Bissell previously penned the script for Gears of War: Judgement alongside Rob Auten, and has also contributed to games like Batman: Arkham Origins and Tales From The Borderlands. A character called Hank Bissell appears in Gears of War 2 as a nod to the writer, thanks to a piece he wrote for The New Yorker about Bleszinski.

It's easy to write off Bleszinski's comments as good business sense from a designer that enjoys a close relationship with the studios, publishers, and individuals making Gears of War 4. However, the outspoken developer has been known to speak his mind more often than not.

Everything we've seen pertaining to Gears of War 4 thus far suggests that it'll be a worthy sequel. The new characters revealed in the game's E3 trailer certainly piqued the interest of many — if Bleszinski's comments about the game's story hold up, this could well be one of the biggest releases to hit in 2016.

Gears of War 4 will release in 2016 for the Xbox One.

Source: Cliff Bleszinski - Twitter (via GameSpot)