Gears Of War 4's Gnasher Is Changing, Here's How

Responding to player feedback, Gears of War 4 developer The Coalition today detailed one of the big changes coming to the Xbox One and PC game through its upcoming March update.

After getting "numerous reports" about "inconsistencies" with the Gnasher weapon, The Coalition is changing its properties to "more accurately match player's expectations."

"After some further investigation, we discovered that a mechanic that has been present in past Gears games to prevent shooting through walls was creating a perceived inconsistency with the Gnasher," The Coalition said in a blog post. "The Gnasher would typically have its pellets start from the stock of the gun and move through the barrel. This was to prevent users from shooting through walls. This pull back means that the spread is wider than is intuitive at the end of the barrel, and so players were missing some of the pellets when they thought they should have hit with the whole cluster."

The before-and-after image below shows that the Gnasher now fires from the end of the barrel instead of further back. This is important in close-quarters situations, as the previous setup meant that you could inexplicably not get a kill that you seemingly should have

Looking ahead, The Coalition said it will monitor how this change is received and whether or not it allows shots to be fired through walls.

"The impact of these changes will hopefully mean a more intuitive experience," the developer said. "There will be a slight change in feel of the gun, but we hope that people will see more clearly when they hit or miss a target."

For more on the Gnasher changes, check out the video above, in which multiplayer design director Ryan Cleven explains the tweaks and more.

In addition to the Gnasher changes, The Coalition is looking into Gears of War 4's social, core, and competitive playlists and will release tuning updates as needed. More information on specific changes will be announced after the March update arrives.