Gears of War 4: Fighting Through Insane Difficulties

I’m always up for a good challenge, and Gears of War 4 provides that challenge, especially when playing on Insane Difficulty. Originally this was going to be part of my review, but I decided to have a little more fun with it by focusing on the insanity for a short article.

I originally completed the Gears of War 4 campaign on Normal difficulty and still encountered a decent enough challenge. Of course, some of the challenges I faced were brought on by myself as I was often tempted to slide kick an enemy or snatch one from the other side of cover. These special moves prove to be a little too tempting to perform as it can put players in a bad spot, especially if they don’t clear out other enemies beforehand. However, it’s pretty much a move that shouldn’t even be attempted on Insane difficulty as the player is left exposed when performing the execution.

It’s the progression of stronger enemies and mixed enemy types that increases the difficulty and changes the atmosphere in Gears of War 4, especially on Insane difficulty. Usually playing cover-to-cover is a safe option, but if players get too close to approaching enemies it can sometimes force them out of cover and into bad situations. Having a good strategy for certain locations is key as well. This also makes a big difference for enemies that rush the player, forcing them to quickly move to a new area.

On Normal difficulty, some instances with specific enemies prove to be a great challenge as players attempt to maintain cover and control of the situation by keeping the enemy in front of them. It can be a difficult task, and if the situation starts getting out of control while playing on Insane difficulty, it can actually become a little bit scary.

The AI in Gears of War 4 can be very smart, and sometimes aggressive to the point where players don’t even see them coming. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten stabbed in the back because the enemy came out of nowhere. This happened to me on multiple occasions on Normal difficulty, and on Insane difficulty it just ends up being absolutely brutal.

Insane difficulty is a ton of fun to attempt. Thankfully Gears of War 4 does make it a worthy experience to try without being over the top, crazy difficult. I’ve encountered situations with enemies coming from multiple sides that caused a lot of problems, especially since players need to remain in cover 99% of the time. These type of situations leave the side and back of the player exposed which ends up being a little bit stressful.

Another challenge with Insane difficulty is ensuring the player maintains enough ammo since they are going to be often tempted to blind-fire rather than aim and shoot. Blind-fire is certainly the safer option, but it’s important to take chances and pop up for quick shots as often as possible to have better accuracy which also helps with conserving ammo. Additionally, it’s very important to find a good location to take cover around the edge of the map and let the friendly AI attract all the enemy fire, which provides the player with an easier time to shoot enemies.

But enough talk, and enough strategy. It’s time to show what players can expect by giving them a look at the first 30 minutes of Gears of War 4 on Insane difficulty. By the way, I also provide 15 minutes of Insane difficulty gameplay from a level further in the campaign without sharing spoilers.

Here’s the first 30 minutes of Gears of War 4 on Insane difficulty. I skip cut-scenes to avoid as many spoilers as possible while maintaining as much pure gameplay as possible during the recording.

Here’s 15 minutes of Act 3: Chapter 3. In this video I take a good couple of minutes to look around at the game’s scenery before engaging in combat on Insane difficulty.