The first Gears of War 4 trailer is accidentally meme-tastic

Hello Locusts my old friends…

Gears of War is a series known for its fantastic trailers. In particular, the very first game’s “Mad World” ad is remembered to this day for being fantastically directed and well-made.

With Gears of War 4 on the horizon, Microsoft has finally released the game’s first trailer. Surely we can expect another memorable, emotional video to introduce us to our new protagonist, JD Fenix?

Well, yeah, it is a neat trailer. But it’s also a big ol’ internet meme.

Up top, you can see JD Fenix — son of Gears veteran Marcus — look back on his childhood with his father, and then immediately shoot a monster in the head. Much like the original Gears of War trailer, the action is juxtaposed by the slow, sad song playing.

Whereas the original had “Mad World” by Gary Jules, this time, it’s a cover of “The Sound of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkle. You may not know the song itself, but you’ll probably know the first line: “hello darkness my old friend…”

So the big question here is whether using this meme was intentional. It’s popped up most recently in a tweet made on the official Dark Souls III account, so someone at Microsoft had to know about it, right? Right?!

We may never know. Either way, Gears of War 4 will be launching on October 11 for Xbox One, and unfortunately it’ll probably have fewer memes.

Hello darkness my old friend…