One of the things I noticed when 4e came out was that it "played" in any way I wanted to mold it to. If I was in the mood for Gonzo High Fantasy I could easily do it. If I was in the mood for gritty low fantasy I could take it there. It very plainly showed its design assumptions and with that in mind I could tweak to taste. But every WotC adventure I saw for it seemed to be designed with the late 3e paradigm in mind. Every adventure "felt" stagnant in its design. I think it also had to do with the delve format for encounters. It gave the impression that everything was a series of combat encounters.
Hm, yeah. I'm not sure 4e does "WFRP Rat Catcher" level of grim'n'gritty, but I'm using it for blood-soaked Heavy Metal swords & sorcery, and traditional Forgotten Realms high fantasy, and it's great at both. It was decent for old school earthy-high-fantasy sandboxing, too.