GamerEscape

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to sit down and speak with Piranha Games about the upcoming MechWarrior 5: Clans, and what I saw certainly drew my attention. I immediately wishlisted it as I awaited further news, and so when the opportunity to try a hands-on sneak peek popped up I had to hop right on that. Sadly there’s still a bit of a wait before the full game releases, but with this I have a clearer idea of what to look forward to.

MechWarrior 5: Clans follows Jayden and his star of recent MechWarrior recruits, rookie soldiers eager to prove themselves on the field of battle. The titular clans are descendants of a group that had left their home planet in a region now called the inner sphere and survived in secret among the stars, but shortly after Jayden completes his training they receive an unwelcome visitor: A ship from the inner sphere has infiltrated clan space. Now that they’ve been found, the clans decide the only course of action is a pre-emptive invasion before they’re hunted down.

The preview I played covered the prologue training and the first major chapter of the game, the liberation of the planet Santander from the self-proclaimed Pirate King Valasek. As mentioned in the prior interview there is definitely an emphasis on story, with lengthy cutscenes between missions and plenty of banter during them.

While I do have some qualms with the writing, namely that the characters aren’t particularly deep from the portions I saw, overall it does a fantastic job of bouncing between the greater conflict of the invasion, inter-clan politics, and the more personal story of how Jayden and his sibkin are adjusting to life in their new galaxy. The jargon and terminology is also presented in a way that comes across as believable and natural, always reminding you that this is a culture alien to our own and trusting the player will be able to pick up the meaning through context. 

Enough about the story, you’re probably wondering how it plays. If you’re familiar with certain other large mech series, know that you’re in for a slower and more deliberate experience. You’re piloting a multi-ton juggernaut of steel, and it really makes you feel it. Turning is easy enough, and you can turn your cockpit independently of your movement as well, but forward and back is a throttle where you set your desired speed and your mech slowly accelerates or decelerates. Your weapons are also on a cooldown, aside from the close range machine guns, so you’re encouraged to make every shot count.

So, despite being on two legs, the experience is more like piloting a ship than playing a first-person shooter. That said, I would hardly call it a detriment. This is very similar to how I recall earlier games in the series playing, and this slower and more deliberate approach is part of what sets it apart.

You’ll also be joined by the other members of your star on most missions, and by default they’ll follow and join in when you fight but you’re given quite a few control options. There’s a suite of quick options you can access as well as a battle map you can use for an overhead view of the arena where you can command them to move like an RTS.

That said, of all the missions I played I only found one where this sort of commanding was very useful. Quite often there isn’t really much going on outside of where you’re at, and the action is still going while you’ve got the map open. I frequently just found myself sticking to the tried and true method of commanding my entire star to focus fire on my target, which is admittedly an extremely effective way to whittle down enemy forces and ensure the most dangerous threats are dealt with first. That said, the true best option for controlling your teammates is to take advantage of the co-op multiplayer to grab four of your friends to take over. Sadly I didn’t really get to explore this option, but I am looking forward to the carnage that five skilled players can unleash.

Of course, piloting your mech is only a small part of what you’ll be doing, and like any mech game worth its salt, MechWarrior 5: Clans boasts some robust customization options. Between missions you’ll get merits you can use to upgrade your repair and science teams as well as unlock mechs. Those science teams can use salvage you find mid-mission to upgrade your equipment, you can use credits to purchase new mechs and equipment and customize your loadout, and lastly you’ll earn experience both for your pilots and for each mech chassis you use.

For the most part it’s a system that gives you enough room to explore what sort of build you would like to play while giving guide rails in place to keep things from getting TOO lopsided… but I did find myself having a few issues here and there. Experience for both pilots and mechs can be farmed as much as you like, albeit a bit slowly, by redoing missions in the battlesim. But both merits and credits are extremely finite, only coming from doing a mission for the first time, and with repairs using the same resource you use for upgrading your research and unlocking mechs I couldn’t help but feel like I should just reload if I took a lot of damage in a mission.

A manual would also be really appreciated, if only to give myself an overview of all my options and an idea of what categories of weapons are useful in which kinds of circumstances. I’m sure once the game is actually out the community will get right on compiling that sort of information, but from the point of view of a new player going in completely blind it got a little frustrating seeing a bunch of chassis and omnipod options and not really having much of an idea of if this new option would feel different or change my approach in a meaningful way.

I do wish I had an easier time with picking a customization that suits me because this is a game that really needs it. MechWarrior 5: Clans doesn’t pull its punches, and even early on when you’re ostensibly still in the learning phase I found myself getting rocked pretty hard on the regular difficulty. I did eventually turn it down and found it feasible… and I can only imagine the kind of preparation you’ll need to handle the harder difficulty.

But, to Mechwarrior’s credit, it really makes me want to try. I spent about ten hours over the course of this preview, I’m worlds better than when I started, and I’ve barely scratched the surface of the options available to me. I know with some more time spent trying out the various types of weapons and equipment I can find a loadout that works for me. I’ve been piloting a medium class this whole time, maybe I’ll try a lighter mech with longer range laser options and see if I can manage to train myself to snipe…

Lastly, the game looks simply gorgeous in that industrial kind of way. Lush jungles and rivers, expansive deserts and rocky cliffs, I didn’t get to see a huge variety of environments during the preview but plenty of care and attention was paid toward making each area feel unique. Of course, gorgeous is probably not the right word for this. The mechs are weathered, you’ll march through structures cobbled together from prior wrecks, many of the cast have scars or other things keeping them from being conventionally attractive. It is a world of rust and pain and making whatever you can find work, all presented in high detail and I love it for that.

After trying out the preview, I found myself more excited than ever for the upcoming release on October 17th. Thankfully what few gripes I had will be sorted simply by having a wider community of folks playing and more missions to go on. I can already say with what little I’ve seen of the next chapter’s world I’m eager to see what the missions look like. Until then, I’ve got some practice to do. See you all on the battlefield in a few weeks!

Preview copy provided by Piranha Games for PC. Screenshots taken by writer.