We’re less than two weeks away from the launch of a new BattleTech game, and developer Piranha Games has even more to share with us today. MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is bringing a lot of heavily requested features to the iconic BattleTech line of games. Since the 1980’s when the BattleTech brand first debuted, dozens of games have come out starring its iconic line of giant destructive robots. The game has been delayed twice though, pushed out of 2018 the first time, before again being pushed back to 2020. Piranha also announced that the PC game would be an Epic Games Store exclusive. Fans were not pleased with this.
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries has all of the Mechs you know and love, from the Atlas to the Awesome and everything in between. But what’s the point of a game about giant robots if you can’t have fun ripping entire armies to shreds. Or stomp your way through a city and leave a path of laser-bathed destruction in your wake. This new game from PGI delivers all that and more. And in their aim to craft such an experience, Piranha wants some help from the fans.
Something that BattleTech games have lacked in the past, even though many were great, was a scenario editor and other communal creative tools. MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries changes that by building a full scenario editor directly into the game. The story-based missions that comprise the singleplayer and co-op base game are actually just one small sliver of the content in this beast.
The scenario editor can create custom missions with entirely unique objectives and enemy compositions, all taking place on unique maps. Creators can customize the weather and terrain to their liking, as well as add and remove some elements like terrain decorations and buildings by changing the theme of the map. And of course, enemy strength and overall toughness can be tweaked as well. Each map generates a unique seed that can then be shared.
Building off of the popularity of BattleTech and MechWarrior Online, Piranha is looking to craft the ultimate experience for fans of the tabletop brand and related properties. The company behind the project has released plenty of trailers over the last few months. There was some footage showing terrain destruction. And before those delays we mentioned earlier were announced, the developers showed off a full 10 minute snippet of more gameplay. The developer also recently showcased some of the fast and brutal combat.