In MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries you will adopt the role of a rookie MechWarrior pilot thrust into combat as the Third Succession War continues to fracture the Inner Sphere. Take contracts from the factions of your choosing and engage in tactical, first-person, PvE ‘Mech combat through an immersive, career-based Mercenary campaign driven by player choice. Victory, prestige, and profit will not only require skill on the battlefield, but in the acquisition, maintenance, and enhancement of your BattleMechs. Set for release in 2018, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is under development by a dedicated development team at Piranha Games. MechWarrior Online, Piranha’s existing F2P multiplayer-focused tactical ‘Mech combat game, will continue its ongoing live development by the MWO team at Piranha.
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Only saving grace is that the combat is the best it's been in a Mechwarrior game, but at that point just play Mechwarrior Online instead.
I still enjoy it
I'd sort of given up on the hope of ever finding a 'clunker' mech game that wasn't Brigador. Everything else on offer is has been a hyper-paced fight simulator that would honestly be more fitting for shonen fighters than most of Bandai's actual outings on that front. Sure, there is Battletech, but being a tactics title it didn't land the same way.
Lo and behold, Steam's discovery queue pukes this on my lap right as it goes on sale.
This, right here, is what I always wanted.
As opposed to "mechs as demigods that dart around like Goku", MW5 is my preferred flavour of mech media. That is to say; the mechs here behave more like an evolution of tanks than anything else.
Gameplay is slower and more methodical, with a focus on positioning and part-based damage than simply vomiting 100s of missiles into someone - at least until Clans comes out, I guess. Mech customization is less "pick your flavour of murder" and more "carefully balance a war machine in the hopes that it'll make it through a sortie without sustaining 1.5mil worth of damages". The careful balancing act between weight and weapons is a joy (especially with Yet Another Mechlab which allows for engine recoring), and really being able to turn a mech you scooped out of a battlefield into your mech feels amazing.
Really, I'm struggling to say anything that isn't just variations on "OOOOOOHHHHHH THIS IS MY DREAM MECH GAME FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK". It's... Great! I love it! I've been dreaming about a game like this since I was a little creature! The Cicada is still my wife!
I hope Clans don't fuck up the balance like they did in the actual source material!