MechWarrior 5: Clans Gets First Gameplay Video + GDC Talk

The MechWarrior series is one of the longest running series, with the first game having been released in 1989. And today, we have the trailer for the next entry in the franchise, MechWarrior 5: Clans, which comes straight from the GDC demo that we saw at the event:

This is a monumental game in the series. Not only is it the first game in over 10 years since the last traditionally designed narrative campaign in the series, but it's the first game in almost 30 years since we got to immerse ourselves in a Clan Invasion story. We also have a slate of great gameplay features to make this campaign much more intriguing to play, like customizable mechs, strategic emphasis during missions, first and third-person camera angles, and progression systems to encourage trying different customizations. The way you use the BattleGrid for real-time RTS-like tactics is also extremely cool.

At GDC, I got to talk to the team a little about the game. I was a little late to the appointment, so I didn't get to stay for as long as I could, but I did learn some interesting tidbits. The MechWarrior series has always been a single-player narrative-focused campaign experience, with the most recent entries detracting from that, so the team is very excited to get back to its roots. They have also moved forward to make the game as approachable as possible, with great implementations of keyboard and gamepad support, and streamlined features.

The team also mentioned that they are taking Steam Deck play into consideration. Honestly, this type of game feels like it would fit perfectly on the Steam Deck, being a more campaign-focused title. It would be awesome to play this one on a plane trip or when I have downtime in between meetings. On the Steam page for MechWarrior 5: Clans, it does mention the minimum requirements are a Ryzen 3 1200 CPU and GTX 770 GPU, so I have a very good feeling it will be Deck compatible. And they do specifically mention Internet is NOT required for Single Player gameplay, something I somewhat worry about with bigger games nowadays.

But, if the game is anything like the gameplay I got to see at GDC, you will not want to miss out on this epic entry!

MechWarrior 5: Clans will be released sometime this year and you can wishlist it now on Steam.

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