BattleTech, the turn-based strategy game from Harebrained Schemes, formally launches for PC on April 24. Polygon has been playing a near-final version of the game for a couple of days already, so I cherry-picked a spoiler-free mission to share with you. Come watch me surgically disassemble four heavily armed enemy ‘Mechs.
It’s a big year for BattleTech fans, with four new games set in the classic universe all landing within months of each other. First up is a title that began life as a successful $2.8 million Kickstarter campaign. Design is being led by series co-creator Jordan Weisman and industry veteran Mitch Gitelman, who both worked of the MechCommander series of real-time strategy games.
I’ve played the original MechCommander, and all I can say is that BattleTech completely blows it out of the water. From the depth of the storytelling to the turn-based interpretation of the classic tabletop game, the game’s early missions feel fantastic.
This video includes a spoiler-free mission from very early in the game. We’ve cut out a few turns that made the action drag, ending up with a video that still clocks in around 45 minutes of raw gameplay. I’ll have a more complete set of impressions up next week.
In the meanwhile, be sure to bone up on BattleTech and MechWarrior lore with this annotated timeline, created with the help of the team at Piranha games.
