Mechwarrior 5: Clans

 I feel like Mechwarrior 5: Clans is the result of someone asking "okay, now what if we made a game for Battletech lore fans?" It eschews the freedom of the previous MW5: Mercenaries in favor of a narrative game that is laser focused on some big, pivotal elements of the setting lore around the early Clan Invasion. I know enough that it's difficult for me to judge, but I feel like anyone not familiar with at least the basics of the Clans could easily be lost.

Under the hood, the game looks better to me than Mercs - I believe there was an engine upgrade involved. As all the missions are crafted rather than generated, the maps and mission flow are easily as good or better than the best missions in Mercs. A lot of breadth is lost along the way, though. There aren't any random missions you can run. The mech roster available to the player is pretty limited by comparison (to the 16 front line mechs used by the faction at the time). The mech customization feels a little stifling in comparison, which is somewhat counter to the in-setting benefits of omnimechs just because previous mech bays were gamified to the point of being more flexible than what's in the lore. Because of the narrative structure of the missions, I don't think there's really any use for lighter mechs once you get access to heavier ones. There's also the underlying issue that the setting and lore of the game have largely been defined in service of the tabletop game, and there are invariably major differences in how one builds a video game version of that.

But... I'll be damned if that narrower scope isn't leading to a very atmospheric game that, for all its flaws, feels deeply Battletech. For a certain kind of fan, at least, it's a pretty incredible experience.