Battletech, the new mech-based strategy game from Harebrained Schemes is now open for pre-order on Steam and GOG ahead of its release for Windows, OSX, and Linux in April. Early birds will indeed catch the worm, which in this case will be the “Shadowhawk Pack”, an exclusive pre-order pack including an alternative skin of the “Shadowhawk” mech and an exclusive wallpaper to mech up your desktop.
Available for 39.99 Euro standard edition, and the Digital Deluxe Edition for 49.99 Euro, the Deluxe Edition of Battletech provides the following exclusive content:
– Base Game
– Artbook
– Wallpapers
– Soundtrack
– PDX Forum Icon / Avatar
The Game
Players will take command of a mercenary team of “Battlemechs”, massive robotic agents of death and destruction, accepting missions for various factions involved in an endless interstellar civil war. The commander can choose up to a maximum of 4 mechs on a mission and customize each one with a variety of loadouts to suit their own personal play-style. The game will not feature a cover system but instead places an emphasis on intelligent load-out selection and strategic mech placement on the battlefield.
The field of view for the tactical layer is an overhead of the 3d battle-map, giving players vision over a large area of the map. While the strategic layer takes place from the commander’s console aboard the mercenary ship. Here commanders can view and select missions, repair and upgrade mechs, as well as collect and review information on the civil war as it plays out.
Development
Harebrained Schemes are developing the title with Paradox Interactive set to publish. Harebrained studio head Jordan Weisman is the guy who created the Battletech franchise back in 1984. Originally a tabletop board game the first video games based on the universe were the critically and commercially successful Mechwarrior titles.
The team, developers of the excellent Shadowrun series are adept in the turn-based genre and it seems strategy/mech fans could have a perfect match on their hands. The studio chose the turn-based genre for a mech game believing it gave the player a greater chance to think through decisions and play at a slower more methodical pace. Emphasizing realism and believability the Dev team paid special attention to the mechs slow deliberate movement pace, and ensuring their size was apparent despite the top down view.
The Trailer
With no specific release date, just April 2018, and having already been delayed once in its release, prospective buyers may be wary of parting with their cash. But given the teams recent quality work in Shadowrun, Weismans own connection with Battletech, and the positive reception to the most recent Beta test, this is worth keeping an eye on, though maybe not spending that precious pre-order money.
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