In the 31st century, Earth and the Inner Sphere, the planets that make up most of occupied space, are in decline. Feudal states have ruled the stars for hundreds of years, and endless wars, dominated by massive bipedal war machines called BattleMechs, drive humanity to cultural and technological regression. A new dark age seems inevitable until suddenly, from deep outside the habited periphery, a massive invasion force of unknown origin appears, and begins to systematically conquer the Inner Sphere.
In MechWarrior 5: Clans, you are one of these invaders.
Ahead of the game’s October 3 release date, Digital Trends visited Piranha Studios in Vancouver for two days of interviews and exclusive hands-on time with MechWarrior 5: Clans. It was eye-opening, as we saw a studio known for its wide-open action sandbox design spread its narrative wings and tell a human story in a world of building-sized robots.
Mech Ops: The Line
I’m sitting at a table with Russ Bullock, CEO of Piranha Games in a conference room at its office in Burnaby, just outside of Vancouver. We are joined by Paul Inouye and Alexander Iglesias, design manager and concept artist, respectively. Chris Lowry, narrative director, would join us via Zoom. This will be the third MechWarrior game the team here has created, following the online PVP focused MechWarrior Online from 2013, and 2019’s MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries. While MechWarrior 5: Clans shares a similar title as its predecessor, it’s an all-new game with very different goals in mind.
“Mercs from the get go was very much supposed to be the sandbox experience, where you drop in and have the entire universe to go and make your own story out of everything,” Lowry tells Digital Trends, “whereas this is very much in service of telling the story of the Clan invasion.”
The titular Clans are the descendants of Star League Defense Force, a military force that once unified humanity but disappeared into self-imposed exile before warring states tore the Inner Sphere apart. Their return, 250 years in the making, is one of conquest, and it’s the story of Clan Smoke Jaguar that takes center stage.
MechWarrior 5: Clans represents a shift away from a near limitless number of procedurally generated worlds of Mercenaries into a finite number of handcrafted levels with bespoke story beats and set pieces. That emphasis on story is the most significant difference between Clans and the other games in the series. It’s not just that they are adding story to it; it’s that a compelling narrative is specifically what they are trying to accomplish. As Inouye puts it, “The linear and more bespoke design mechanics allow us to be a lore more creative in terms of delivering story and narrative beats.”
It’s stories like All Quiet on the Western Front …
