Is MechWarrior 5 Clans Truly Newbie Friendly Test Results

Is MechWarrior 5 Clans Truly Newbie Friendly? Test Results

The Judge John Hodgman podcast has a principle stating that people like what they like, and you can’t force someone to like something. This principle is known as the Tom Waits Principle. I constantly thought about this principle while trying to open myself up to MechWarrior 5: Clans.

MechWarrior 5: Clans seems very good at what it sets out to do, and I do get the sense that it is relatively accommodating to newcomers compared to other entries. However, despite its stand-alone nature and alleged newcomer friendliness, it did not convert me into a loadout tactician or stomp-and-shoot enthusiast.

Game Details

Developer/Publisher: Piranha Games
Platform: Windows, Xbox X|S, PlayStation 5
Release Date: October 16, 2024
Rating: T for Teen (13+)
Price: $50 on PC
Links:

Gameplay Experience

MechWarrior is the game series that draws from the BattleTech universe, which started with a wargaming title in 1984. MechWarrior 5: Clans is a stand-alone game with a real story rather than some very era-specific cutscenes tagged onto combat scenarios. You play as Jayden Smoke Jaguar, a genetically engineered member of the Smoke Jaguar Clan, and move through training, deployment, and eventually raise questions about the morality of reclaiming the Inner Sphere on behalf of your Clan’s prescriptive concept of humanity.

While reviewers who made it much further into MechWarrior than me seem to dig how the narrative plays out, I found myself holding down keys to skip cutscenes and mostly ignoring in-mission dialogue. Again, there’s a whole lot of context to the plot dynamics I’m missing, not having any BattleTech background.