Confussed - so is this a separate game?

[von_krysiak]

So why is this out as a separate game at 50 spacebucks rather than an expansion for Mechwarrior 5? Is there a roadmap to add more content on top of this or what was the thought process behind it?

[Geeves]

It's a completely new game on a different game engine.

[King Fossil]

Mechwarrior has an odd tradition of having multiple games share the same number. There are two Mechwarrior 2s. There are two Mechwarrior 4s. And now this is the second Mechwarrior 5.

[Omnes Interficere]

Welcome to MechWarrior! A bit of history:

MechWarrior (1989)
MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat (base game, 1995)
MechWarrior 2: Ghost Bear's Legacy (expansion pack, 1995)
MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries (stand-alone expansion, 1996)
MechWarrior 3 (base game, 1999)
MechWarrior 3: Pirate's Moon (expansion pack, 1999)
MechWarrior 4: Vengeance (base game, 2000)
MechWarrior 4: Black Knight (expansion pack, 2001)
MechWarrior 4: Inner Sphere 'Mech Pak (2002)
MechWarrior 4: Clan 'Mech Pak (2002)
MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries (stand-alone expansion, 2002)
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries (base game, 2019)
MechWarrior 5: Clans (stand-alone expansion, 2024)

*note* expansion packs were what we would now call DLCs, since back in the day the games (and hence the expansions) were sold in CDs.

Since 2002, the developers (different games were made by different developers) copied the format that MW2 did with releasing stand-alone expansions, which was basically the same 'mech shooter/sim game (and same engine) with different gameplay mechanics. For example, MW2:Mercs introduced randomly generated contracts/missions, MW4:BK introduced black market and a more structured salvaging (although refined in MW4:M). MW5:M was the first (and only) sandbox type MechWarrior game that actually allowed traveling all over the Inner Sphere (thanks to the folks at Sarna for the SUCKit even though those guys were never credited in the game). Which now brings us to MW5:C which is actually a full circle back to MW2 because it's the first game since '95 that's Clan-centric (remember the first teaser vid that was inspired by the MW2 box art).

There are tons of threads about the pros and cons of linear story vs sandbox games so let's not go there with this thread. Basically this game is what I would consider a love letter to old fans who grew up with the linear story games from 1989 until 2002, while serving as a jump in point for new players who never got to experience it in the hopes that said new players can get a glimpse of the rich lore of the universe (albeit through the eyes of one extremist faction) by making the narrative rigid. Where MW5:C strays from the rest of the series is that it used a different engine from the original (which in turn used a different engine from its immediate predecessor MechWarrior Online).

fun trivia: In fact, the original Heavy Gear game from Activision (the makers of MW, and all three MW2 games) used the same engine as MW2:M