MechWarrior 5: Clans Reviews
MechWarrior 5: Clans offers a mix of intense mech battles and character-driven storytelling. You play as Jayden, a rookie pilot leading a team against the Great House Lords. While the game features impressive customization options and engaging combat, some missions can feel repetitive and the story has familiar clichés. Overall, it’s a solid addition to the series that balances action and story, making it enjoyable for both new and returning fans.
MechWarriors 5: Clans abandons its roots and leans more towards arcade-style gameplay. And that's not a bad thing, but fans of the brand probably won't be super pleased.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
MechWarrior 5: Clans is a fun new entry in the MechWarrior franchise, even if you don’t know all the intricacies of the world and its history. Players can get lost trying to figure out how to customize everything from their characters, to their mechs, to what things to research — as there is a lot to unpack here. I do recommend the game, it’s one of the better MechWarrior games out there. If you enjoyed MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, don’t pass this one up either.
MechWarrior 5: Clans is a Mech game for Mech fans. If you want a game that portrays these mechs for the whatever-ton steel beasts they are, then this is the game for you. The storyline takes a bit of a backstep, but the characters are interesting enough, and the gameplay more than makes up for a somewhat vague storyline. There are some issues, such as the friendly AI doing some things that will make your life difficult, and the performance seems far worse than it should be, but if you have a PC to brute-force through the performance issues, the game overall is solid. I would have given MechWarrior 5: Clans an 8/10 for gameplay, but the severe performance issues and crashes lower it to a 7/10 gameplay score for me. Unfortunately, the above-mentioned performance means that the game is unplayable on the Steam Deck, and given how poor the performance is, I don't think it'll just be a case of "a patch will fix it" for this one.
Mechwarrior V: Clans is a standalone title that don't replace its predecessor but rather enriches the experience in a complementary way, and it's a significant addition to the saga.
Review in Italian | Read full review
MechWarrior 5: Clans may disappoint the avid fans of Mercenaries due to the loss of the vast sandbox space and less gameplay freedom, which impacts the gameplay a little. However, the game compensates that with one of the strongest narratives ever within the BattleTech lore. The campaign is immersive, with excellent presentation, sharp writing and cutscenes that keep the player glued. For those who already know a little about the BattleTech universe, Clans is a great entry point. Even though the game doesn't make an effort to help the player fit in immediately, the story development is so captivating that, at the end of the campaign, you'll (likely) be familiar with the dialect and conflicts of the Clans, feeling like you're part of that universe.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
“Mechwarrior 5: Clans” is a labor of love from fans by fans. You might not get some plot points due to its story being so embedded in Battletech Lore, but the action-packed missions and a departure from procedural generated maps makes it worth the time. Just don’t expect to learn everything from the get-go. It’s learning curve can be steep and you better get ready to lose a couple, or a lot of missions.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Still, at the end of the day this is an approachable and enjoyable entry into a genre that doesn’t really get a lot of love these days. If they manage to optimize things enough to fix the performance issues you could probably consider it a 9 from me, but as it is I can only mostly recommend it.
MechWarrior 5: Clans trades the random missions of Mercenaries for a handcrafted campaign delivering high customization and tense strategic battles.
If you're a MechWarrior series fan, you won't be disappointed with MechWarrior 5: Clans. This is a game you've been waiting for; made with passion and love and that's truly visible at every corner. For newcomers, there's a lot of fun to be had here too so definitely give it a go if you have an active Game Pass subscription.
With such a strong focus on narrative, and a simplification of the more sim-like elements, it may leave die-hard BattleTech fans feeling a bit let down with a far more arcade-like MechWarrior game then perhaps they wanted. The accessibility and approachability of MechWarrior 5: Clans then, may come at a cost – at least for now. It may just however, lead to a mainstream rejuvenation the series so sorely deserves, and with its launch into Xbox Game Pass, bring a whole new generation into our Sibko. If there’s any developer that deserves to continue that charge into the 32nd Century, it’s Piranha Games.
MechWarrior 5: Clans takes everything good about MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, but makes it better in every regard. The metagame has its own risks and rewards, every mission has stakes that can be felt immediately, or later in the campaign. MechWarrior 5: Clans is nostalgic and reminiscent of past games while being a great entry point for newcomers. Piranha Games has been working on the MechWarrior franchise for a decade now, and MechWarrior 5: Clans is their magnum opus. It’s a culmination of everything they’ve built and learned for one of the most fully fleshed out MechWarrior games to ever exist.