It's gorgeous, but lacks the depth and breadth of MW5: Mercenaries. I greatly enjoyed the 'career' function in MW5:M which creates thousands of hours of replay ability in a sandbox enviornment. This feels far to linear both in missions (narrative and being forced to fight in "canyons") to really enjoy.

I really enjoyed this one, and I say that after having also enjoyed MW5:Mercenaries. They're distinctly different.
* Clans is shorter, with a tighter story, and no sandbox.
* The multiplayer in Clans is far far better. Each player can customize mechs, which is a huge QoL increase.
* Mission variety is about the same. Mostly "go here and kill them", with the occasional "defend this" or "don't be detected by them".
* Progression is way way faster in Clans. You're getting a new chassis every 1-2 missions. It's honestly a bit too fast, I barely had time to try a few loadouts with a chassis before I was working on the next one. It definitely kept the game fresh, though.
* In Clans, credits are nigh-infinite so you can play around with all kinds of loadouts and try anything without fear. I really preferred this to Mercenaries where I had to worry about every bit of damage, agonize over changing loadouts, and balance active mechs vs upkeep costs. That absolutely fit the theme of Mercenaries, but I find Clans' approach to be more freeing to try new things.
* Lasers are simply too good when compared to Missiles and Ballistics. I tried a huge number of loadouts and always kept coming back to Lasers. They're just too efficient in terms of space, hardpoints, and heat.

If I had to sum up the comparison: Clans is shorter and more focused. It's far more freeing on a tactical level (it's easier to try new chassis' and loadouts) but far less on a strategic level (no factions, no infinite sandbox, no contracts to optimize).

Basically everything I wanted from a Mechwarrior game. Very different feel from Mercs which makes sense as this is the clan experience. Would like to see Mercs 2 with clan tech next.

The game is extremely unstable. Fatal Crashes every so often caused by Shaders issue. Fun when it works, but wouldn't recommend at this time.

Sucks, I Stopped playing right after the prologue on the first mission. They took everything that made MW5 Mercenaries good out of this game. Uninstalled this but I still have MW5 Mercenaries installed. the 3700 reviews says it all lol. No one is playing this.

I got the both endings then uninstalled the game. I wasn't disappointed but only because I went in expecting 5Mercs without the sandbox. I will complement the cutscenes, while the people sit in the uncanny valley, the mechs and spaceships look great. The character drama was dull, like reading a YA novel. The premise of the drama is interesting, a star of clan Smoke Jaguar MechWarriors reacting to the dire state of the Inner Sphere and developing Warden or Crusader perspectives before a dramatic clash, but the actual attempt was predictable, with both sides talking past each other rather than having an interesting dialogue. I think what I personally would have preferred is if they were closer to Perez. I like the idea of playing as the bad guys and seeing why they believe they are justified in what they do. Having him get snubbed in the manner that he did seems like he was just a scapegoat for the clan so things didn't get so heavy, but if that is the characters purpose then PGI shouldn't have picked Smoke Jaguar as the player faction. Perhaps Ghost Bear would have been better. I wouldn't recommend the game for any more than £20 as it was fun, but 5Mercs is better (in large part because of the mods).

I was an mwo kickstarter or whatever they did. I bought in before the game existed. I hate to feel like i am kicking them while they are down but this game just is not fun. The most fun part of clan mechs should be the customization of the mechs. The omnipods. They managed to make that process so clunky that I would rather not even try. no desire to experiment with loadouts because I needed a physical notebook to keep track of any attempt to optimize a mech.
the storyline is on rails and there is no open world. I feel that this is a missed opportunity. It would have added some replayability.
2 missions into the storyline and I already do not care for any of the characters. I know that the clan society was not terribly well thought out when it was introduced in the 80's TTRPG source material so this is not entirely the fault of the developer. There was not much to go with. That being said this dialog sounds like AI garbage.
It almost feels like the whole game is an AI hallucination of what a game for humans should be.

I've been playing MechWarrior games since MW2 and while I won't claim to be world class, I'm not terrible. I can focus down a CT at a pretty reasonable rate. Despite this, MechWarrior 5: Clans has earned the distinction of being the first game I've ever played that is so infuriatingly difficult at the later levels, that I've had to switch to easy mode just so I can get through it. Thanks for the insult devs, well done.

One of the many problems is the level design which consists of a series of choke points and arenas, limiting your strategic options in most cases to: cluster up at a choke point and snipe from a distance trying to draw the moronic CPUs in while your braindead teammates swarm around you blocking your shots, or charge in and die immediately. If you manage to not die immediately, don't worry, you will on one of the next 12 arenas you'll be expected to endure to complete a single level.

It's way too much, it stopped being fun, this game is now a chore.

MechWarrior 5: Clans is a wonderful addition to the MechWarrior franchise that brings the series back to its roots as a story-driven narrative. This is something that long-time Battletech and Mechwarrior fans have been asking for a long time. In 2018 we got the turn-based Battletech, but we have not had a MechWarrior game with a story since MechWarrior 4 in 2001!

MechWarrior Clans is a great game, and a must-buy for a Battletech fan that's looking for a story-driven MechWarrior campaign.


In Clans you're playing as MechWarrior Jayden, a cadet from Smoke Jaguar. We've never had a PC game focused on the Smoke Jaguars before, so it's really cool that they decided to make them the focus of the game. Overall I find that the cutscenes are really well done, and the story is cool and engaging. Piranha didn't pull any punches with the story in this game. It is steeped in Battletech lore and history. Even things like the jumpship design and uniforms for the officers are perfectly done to be accurate to Battletech lore. If you are new to Battletech, you might have to head over to Sarna.net to read up on some of the terms, locations, and places that are mentioned. The game is great about not explaining everything to you. They just let the story unfold.

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries had procedurally generated missions. They were fun to play, but could get repetitive. Clans has specifically crafted missions. Many of them have a story that unfolds as you play the mission. You have banter between the warriors in your star, and the commanders who are giving you orders.


The game is just very fun. The action is great. It's fast-paced and also tactical at the same time. The game can also be quite challenging. I started the game on high difficulty, but I eventually had to turn it down after failing missions on the first planet several times. I also feel like the difficulty is fair. When I'm having a hard time with a mission, often it was because I rushed in too fast, or sometimes I needed to do a better job ordering my star mates, or choose a different assortment of mechs for the mission.

Graphically, Clans shines. The mechs look fantastic, buildings look great, weapon effects and explosions are awesome. Some of the foliage doesn't hold up that well when you get close up, but that's really a minor quibble. In the cutscenes there seems to be something off with the mouth animations of the characters, like their teeth are too big or something. It looks a little strange and is just a bit distracting.

The sound design is awesome. Weapon sounds are great, the music is really fun. The sound of your mech stomping through the landscapes and cities is wonderful. If I had a quibble it's that the game can get a bit loud sometimes, which can make things tough if you're playing multiplayer and you're on voice-chat with your friends.

The customization available to your mechs is amazing. The developers did a great job threading the needle for making the Mechs lore-accurate while also giving the player lots of options to customize and upgrade mechs. You start off with the "Prime" variant of a mech. Each location on the mech has various hardpoints for lasers, missiles, and ballistic weapons. You are able to customize these hardpoints with different weapons. If you don't like the hardpoint setup, you can unlock extra variants of the mechs, which have different hardpoint layouts. Keep the default variant, or customize it some more!

During missions you have control over your star-mates using a tactical map. This really works well, and I love how it lets you order them around a miniature map. It's simple, but effective. The AI seems at least competent at following your commands.

A word should be said about multiplayer. Multiplayer with this game was really well done. Your friends can drop into your single-player missions on demand. You can form up before a mission, and assign players to mechs. The only limitation is that only the host can customize mechs. So when your friends join you, they won't be able to bring their customized mechs with them. Multiplayer has been incredibly stable, and we didn't have any issues with disconnects.


Most of my negative feedback for the game has nothing to do with the action of the game itself. It's what happens outside the action, and outside the story.

The interface is the biggest issue. The game suffers from "Consolization" where the interface for buying, selecting, customizing mechs etc. have been designed around console controls. On a PC interface you could have one screen where you could point and click to do what in Clans is spread out over 3 different selection screens. Sorting options for weapons and equipment don't exist, and the icons for them are very large, so you end up scrolling through a long list of lasers or missile launchers to find what you're looking for. It can also be hard to find the exact menu screen you're looking for. As a prime example of this, I could not find the screen where I could unlock new variants of my mechs. Before I finally found it, I thought it simply was not there, and I had to progress in the story before it was unlocked for me.

The AI for your star is pretty good. That said, during missions they always follow you in a V pattern. There are no options for other formations. This means that no matter what mech you are piloting, YOU are always at the front of the formation. So if you would like to play, for example, a fire support Mech who takes long range shots, or uses long range missiles, then you'll need to constantly order your star-mates to move up ahead of you. It also means that you're the most likely mech in your star to take heavy damage, since enemy mechs are going to see you first. I would have liked them to add other formations like a line or circle that you could set for your star. That would go a long way towards improving this.

Multiplayer in the game is done really really really well for the most part. So I am VERY surprised that there seems to be no way to type messages to other players and no in-game voice chat option. These are really surprising omissions to me. You need to use Steam chat or some other voice chat system with your friends in the game. It would be really cool if voice was built into the game, even with a "radio" filter on voices for immersion like I've seen done in some other games.

Mechwarrior Clans continues Piranha's strange and unexplained trend for almost ignoring joysticks and HOTAS setups. There is some extremely limited native support, and players have come together to do some advanced support... but it's still very difficult to do. The game just doesn't have enough control bindings to setup a joystick and throttle how you would really like. I spent time on this, and gave up and decided I needed to stick with a keyboard and mouse.

I typically avoid posting negative reviews, but I feel it's important to share my experience with this game, especially since I did enjoy it for the most part.

There are, however, a few significant flaws that need attention. First, let's talk about the Battle Grid. On paper, it seems like a brilliant tool for organizing your Star of Clan mechs and adding a layer of tactical depth to the gameplay. Unfortunately, it’s riddled with glitches. In my experience, the game would crash every time I tried to execute more complex actions, such as sending my mechs to higher ground or giving them advanced orders. This kind of instability made it difficult to fully enjoy what could have been a fantastic feature. Additionally, the control area on the Battle Grid feels very narrow, which detracts from the overall tactical experience. It’s clear that there’s a lack of strategic flexibility, which left me feeling somewhat limited in how I could approach battles.

Another frustrating aspect of the game was the endless canyons. At times, it felt like I was back in the early days of Call of Duty, where the paths for progression were very linear. This became even more exasperating as the game went on, particularly because you’d often find yourself stuck waiting through dialogue sequences—sometimes for extended periods—due to the restricted pathways. It didn’t help that there were frequent issues with gate mechanics and outdated waypoint markers, which only added to the confusion and delayed progress.

On the bright side, the game does have some redeeming qualities. The controls are straightforward and easy to grasp, which is a plus, especially for new players. The feeling of piloting a massive 100-tonne mech in the heat of battle is immersive, and there's a certain thrill in having to prioritize targets and make quick decisions in the middle of chaotic skirmishes.

All in all, while the game has its moments and offers some enjoyable experiences, the technical issues and lack of strategic depth ultimately leave me with a sense of disappointment. Unfortunately, I can't fully recommend it at this time.