The new trailer for Harebrained's turn-based tactical combat game Battletech sets up a not-exactly-new tale of deposed backwater nobility going to war to reclaim their lost throne. But you're not the noble—you're the hired gun taking up arms for the cause not because you're a believer but because you've got bills to pay. It's a fairly bare-bones setup, but as an excuse to hustle around in hundreds of tons of stomping, fire-spitting death robots for cash. It'll do. More relevantly to our immediate interests, the trailer also brings us a release date of April 24.
"We’re massively thankful to our Kickstarter backers and fans of the MechWarrior legacy," Harebrained co-founder and Battletech creator Jordan Weisman said. "Without their patience, dedication and support, this modern turn-based Battletech wouldn’t soon be launching on PC and Mac."
One of the reasons the story isn't such a big deal, as Harebrained explained a couple of weeks ago, is that as a mercenary commander, the problems of this particular princess are not necessarily your own. It will presumably serve you well to back up her claim—a regular paycheck and first salvage rights may not be the most exciting way to earn a living, but it's better than watching the repo man tow away your Warhammer—but you're free to wander amongst the stars, taking contracts to earn space-bucks and glory as you see fit.
It's an approach that can really give a game like this legs if it's handled well, and it's showing signs that it will: We said in a January preview that it's "shaping up to be a great tactical combat game, and an absorbing mercenary sim." Which is no promise of anything, but definitely promising.
