MechWarrior 5 Legend of the Kestrel Lancers DLC Review – More of the Same

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries – Legend of the Kestrel Lancers, from Piranha Games Inc. and publisher Sold Out, is the latest DLC for the first person mech combat game MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries. There is a good amount of content available in Legend of the Kestrel Lancers for fans of MechWarrior 5, but there is little here that would shift otherwise disinterested parties to climb into the cockpit of a Battle Mech. This is a DLC for fans of the wider Battletech universe and for serious players who, in-between modding MechWarrior 5, will find the new options expand the potential of Mercenaries’ gameplay. For the rest, the quantity of Kestrel Lancer’s content must be weighed as an expansion, not a revolution, of the core game.

Set during the expansive 4th Succession War, Legend of the Kestrel Lancers allows players to participate in one of the biggest conflicts in the Battletech universe. For serious fans of Battletech, at least those able to pull themselves away from the best MechWarrior games, being able to play through a 14 mission campaign centered around this story critical conflict will be great fun. For those less in tune with Battletech lore, the narrative of the campaign is engaging and easy to follow, though probably won’t have the same impact.

What will matter are the scale of the fights that players can get involved in with Legend of the Kestrel Lancers. MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is already an explosive game, with mechs charging and hovering across massive battlefields firing lasers, rockets, and slugs at each other from great distances. Kestrel Lancers brings it up a notch by including All Out War scenarios which can be quite spectacular, making players feel like they are participating not in a skirmish between rival mercenary gangs, but massive battles. Combined with the new biomes, including the fantastic and expansive urban environments, Kestrel Lancers can really bring out the tension and excitement of piloting giant machines in brutal life and death struggles.

Alongside the release of this DLC, but tied into how gameplay now feels in MechWarrior 5, are two key gameplay changes. Melee combat in MechWarrior 5 is now an option, and Mech Switching allows players to jump between friendly AI mechs on the fly. Melee feels relatively balanced with shooting after a few games. Boxing can be a nice way to deal some explosive damage, especially in the confines of the mega city, but also leaves pilots relatively vulnerable. Mech Switching is simply an excellent addition. Allowing players to flit between mechs, similar to Enlisted’s squad mechanics, adds a layer of tactical flexibly missing from the core MechWarrior 5 experience. It is important to know that these features come free without the Kestrel Lancers DLC, but they mesh well with the new larger battles and biomes present in the new content.

What Legend of the Kestrel Lancers comes down to is how much players enjoyed the spectacle and gunplay of MechWarrior 5, and how much they want to extend their time with the game through a new, and definitely interesting, story, and bigger battles. The gameplay is fun, tight, and tactically sound, but it was in the core game as well. The DLC offers more of the same, hampered by a lack of new mechs and diverse missions, but what is present in Kestrel Lancers is fun and purpose-built to give fans more of what they like. If players are only dipping their toes into MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, the base game has plenty to offer before players need to judge this DLC’s worth.

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries – Legend of the Kestrel Lancers launched on Playstation, Xbox, and PC platforms on September 23rd. Screen Rant was provided with a PC game key for the purposes of this review.

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