What sort of robot games you would love to see by next-gen?

Hello

The two science fiction robot game franchises I would personally love to see are Transformers and Gundam because I grew up loving them both since my childhood.

For the new Transformers game, I would love to see it be based on Transformers G1, Unicorn, or War For Cybertron Trilogy. Meanwhile, for the new Gundam game, I want it to be based on the Universal Century series.

It'll never happen, but a new proper Front Mission game.

I also wouldn't sneeze at a new Armored Core, but FROM are on that Souls money now.

I just thought about this question on the toilet, where all the important questions get asked, and i realized that it has been a long time since i really liked a game with robots in it. Games do take advantage of the customization-aspect of robots and often add in some shield & heat management options, but that's pretty much the extent of what distinguishes a mech-shooter from a normal shooter. In one you shoot guys your size, in the other you shoot mechs of your size. I think mech games need to do a better job of giving you a sense of scale. That can be done through leveldesign that evokes that this world was designed for humans or by letting the pilots also play a role in these games to highlight that mechs are huge mechanical monsters. Shoutout to Titanfall & Shogo for doing a good job with that.

You should be able to feel like you are Godzilla or King Kong when you command a big mech. You should be wiping out little helicopters out of the air. You should be able to stomp on tanks. Maybe go full Sea of thieves and let you use a whole squad to control a mech, with you seeing all the action from various cockpits inside the mech, instead of having direct control as if it were just an ordinary videogame character. I want a mech to behave like a powerful vehicle instead of a big humanoid with shields.

Also, threads and spider legs. Weapon and armor customizability is fun, but we're dealing with manmade robots. That means that there should be a healthy variety in designs. Too many mechs in games have two legs and walk around like humans. If i want a weird jumpy mech as seen in Metal Gear Solid 4, that should be an option. If i want to have a flying robot, that should be an option.

But naturally that's a huge pain in the ass to balance for, especially if this is supposed to be some PvP thing. Players will figure out what the best performing kind of robot is and flock towards that choice, the dev puts balance patches out to convince players to try something else, etc etc. Therefore these kind of games are probably best served as a singleplayer campaign where certain mechs are better served for certain missions than others.

Yeah a new Shogo would be super dope.

Binary Domain 2

Yeah, I'll second Front Mission and Shogo. Hoping for more Battletech or maybe Mech Commander as well, the former will probably happen. Wouldn't mind another more MEC/HEV oriented XCOM either, like a new take on X-COM Apocalypse or something on that scale

Of course, I'll always wish for Bioware to revive their one good franchise, Shattered Steel, as well.

A Gundam action game in style of Titanfall is something I really wanted years before Titanfall was even announced. It was a time when military shooter dominated and I still believed that Hollywood is the apex of movie production house style wise. Though I doubt Bandai Namco would commission one like that now and I lost faith in Hollywood ever cable of making a decent mech thing after Pacific Rim.

Bring back armored core you cowards.

A list in no particular order:

Titanfall 3

Mech Assault 3

Patlabor

Battlefield 2142

Macross

Gundam (anything except dynasty warrior style for the love of...)

AppleSeed

Evangelion

I'm sure there are a few more,,,

@gtxforza They already did a G1 Transformers game called Transformers Devastation, and they did 2 War for Cybertron games called Transformers: War for Cybertron and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. That being said I doubt we will ever see another game and if we do it will be a phone game.

For War for Cybertron series, I was referring to is part of the Transformers Generations line that launched back in late 2018.

War for Cybertron Trilogy (franchise) - Transformers Wiki (tfwiki.net)

Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy (cartoon) - Transformers Wiki (tfwiki.net)

A classic, turn-based Front Mission would be cool. I'm also going to throw in Silent Storm, whose mechs kind of wrecked that game in terms of bugginess, but that was a great game and I think it deserves a spiritual or proper reboot.

Yes a new fully next-gen Front Mission is a must. Binary Domain 2 would be great. A proper full Astrobot adventure game outside of it being a tech piece would be great. Kind of like what they did with Sackboy.

I want an Earth Defense Force but with gundam and kaiju monsters.

Also want a gundam x-com type game.

Binary Domain 2.

A come back for Big Boo would be awesome!!

Let thing Monolith made was Shadow of War so heck yah give Shogo another shot. Anime is back in vogue from years of gritty realism.

I am ready for a new MechWarrior. It won't happen, or it'll be MechWarrior in name only if it does but I'd be stoked if they made another one of those.

@efesell said:

Wasn't a fan of Daemon X Machina?

@facelessvixen: I kinda liked the style but It didn't really work all that well as a substitute for me.

Oh, two more things that a modern mechgame should have.

1. Localized damage

Mechs are fighting vehicles that have a load of gadgets, weapons and mobility options on-board. You should be able to identify what the weak point of a mech is and methodically destroy the thing bit by bit. Loss of functionality throughout the match is what i want to see; As if you're standing at a Battlebots arena and suddenly your flamethrower is just a weak spray of oil.

2. Model deformation

Outside of BeamNG.Drive, Mortal Kombat and Wreckfest, the gaming world has kinda moved away from the noble art of showcasing damage on models. Even modern shooters and action games has kind of left this behind. We used to shoot holes through bodies and slice bodies apart into small hamsandwiches, now we mostly just watch the damage numbers fly off and eventually drain the enemies healthbar to 0. That's not what a mech game should be like. When you land a good hit, you need to be able to see what kind of impact it had.

Honestly, you should not even be able to know the status-bars of the enemies; You should straight up be able to visually see in what kind of state they are as a battle progresses. After a difficult encounter, your mech should be looking like a Destruction Derby vehicle: Completely banged up , metal plates dangling around, Legs off-centered and smoke plumes filling the sky.

I would like a source material accurate of Starship Troopers power armor. Robert A. Heinlein says the armor looks like a gorilla with hydrocephalie (big head). The back of the napkin description and the tactics make the armor sound heavy with firepower like a tank that can hover or jump.