Why Mech Games Rarely Let You Leave the Cockpit

Key Takeaways

• Adding on-foot gameplay to Brigador Killers reportedly added five years to development
• The feature requires balancing two fundamentally different gameplay scales and systems
• Stellar Jockeys believes the investment helps overcome genre misconceptions about isometric mech games

Most mech games keep you strapped into the cockpit for the entire experience. There's a good reason for that. The developers of Brigador Killers learned exactly how good that reason is when they decided to let players step outside their walking tanks.

"We joke that the seemingly innocuous question of 'What if you could get out of the mech?' added five years of development time," said Hugh Monahan, lead designer at Stellar Jockeys.

It's been a decade since the cult classic original Brigador launched in 2016. The sequel, Brigador Killers, has been in development for most of that time, with full production resuming in 2022 after the team spent years updating the original game.

Two Games in One Engine

On the surface, Brigador Killers looks similar to its predecessor. Both feature pre-rendered environments and an isometric perspective. But the similarity ends there. Hugh Monahan compared the difference to the gap between a standard FPS and a first-person immersive sim. The shared perspective hides a massive increase in complexity.

The challenge is straightforward to describe but brutal to solve. People and mechs operate at vastly different scales. You need separate interaction systems for each. And how do you balance a puny human against a walking death machine without making one mode pointless?

"You can talk to characters in this game, you can do a lot more," said Jack Monahan, the game's lead artist and Hugh's brother. "It took years to get down to adding the mechanics involved with running around as a human rather than driving only vehicles in Brigador, which is orders simpler."

Solving a Genre Problem

The Monahans believe the feature does more than add gameplay variety. It solves a perception problem that has plagued Brigador since launch.

The original game's isometric art style and top-down perspective led many players to assume it was a real-time strategy game. It wasn't. Brigador was always an action game where you directly controlled a single vehicle. But that wasn't obvious from screenshots or trailers.

“It's been worth several years of development on Killers. Because you don't have to explain that you're the little guy running around. If there's a little guy and he's in the center of the screen, everyone knows that's your little guy.”

— Jack Monahan, Lead Artist, Stellar Jockeys

Showing a human figure on screen immediately communicates the game's genre and control scheme. No explanation needed. No tutorial required to establish that you're controlling a character, not commanding an army.

The Rare Club

Few games have attempted this dual-scale approach. Titanfall remains the most famous example, letting players seamlessly transition between nimble pilot gameplay and stomping around in a Titan. The early access title Psycho Patrol R offers something similar. Beyond that, the list gets thin.

The appeal is obvious. Contrasting the vulnerability of a human with the raw power of a mech sells the fantasy in ways that cockpit-only games can't match. You feel the scale. You understand what that armor plating actually means when you're standing next to it instead of sitting inside it.

But the development cost explains why so few studios attempt it. You're essentially building two interconnected games with radically different design requirements, then making sure they feel like a coherent whole.

Story Through Scale

Jack Monahan noted that the feature serves narrative purposes too. Being able to walk around as a human and talk to characters helps players who are "more driven by story." The original Brigador delivered its lore through text logs and environmental details. Killers can put you face-to-face with the world's inhabitants.

This shift has drawn comparisons from the community to immersive sims like Syndicate and Hitman. Reddit users have praised the added "tactical weight" and environmental interactivity. Some purists have noted the change creates a slower, more complex experience than the original's pure vehicular action. Whether that's a feature or a drawback depends on what you want from a Brigador game.

What This Means for the Sequel

Brigador Killers has a demo available now, letting players test the on-foot mechanics alongside the vehicle combat that defined the original. The full release date hasn't been announced, but after a decade of development, Stellar Jockeys is clearly taking their time to get it right.

The original Brigador found a dedicated cult audience despite its niche appeal. The sequel aims to broaden that audience by making its core appeal more immediately legible. A human running around on screen tells you exactly what kind of game you're playing. No genre confusion required.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why don't more mech games let you leave the cockpit?

The feature requires designing two separate gameplay systems at radically different scales, then balancing human vulnerability against mech firepower. Most studios avoid the complexity.

How long has Brigador Killers been in development?

Nearly a decade since the original Brigador launched in 2016, with full-time development on the sequel resuming in 2022.

What games let you get out of mechs?

Titanfall, Psycho Patrol R (early access), and Brigador Killers are among the few games offering both mech and on-foot gameplay.

Is there a Brigador Killers demo available?

Yes, a demo is currently available that showcases both the on-foot and vehicle combat mechanics.

Source: PCGamer latest