TITANFALL 2

An old mech finds new life with a fan-run revival.

- Nat Clayton

There are rare few games done dirtier than Titanfall 2. Sequel to a risky new IP, doomed by a release sandwiched between Call of Duty and Battlefield, usurped by its own battle royale spin-off, and nigh-unplayable for the last year thanks to an absurd conspiracy of hackers and DDoS attacks, Titanfall 2 was perhaps always destined to be a cult classic.

Of course, you don’t get to the cult classic status without being good as hell. And on revisiting Respawn’s 2016 mech-n-parkour-’em-up over the winter break, I was reminded just how joyous it is to slide, grapple, and wall-run across Titanfall 2’s battlefields.

See, when Respawn debuted with the first Titanfall’s wall-running soldiers, it tore up the FPS rulebook. The first game might not have set sales records, but when even Call of Duty is nicking your far-future acrobatics, you can confidently say you’ve made your mark.

Titanfall 2 is rightfully built on that foundation with even more expressive movement. Pilots could now skid around with the king of videogame but slides, maintaining momentum with grappling hooks, and pumping their muscles full of gooey green adrenaline. It still takes a bit of work to get yourself going, but once you’re in full stride, you can clear entire arenas in seconds. It is absolutely joyous.

But