Respawn Entertainment is best known today as the studio behind the hugely popular Apex Legends battle royale game, but its presence in the game world was cemented long before that. The developers first made a name for themselves with the creation of the Fall of the Titans franchise in 2014. While the series was a big hit with those who gave it a shot, it hasn’t seen a new addition in nearly six years, but now may be the best time to return.
Fall of the Titans is a first-person shooter franchise built around fast moves, fast-paced firefights, and controllable mech-like Titans. The last main episode in the series was Titanfall 2 in October 2016. Although it went down in history as one of the most refreshing versions of the genre in a long time, the game underperformed commercially, leaving the series seemingly canned. Considering how much the FPS landscape has changed since then, maybe it’s time for Fall of the Titans to make a comeback.
What made Titanfall so special?
Upon release, Titanfall 2 was a critical success factor. While the single-player campaign lacked a compelling storyline, it was praised for improving the one-dimensional gameplay of other campaigns in the genre. The level’s design is built around the wall, walking, sliding, and other movement mechanics, introducing engaging platforming sections between battle sequences. The experience was miles above the repetitive gangbangers of other multiplayer first FPS titles.
Even more enthusiastic was the response to Titanfall 2s plural. While it often suffered from connection and matchmaking issues, the overall gameplay was a breath of fresh air for the genre. Fans were impressed by the thoughtful map design, built to facilitate the slick movement system, while still creating space for the massive Titans that kept the gameplay exciting from moment to moment. Gunplay was well polished and satisfying. Weapons, equipment and the unique boost card system were well balanced. Even the encounters between Titans and players on the ground were intelligently implemented, with Titans feeling sufficiently powerful but never unfair.
Titanfall 2‘s multiplayer also featured a surprisingly deep progression system, implemented in a consumer-friendly manner. Cosmetics can either be earned through gameplay or purchased through microtransactions, but, crucially, without randomized loot boxes. Meanwhile, non-cosmetics like weapons and boosts were limited to unlocked solely through gameplay progression, not through microtransactions.
What happened to Titanfall
If the most recent game was so well received by critics and fans alike, the question arises why? Fall of the Titans hasn’t seen a new episode since the second game. The unfortunate truth is that Titanfall 2 did the right things, just at the wrong time. The game faced an incredibly tough challenge with its October 2016 release. Not only is this an already competitive release window, but 2016 saw it sandwiched between the two behemoths of the FPS genre: Battlefield and Duty.
battlefield 1, Like it Fall of the Titans, was published by EA and was clearly the financial priority for the publisher. Battlefield 1 released only seven days earlier Titanfall 2 on October 21, after a hugely hyped marketing campaign. After multiple games set in the modern era, excitement was high for the series to return to a historical period, a period that AAA games had seldom explored at the time. This, along with its longer established history, meant EA neglected marketing somewhat Titanfall 2 in favor of Battlefield 1. It was therefore no surprise that many people were not interested in another multiplayer FPS that was released just days later.
In the meantime, Duty a more unique challenge, with Infinite Warfare release days after Titanfall 2 on Nov 7. Unlike Battlefield 1marketing for Infinite Warfare was very poorly received. The game’s announcement trailer remains infamous as one of the most hated YouTube videos of all time. Much of this was due to fans getting tired of the futuristic setting and wall-walking motion system, after successive Duty games showed them. With that in mind, Titanfall 2 faced a market where many gamers were burned out on the setting and mechanics because of: Dutyeven though many agree that Fall of the Titans they performed better. Still, many who remained interested in these features were more likely to buy a game of the juggernaut Duty franchise.
This is the perfect time for another Titanfall
With all these odds against, Titanfall 2 ultimately delivered disappointing sales, seemingly ending the franchise. While competition with Infinite Warfare and futuristic-shooter burnout was a big factor, it was probably EA’s treatment in favor of Battlefield 1 that was his downfall. This is made even clearer by the fact that: Battlefield 1 both sold out Infinite Warfare and Titanfall 2 combined. But that might be one of the reasons why now is the best time for a Fall of the Titans coming back.
The Battlefield franchise has had a few rough years since 2016. Battlefield 5 launched in a bad state and quickly lost its player base. The most recent game, Battlefield 2042, was also released with many game-breaking bugs and lacked rudimentary features of multiplayer FPS games like a scoreboard. The gameplay was criticized as unusually old for the franchise, with the poorly implemented hero system and poor pace due to the large map size being blamed a lot. Some of this has changed with post-launch updates for Battlefield 2042but the game has yet to recover from its rocky launch and may never do so.
Although the following Battlefield title is already in the works, perhaps the smarter move for EA was to give the series a break so the developers can thoroughly consider player feedback. Meanwhile, Fall of the Titans could be a better game to carry EA’s multiplayer AAA FPS aspirations. Even the player base reflects the potential this move could hold for EA, and the game is seeing something of a resurgence lately. Titanfall 2s number of players is regularly greater than that of Battlefield 2042despite being five years older.
There is also a now empty niche that has a new Fall of the Titans game could occupy in the genre. Duty has since distanced itself from the futurist movement and institutions infinite warfare, with more recent games set in World War II and modern times. Given this, the problem of burnout in futuristic shooters is less of a problem than a potential one Fall of the Titans game might encounter.
Apex Legends could predict the success of a new Titanfall
On top of all this, Fall of the Titans now has a new tool at its disposal that could accelerate its success: Apex Legends. From the same developer and set in Titanfall’s universe, Apex Legends is consistently one of the most played games available. In fact, based on sales and popularity, Apex Legends has already been replaced Battlefield as EA’s flagship FPS. As such could be a perfect opportunity to start a new Fall of the Titans game as connection to Apex Legends. Titanfall’s fast paced up close gameplay can be a perfect complement to the large scale battle royale formula of Apex Legends
That shared universe is all the more reason why a new Fall of the Titans game makes so much sense. Apex Legends has recorded many narrations referring to Fall of the Titans, but hasn’t gotten much out of it yet. Not only do they share assets like weapons and animations, but even characters. The playable legend Ash was first introduced as a minor villain during the campaign of Titanfall 2. Likewise, Valkyrie’s origin story involves stealing a Northstar Titan from her father Viper, another of the antagonists of Fall of the Titans 2. The lack of deeper exploration of these connections is largely due to the fact that: Apex Legends focuses on its multiplayer battle royale, with no single-player campaign option available.
This means the basis for a new Fall of the Titans game is already here. A new episode, complete with a special story and campaign, offers the chance to tell some more in-depth stories around these characters, adding new knowledge to Apex Legends game while creating a valuable campaign for Fall of the Titans. This attachment to Apex Legends could also be a huge sales booster. From a publishing standpoint, Apex Legends’ success would significantly boost any marketing for the return of the Fall of the Titans franchisee. There are even some indications that a single-player game based on what’s now called the Apex Universe is on the way from Respawn, but there’s still no indication of its incredible multiplayer. Fall of the Titans return soon.
Titanfall 2 is currently available to play on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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