The classic giant-robots-fighting-robots series BattleTech will return to PC after its successful Kickstarter campaign was launched and funded earlier today. Developer Harebrained Schemes and BattleTech creator Jordan Weisman pitched a single player, turn-based Mech strategy game to fans, looking for $250,000. Just under an hour later, Harebrained Schemes had gotten enough funding to meet that goal. As of this writing, the campaign has raised more than $500,000.
“Our goal is to craft a combat system for BATTLETECH that’s the perfect blend of tactical depth, speed of play, and meaningful unit customization,” Harebrained Schemes writes on its Kickstarter page. “As we did with our Shadowrun games, we intend to capture the *spirit* of the original tabletop rules, while designing the best PC game we can.”
The new BattleTech game will be set in “classic BattleTech” universe, during the Succession Wars that made up the backdrop of the 1987 board game. Harebrained Schemes has also gotten permission to use the mech models from Piranha Games’s MechWarrior Online, so the universes will be artistically linked with one another.
The first quarter million is just the start. Harebrained Schemes has its sights set on more than $2.5 million, which it says will fund a full story campaign, mercenary pilot career mode, and PVP multiplayer modes. To read more about the new BattleTech game, see the Kickstarter page. Harebrained Schemes is no stranger to Kickstarter campaigns, having previously delivered on crowdfunding efforts for its Shadowrun series.
