The shooter genre is a rather crowded space today, but it has given us some true beauties like ARC Raiders and Battlefield 6, both of which aim for different player experiences and manage varying levels of success in that effort. There’s just something about a game that lets you hop in with your friends and navigate the chaos of levels with great movement affording you the chance to dish out as much damage as you can while also staying out of enemy range.
But there’s one shooter that we continue to pine for, although its developer has been largely silent about it despite the last instalment in that franchise being well-appreciated for how it approached its premise. If you thought of Titanfall 2, give yourself a pat on the back. It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly ten years since we got to join Cooper and BT-7274 on an adventure that we remember very fondly. But Titanfall 3 has been an elusive and seemingly distant prospect over the years.
Until now, that is. Allow us to introduce you to Shatter Rush if you haven’t already heard about it. This is a title that’s looking like the spiritual successor to Titanfall 2, even in its early stage. But can it evolve before its Q3 2027 release into a title that truly captures what Titanfall’s awesome take on a mech and its pilot managed to do a decade ago?
Join us as we take a look at the possibilities and potential pitfalls that Shatter Rush must overcome if it is to truly become what the Frontier wanted to be against the IMC.
Moves That Matter
Among the many strengths that Shatter Rush brings to the table is a movement system that looks and feels kinetic and fluid. You leap, slide, wall-run, and tear through levels with blinding speed, your reflexes challenged as you try to gain an edge over your opponents. And that’s just as a pilot. Get into a mech, and you get a grapple, a jetpack, and other tools to help you move like the wind while you rain down fire on anyone unfortunate enough to be potential targets of yours.
If this sounds a lot like what Cooper and BT had to do back when they teamed up to take on the IMC in Titanfall 2, know that it isn’t just you. Our thoughts immediately went back to how fun it was to play as that duo, their developing bond constantly giving us new ways to navigate complex levels that required a lot of dexterity, especially in the middle to later parts of its campaign. Using each new ability or tool at our disposal was a part of the fun, and weaving them together as seamlessly as we could manage was such a crucial part of what made the entire experience as enjoyable as it was.
Shatter Rush does manage to capture that feeling quite well, but its movement systems aren’t the only thing that invokes Titanfall-related nostalgia whenever we see it in action. There’s also its combat, and who you’re battling to consider.
Mechanical Mayhem
One of Titanfall 2’s best features was its improved multiplayer, which was quite a step up from its predecessor at the time of its release. Duking it out in giant mechs against your buddies never got old, and the fact that each mech had a very unique flavor and multiple use cases that allowed you to find a sweet spot for your preferred playstyle was a boost to its immersion, which was also helped along with some excellent weapon variety.
Matches remained frenetic and exciting irrespective of the mode you were playing, the mechanics becoming a part of the experience that was cemented into its design thanks to levels that had enough destructability and verticality to keep things interesting, no matter how seasoned a pilot you were. You were never really safe at any point, and constantly kept on your toes if your opponents knew what they were doing.
Well, take a look at Shatter Rush and the similarities become quite evident. Whether you’re on foot or in your mech, the bullets fly, whizzing past you as you try to navigate the environment as well as you can to line up that perfect shot that could take down a pesky opponent hell-bent on bringing you down. The weapons are also quite exciting, even at this early stage, and that’s a sign of better things to come if things go in the direction we’re hoping they do.
But great movement, weapons, and combat mechanics are only a part of the charm that made Titanfall 2 such a memorable title, and one that we believe earned the right to a sequel that never fully came about. There was also a story to go along with the action. Can Shatter Rush manage to reach those highs?
Man and Machine
The story in Titanfall 2 was definitely among the finer additions to the experience. Cooper and BT’s nascent bond was a huge draw in the game’s early stages, with Matthew Mercer’s grounded take on Cooper blending well with BT’s robotic yet poignant portrayal. That working relationship and the way it evolved over the course of the story often put them in perils even veteran pilots might have thought twice about, carrying an emotional heft that we couldn’t get enough of when we played it.
Shatter Rush might not have that narrative advantage yet, but it’s still a long time away from its final release. However, the game’s multiplayer focus might not leave room for Tetra to think about a full-fledged narrative, and the vibe it’s going for might not click as well as it does in a single-player setting.
This one’s all about getting your friends together for some chaotic fun, the ability to pilot mechs, and a stylish gameplay loop being what keeps all of you coming back for more. Would we say no to a story-based component that has you working together, creating the scope for synergies that only human players could pull off? Hell, yeah! But if that comes at the cost of diluting a core experience that seems laser-focused on tight mechanics and a very fun vibe, we think that’s a reason to step back and perhaps realign our own expectations.
The Long Road To 2027
It’s great that Shatter Rush is using its early access period to directly engage with its players, letting their feedback guide the direction it takes as it evolves into what could be a very exciting final build in 2027. Like Cooper and BT, the studio and its players could learn to synergize well, the result being a community that feels invested in the game and all it has to offer.
That’s an approach that could very well give Shatter Rush a shelf life that any shooter would be envious of, but there are things to watch out for if it aims to try and earn the mantle of what Titanfall 3 could have been. The visuals immediately come to mind, as they’re quite bland at the moment and need a lot of work if they’re to emulate the sci-fi vibe that Titanfall 2 managed to nail down so well. But we’re going to be patient on that front, as it’s quite early to judge that part of the experience.
But in the potential absence of a main campaign, its multiplayer gameplay loop must have enough to sustain player interest, and we’d argue that the mechs need to be an integral part of that value. One of the ways Titanfall 2 stayed interesting was in the way no two of its players would pilot a specific mech class the same way. It seems like only yesterday that we played a Ronin a certain way, only to find other players taking wildly different approaches to that Titan with equally entertaining results.
Each Titan variant had something special to offer, while retaining a distinct identity amongst its counterparts, and that was part of Titanfall 2’s charm. Shatter Rush is going to have to nail down the mech part of its gameplay loop if it aims for that crown, and we’d go as far as to say that having different pilot classes could create the scope for some truly magnificent combinations.
It’s too early to tell if Shatter Rush could be the game that allows us to feel like we finally get to play a version of Titanfall 3. But we’d be lying if we said that its early stages haven’t had us feeling hopeful that it can take up the mantle of a franchise we believe should have continued to stick around and entertain us.
We might never know if Cooper and BT were meant to have more adventures together. But we’d definitely welcome the opportunity to drum up some fan-fiction in a game that simulates what a pilot and their mech can get up to in our heads. Shatter Rush now carries that fond hope, and we’re cautiously optimistic about its success. Now, all that’s left is to wait and watch it grow into the game it’s going to be.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.