Why mech games rarely let you leave the cockpit

Most mech games keep players confined to cockpits, and only a few let you dismount and run around. Titles such as Titanfall, Psycho Patrol R and Brigador Killers offer that option, while Halo arguably comes close but doesn't fully qualify. The developers of Brigador Killers say that choice drove up complexity.

"We joke that the seemingly innocuous question of 'What if you could get out of the mech?' added five years of development time," Hugh Monahan said, noting that the shift makes the project feel more like an immersive sim than a simpler vehicle-driven experience.

Jack Monahan added that letting players walk and talk to characters took years to implement. Allowing on-foot play brought many follow-on requirements: the ability to pick up and drop guns, an inventory system, vehicles that fit into cargo, and more interactive world objects and NPCs.

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