PC Gamer - UK (2022-04)

Titanfall 2 is maybe the only game
in recent memory to make the jump
from matchmaking to a classic server
browser – and not only has it saved
the game’s online community, but it’s
fundamentally changed how Titanfall
2 is even played.
Server browsers have always
offered communities within
communities, with each server
offering its own unique twist on the
main game. Think about Team
Fortress 2, which spawned
achievement-farming idle servers,
randomised weapon mods, and
notoriously never-ending games of
CTF on 2Fort on top of your usual
‘vanilla’ servers.
Titanfall hasn’t gotten quite so
crazy just yet, but that spirit of weird
and wonderful micro-communities is
out in full force. There are servers to
play standard Pilot vs Pilot and
Skirmish, sure. But some servers will
crank up air acceleration to 9,000%
to give you outrageous
manoeuvrability, while others will
give pilots the option to carry around
outlandish, oversized Titan weapons.
At time of writing, standout
modes like Attrition and Bounty
Hunt don’t work (Northstar’s
developers haven’t been able to crack
AI and pathfinding). But in their

place the community has spun up

brand new modes. Genre classics like

Gun Game and Infection join the

ammunition-scarce One In The

Chamber. But the real star is the

absurd spectacle of Fastball.

Fastball sports what may be the

coolest introduction to any

multiplayer match, ever, with each

round beginning with campaign big

boy BT-7274 yeeting your player into

the arena. Both teams then scramble

to eliminate each other, with

teammates only respawning if you

can clutch one of three hackable

panels placed in the map. It is fast, it

is chaotic, it is brutal, and it is

everything I adore about Titanfall 2.

UPGRADE CORE

All of this, and Northstar is still only

in its first month or two of existence.

There’s no telling how the modding

community will reshape Titanfall 2 in

the coming months or years.

Getting AI working won’t just let

Northstar resurrect Attrition, but

create entirely new modes with a

toolkit of grunts and robots and

auto-piloted Titans. Custom skins are

already everywhere, but what about

custom player models or entirely new

maps? What happens when your

traditional rounds of Pilot vs Pilot on

Angel City are nestled next to servers

dumping anime-flavoured Titan

models onto a painstaking recreation

of Counter-Strike’s Dust2,

I’ve a strong sense that, as time

goes on, Titanfall 2 will become

unrecognisable. But, it’s an important

step for preservation. Live games,

more than any other, are at great risk

of being lost to history as soon as

they’re no longer profitable. Whether

through lack of will or resources,

Respawn has been unable to support

its cult shooter, and as a centralised

online game the lights were always

going to go out eventually.

But in taking over control of the

game’s future, Northstar has ensured

that people will be able to play one of

the past decade’s best shooters for

years, maybe even decades to come.

Circumstance might well have

doomed Titanfall 2 to obscurity over

the past five years. But thanks to

Northstar, modders have ensured

that this phenomenal shooter has a

strong future.

IT’S FUNDAMENTALLY

CHANGED HOW TITANFALL 2

IS EVEN PLAYED

EXTRA LIFE

NOW PLAYING I UPDATE I MOD SPOTLIGHT I HOW TO I DIARY I WHY I LOVE I REINSTALL (^) I M U S T P L A Y
You’ve got to hand
it to BT, he’s a
great catch.
TOP: (^) I’m about to turn
Ash into ashes.
ABOVE: (^) Cor, that’s
some view.
RIGHT: Wall-running
vs Wingman: which
comes out on top?
FAR RIGHT:
Sometimes you just
have to tackle a
problem head-on.