Even though interest in Titanfall has waned in recent months, many players are still finding plenty of enjoyment in Respawn Entertainment's new IP. Titanfall fell short of being the sure-fire system seller that the developer, and Microsoft, may have expected but there's no doubt that the game encouraged a significant rise in Xbox One purchases - as well as standalone game sales on PC and Xbox 360. Considering future installments could expand to competitor consoles, there's plenty of reason to assumed that the Titanfall brand is here to stay.
Of course, there's also of room for improvement. The core gameplay concept was a success but players were left wanting for new features in the weeks (now months) after release. The first of three DLC packs, "Expedition," helped increase the available map offerings but did little to satisfy players who wanted more weapons, perks, and Titan models. To their credit, while they're likely saving some of those features for Titanfall 2, Respawn has patched the game with regular updates that inject refinements, customizations, and new game modes into the mix. Certain changes are little more than window dressing but the inclusion of fresh play modes has helped raise interest among Titanfall players that are still active in the community. Now, thanks to some clever code readers, we may have a sneak peek at some of the new match types that Respawn intends to unveil in the coming months.
Future game mode details come courtesy of NeoGAF contributors that discovered unused data tags in the latest Titanfall update. It's worth noting that we cannot be sure, at this point, if the data is obsolete or in-development. Specifically, are revealed code lines remnants of game modes that Respawn decided to trash or are they the foundation for modes that will be unlocked in a future update? Both "Wingman Last Titan Standing" and "Marked for Death" were part of Update 4 - giving some credence to the possibility that we will see "Titan Tag" and "Capture the Titan" added to rotation in the not-too-distant future.
Check out the full list of data details below (thanks to NeoGAF's RazorUK):
Wingman Last Titan Standing:
Last team with Titans standing wins.
Marked for Death:
Kill the marked pilot.
Titan Tag:
No description
Capture the Titan:
Capture the Titan and bring it to your base.
Related text:
Get your team's Titan to the capture point.
Don't let enemy Titan reach the capture point.
Bodyguard (TITAN_ESCORT)
No description
Capture the Titan/Bodyguard related text:
Guard
Secure
Hold
Steal
Intercept
Big Brother:
Attack and defend the control panel.
Related text:
The program was stopped.
You launched the virus.
Defend the panel.
The virus has been launched.
The clock is ticking.
A teammate launched the virus.
Hack the panel before it finishes.
As mentioned, both "Wingman Last Titan Standing" and "Marked for Death" were detailed in Respawn's Titanfall Update 4 blog post, leaving us to speculate on exactly how "Titan Tag," "Big Brother" and "Capture the Titan" work - assuming that each one is in-development (as opposed to already canned).
Unfortunately, very little information is available for "Titan Tag"; though, the data provides some clues about what to expect from "Big Brother" and "Capture the Titan." Still, either match type could be changed or deleted in a future update. It's also unclear whether or not "Bodyguard" is simply alternate text for "Capture the Titan" or an entirely different mode altogether.
For now, it sounds as though "Big Brother" will share similarities with "Hardpoint Domination" but feature some substantial changes. Instead of three separate areas, the mode could ask players to focus on a single terminal (or two opposing terminals as in "Capture the Flag") - with one team attempting to upload a virus at a specific point while the other faction plays defense.
"Capture the Titan" might serve as a variation on "Capture the Flag" - where players are charged with acquiring and then escorting a Titan successfully to a rally point (while preventing the opposing team from doing the same).
Understandably, players who have written-off Titanfall are unlikely to be wooed by these unconfirmed game modes - especially since all of them are variants of existing match formats. Yet, whereas the stock Titanfall game types were mostly just copy-and-pasted versions of Call of Duty-like modes, a few of these possibilities have the potential to provide an intriguing evolution of familiar multiplayer experiences. It's hard to know exactly how the mode will function in an actual online session but "Capture the Titan" could make interesting use of established game formats - while also taking advantage of Titanfall's unique pilot/mech interplay.
In the landscape of online first person shooters, there are a lot of "Capture the Flag" modes but how many of them use a lethal mech as the flag?
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MORE: Titanfall Impressions and Gameplay Video
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Titanfall is now available for the PC, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. The "Expedition" DLC pack is also available at this time for PC, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Follow me on Twitter @benkendrick.
Source: NeoGAF