E3 2016: 10 Things We Learned From Titanfall 2's Single Player Trailer

6. Respawn Could Be Aiming For A More Isolated Tale

Titanfall 2 Single Player
Respawn

First-person shooters were something of a laughing stock in the gaming community recently, at least the more military-centric ones. The more clichéd the better, but even more recently these games - having struggled for relevance in recent years - have approached serious themes with an air of pretentiousness so unashamed it borders on the nauseous.

They're just so lampoon-worthy, as any serious commentary put forward was immediately overshadowed by the hilarious cliched military archetypes that so often populated their narratives. So far we can't tell whether or not Titanfall has fallen victim to these same cliches, but the genuinely new additions they've made to the genre does give its story promise.

Sure, the prospect of another tired and worn tale of revolution and rebellion doesn't intrigue at first, but the trailer did show some moments that appealed to a more human level of story-telling. Ironically this human element is embodied by an emotionless death-wreaking mech, but it does offer indication of a more character-driven narrative coming our way.

And if you think your emotions will remained unfazed just because your best pal is a robot, I implore you to remember The Iron Giant. Sure, that extraterrestrial robot didn't kill or maim anyone, but it's the perfect example of the reaction that Respawn are aiming to provoke in this instance. The title is very clearly grounded in the relationship between this pilot and his AI, so chances for cliched supporting characters to make an appearance along the way have been minimised for now.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.