Catalyst Game Labs Baffles Fans By Announcing Battletech: Gothic, Creating A Multiverse Called "Battletech Continuum"
Catalyst Game Labs has been baffling fans recently with their moves on Battletech, and chatter around the internet about their new release Battletech: Gothic makes gamers wonder whether a real product is an April Fool’s joke.
According to recent sales reports revealed at this year’s GAMA Expo, Battletech is the number two best-selling miniatures game in American game stores. This is because of its epic world-building and cool-looking mechs, which make for a fun sci-fi war gaming experience.
In recent years, however, activists have taken over the game, which has created massive problems for the company. Blaine Pardoe, who created a lot of their incredible fiction and lore, was fired because of his conservative views and was harassed by a stalker who pretended to be a woman.
Afterward, current writer Bryan Young started spreading rumors that classic characters were transgender and began inserting gender ideology into his works.
This year, we’ve seen a baffling release of Battletech Romance, a novel that came out based on a joke Michael A. Stackpole made at a con some years ago.
Now, we have Battletech: Gothic. But what is it? Many fans, including Battletech exper Mage Leader, have been wondering. “Is it an April Fool’s joke?” he first asked on his YouTube video talking about the product before diving into a new free PDF Catalyst Game Labs put up for download on their website that talked about Gothic.
Inside the universe primer PDF it mentions Battletech: Gothic is a “Battletech Continuum” game, which is a new line Catalyst Game Labs apparently is launching with this offering. It means this is likely not to be the only alternate universe setting based around Battletech, which is what they are delving into here.
Yes, that means Battletech is delving into the multiverse, copying a lot of other brands that have wanted to do similar.
The current Battletech Gothic is a one-box release right now, but CGL is planning on doing multiple releases in this format to highlight different potential universes. There has even been talk of an anime-themed one, which they presume would work well because the mech genre has garnered a lot of enthusiasm with Gundam and Robotech.
According to the marketing images, the box apparently includes several miniatures, a rulebook, a fiction piece, and a universe primer.
The mech units are given the names Marauder, Urbanmech, Phoenix Hawk, King Crab, Atlas, Rifleman, Scorpion, and Firest Arter.
Catalyst Game Labs posted to Facebook about the product, saying, “The Endless War sweeps the Human Sphere, and you are mustered to fight. But you need to know the horrors you’ll face on the battlefield, be they BattleMechs, Abominations, or the great powers of humanity. This is the universe primer to learn all about BattleTech: Gothic.”
Fan reaction on X has been tepid to the multiverse offering, with many noting there are components of the mega-late Kickstarter that still have not been fulfilled by Catalyst Game Labs as of yet, and positing why they would spend their resources developing something like this when they can’t get their main line situated.
What do you think of Catalyst Game Labs announcing Battletech: Gothic? Leave a comment and let us know.
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"Now, we have Battletech: Gothic. But what is it?"
Sounds like an attempt to copy from WH40K.
A Van Zant Free State novel or source book would have been a licence to print money.