POST ENDGAME COMMENTS
Original review below stands.
30ish hours of linear single player story. A rather cartoonish story, but that's lore accurate to the Honor! Warrior! Honor! nonsense that is the Clans. I've never liked the Clans and I still can't see Clanners as people, their culture is unworkably nonsensical, but for lore accuracy this is a fun experience.
Biggest disappointment is you don't get to fight alongside or against Elementals (the Clan power armor). People talk about them and they show up in cut scenes but that is it.
Biggest problem I had was Omnipods. You earn Mech XP with each chassis when you or one of you minions takes it out on a mission. These can be spent on upgrades to chassis maneuverability or omnipods that give you different hardpoint options, and this is not documented at all and I couldn't figure out why I could not buy any omnipods many missions in. Even then you don't get enough Mech XP to experiment with builds for every chassis - I guess that's replayability.
Research unlocks improved weapons and armor, and to do research you need salvage. So pouring everything into upgrading salvage early on is vital if you want to put a dent into the research tree.
Kerensky's, the currency for buying mechs and equipment, are insanely plentiful. Hitting the 20mil achievement is unavoidable. Never felt a pinch there and wish there was something to waste them on. Being able to buy the all important salvage for example.
For the most lore accurate experience I recommend playing on "story" with aim assist turned on and maxed out - you are supposed to be a superhuman genetically engineered Clanner after all.
ORIGINAL
Huge reservations about recommending this product. I strongly do not recommend the digital edition as the content is only usable in the game so you cannot listen to the soundtrack or look at the art without running the game. A strike against the base game is that this is not a finished product as DLC and patches will eventually provide a much more complete product - that's just the way the industry is. If you are willing to invest now and hope it gets enough love from the dev team that this will be a good product then buy. If you are willing to wait a couple of years you can get a more complete game for less money. Right now it is okay. You get a very "on rails" story where you play as naive recruits for Team Baddie and that's fun for a single play through which is the problem with playing as any soldier in an army where you are just following orders. Gameplay is slightly more arcadey than Mercs and the story is full of cartoonish characters which fits because Battletech increasingly leaned towards the cartoonish once the Clans showed up.

POST ENDGAME COMMENTS Original review below stands. 30ish hours of linear single player story. A rather cartoonish story, but that's lore accurate to the Honor! Warrior! Honor! nonsense that is the Clans. I've never liked the Clans and I still can't see Clanners as people, their culture is unworkably nonsensical, but for lore accuracy this is a fun experience. Biggest disappointment is you don't get to fight alongside or against Elementals (the Clan power armor). People talk about them and they show up in cut scenes but that is it. Biggest problem I had was Omnipods. You earn Mech XP with each chassis when you or one of you minions takes it out on a mission. These can be spent on upgrades to chassis maneuverability or omnipods that give you different hardpoint options, and this is not documented at all and I couldn't figure out why I could not buy any omnipods many missions in. Even then you don't get enough Mech XP to experiment with builds for every chassis - I guess that's replayability. Research unlocks improved weapons and armor, and to do research you need salvage. So pouring everything into upgrading salvage early on is vital if you want to put a dent into the research tree. Kerensky's, the currency for buying mechs and equipment, are insanely plentiful. Hitting the 20mil achievement is unavoidable. Never felt a pinch there and wish there was something to waste them on. Being able to buy the all important salvage for example. For the most lore accurate experience I recommend playing on "story" with aim assist turned on and maxed out - you are supposed to be a superhuman genetically engineered Clanner after all. ORIGINAL Huge reservations about recommending this product. I strongly do not recommend the digital edition as the content is only usable in the game so you cannot listen to the soundtrack or look at the art without running the game. A strike against the base game is that this is not a finished product as DLC and patches will eventually provide a much more complete product - that's just the way the industry is. If you are willing to invest now and hope it gets enough love from the dev team that this will be a good product then buy. If you are willing to wait a couple of years you can get a more complete game for less money. Right now it is okay. You get a very "on rails" story where you play as naive recruits for Team Baddie and that's fun for a single play through which is the problem with playing as any soldier in an army where you are just following orders. Gameplay is slightly more arcadey than Mercs and the story is full of cartoonish characters which fits because Battletech increasingly leaned towards the cartoonish once the Clans showed up.