MechAssault dev announces Reign of Thunder

MechAssault series developer Day 1 Studios is returning to the wonderful world of big stompy mechs with Reign of Thunder, after being sidetracked by Fracture and F.E.A.R. 3 (though it still squeezed small mechs in, at least). The studio's new mech 'em up is clanking towards PC, where it'll be free-to-play.

While MechAssault was set in FASA's BattleTech universe--the source of MechWarrior--Reign of Thunder is "an all new Mech IP." Day 1's again going for fast, arcade-y action, the debut trailer shows, and boasts of bags o' customisation.

The trailer also hints at how free-to-play model will be supported, showing an in-game store selling weapon upgrades. Presumably players will be able to use their own actual cash money to get snazzier guns sooner--standard free-to-play fare.

Day 1 does have an official Reign of Thunder site, but there's nowt on it for now.

Between Reign of Thunder, Hawken, and MechWarrior Online, it's going to be a fine time for stompy robot fans without a single penny to buy new games.