Northstar excels in long-range precision attacks with a charged railgun, and sets movement-restricting traps, and is the only Titan with the ability to leave the ground and hover.

[11] Players are able to use multiple ways to complete objectives and attack enemies, such as utilizing Cooper's Pilot stealth ability, jump-kit assisted traversal of the level and using firearms provided in the game.

[12] The game also features platform elements, which task players to make use of Cooper's parkour abilities to solve environmental puzzles, and travel to previously inaccessible areas.

It fills faster when the player kills an opponent, inflicts damage on enemies, or completes the map's objectives such as capturing points in the Hardpoint game mode.

Though weakened by the lack of reinforcements from the core systems because of the destruction of the refueling facility by James MacAllan, the IMC is still a dominant fighting force attempting to drive the Militia out and put down any resistance to their control of the Frontier.

In the initial battle, the Apex Predators, a group of mercenaries led by Kuben Blisk and contracted by the leader of the IMC's science division, General Marder, mortally wounds Lastimosa and incapacitates his Vanguard-class Titan, BT-7274.

BT explains that Cooper has also inherited Lastimosa's mission, Special Operation 217: to rendezvous with Major Eli Anderson and assist in the completion of their original assignment.

BT and Cooper are forced to detour, first through a water reclamation facility then a manufacturing plant, killing the Apex Predators Kane and Ash along the way.

BT and Cooper continue to the IMC laboratory only to find it destroyed, with corpses artificially aged due to time-travel distortion scattered across the facility.

Cooper learns Anderson was gathering intelligence on a new IMC device, the "Fold Weapon", which utilizes time-displacement technology to destroy entire planets.

After receiving the transmission, the Militia's Marauder Corps, led by Commander Sarah Briggs, assaults the IMC-held installation where the Ark is being kept, arriving too late to prevent it from being loaded onto the Draconis, an IMC transport.

[29] Zampella confirmed the introduction of a single-player campaign was intended to expand the player base,[31] and McCoy believed this could make the overall package more complete.

[29] The team intended making the game similar to the Half-Life series, where a mystery takes center stage in the story, hooking players to continue exploring it and completing the campaign.

To make BT more human, the team designed a large emotive eye, so players would know where the titan is looking, and a small pair of robotic arms allowing it to interact with other characters naturally.

[31] Akira Kurosawa films and Clint Eastwood and Sam Elliott's cowboy roles inspired animator Shawn Lee Wilson creation of BT's unique physical appearance and expression.

Therefore, the team decided to create both intricate environments for pilots' transversal and large open space for titan combat, instead of making it a corridor shooter.

Many team members created action blocks dedicated to platforming, including ideas such as having players solve puzzles to find a new surface to wall-run on, and Titan being able to throw the pilot, so they could travel over long distances.

The concept of Titan throwing pilots was ultimately discarded from the gameplay and became part of a cinematic cutscene because the team had trouble implementing it due to its lack of interactivity.

[40] X2's Nightcrawler and the documentary series Life After People inspired the most acclaimed level, "Effect and Cause", initially an action block created by designer Jake Keating involving time travel.

The Titans were redesigned to have distinct silhouettes unique to each chassis (and thus ability set and weapons) so that players can "tell at a glance everything that [they] need to know" and stay prepared for each combat encounter.

[48] The team also introduced cosmetic changes to the pilots and the six Titan class giving them distinct visual characteristics so that players can easily identify an opponent's abilities.

[49] The team attempted to add more depth to the gameplay by introducing more Titans, gadgets, weapons, and pilot abilities, allowing players to customize a set of loadouts to suit their preferred playstyle, by creating specialized loadouts (for example a high mobility long ranged combatant by combining a sniper rifle with the mobility-enhancing grapple Pilot ability) or a stealthy Titan-hunter (taking a grenade launcher in addition to an Anti-Titan weapon along with the Cloak kit).

Many improvements were made to the engine's aspects such as physically based rendering, a texture streaming system developed in house, high dynamic range and depth of field.

[50] In May 2014, two months after the first game's release, publisher Electronic Arts announced they would collaborate with Respawn Entertainment for more experiences set within the Titanfall universe.

Players who purchased food or drink at any Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant received a free customization item and access to a multiplayer mode.

[82] Arthur Gies of Polygon felt the narrative was subpar, with mediocre voice acting, "corny names" for characters, and insufficient context for players to truly remember the story.

[82] David Houghton of GamesRadar praised the game's controls and movement options for turning many seemingly gameplay obstacles and barriers into opportunities for players to manipulate.

[83] Mahardy admired the pacing, attributing its success to the fact that players can switch BT's loadouts to handle various combat situations, presenting a different dynamic from multiplayer.

[82] Brandin Tyrrel of IGN admired the game's sense of scale and map design, where each level stage felt large but at the same time linear enough to direct players' progression.

[93] However, EA COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen went on to say the company was pleased with the positive reviews the game received and expected it to have strong sales into the next fiscal year.