Titanfall is a shooter game played from a first-person perspective. Players fight as free-running foot soldier "pilots" who can command agile,mech-style exoskeletons—"Titans"—to complete team-based objectives. The game is set on derelict and war-torn colonies at the Frontier fringe of space exploration as either the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation (IMC) or the Militia. Online multiplayer is the sole game mode, but contains single-player elements such as plot, character dialogue, and non-player characters (NPCs). While Titanfall has no offline, single-player, or local splitscreen modes, it supports system link over a local area network (LAN). Respawn founder Vince Zampella described the game as bringing "scale, verticality, and story" to the first-person shooter genre of multiplayer gaming.

The pilot's tactical abilities include x-ray vision, invisibility cloaking, and regenerating speed boosts. Pilots use ten traditional customizable weapons, including a semi-automatic shotgun, machine guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, and the Smart Pistol Mk5. The latter locks onto multiple targets before firing multiple shots in a burst. Players generally require three Smart Pistol shots to die.The pistol can also shoot around corners. All pilots have anti-Titan weapons equipped. Pilots can also hop on a Titan's back to "rodeo" and shoot its weak spot, or otherwise use four anti-Titan weapons to take them down. Player-pilots can eject from Titans that take too much damage, and the Titan replacement timer is reset upon the Titan's death.