EnergeticAsh!!

This is so important to me because Poker Night at the Inventory came out just 3 years after TF2 came out and back then there was practically NOTHING to explain the game's lore, not even a bit.

There were hardly any comics and the developers were focused on feedback in order to improve the gameplay. Telltale had this alliance with Valve and literally for all of Heavy's dialogues they consulted directly with their creatives, because I repeat: we hardly knew anything about the lore of the characters.

I think it's obvious why they chose Heavy to include in the game: he was (and still is) the most iconic image of TF2... But Engineer is mentioned so many times that it's impossible to ignore him.

Heavy mentions that Engineer was the one who introduced him to the Inventory, and at the beginning of the game they explain how, when and why the Inventory exists. We don't know how Engineer got to this place, or what he did (did he really just play Poker or did he do something else?). But we know that in some way or another he was and probably continued to be involved up to that point. I think the most feasible reason is the obvious one: money.

Even though Heavy was clearly the first choice as a TF2 character, I feel like the creatives at Telltale REALLY wanted to get Engineer into the game.

One of Heavy's strongest and most interesting dialogues is one in which he describes in great detail how he sadistically murdered BLU Engineer, and the scene is so intense that the gameplay stops at the end of his story to show us the reaction as best as possible impact of the other characters.

Other dialogue is Heavy explaining that it was Engineer who introduced him to Inventory (as I already mentioned). Another one is of Heavy making fun of Engineer for attacking others with the wrench (something that is not very common in current tf2 gameplay, but I suppose that back then there were more main engineers using the meele).

Plus, literally Engineer's theme song, More Gun, had its own official cover for the game. I know Heavy doesn't have a melody as iconic as that (Kazotski Kick didn't exist yet), but come on, doesn't that make you think they had Engineer in mind when making all this?

And I feel like it's great because, just imagine it: Engineer in a private nightclub, playing poker against you and other characters who are almost nothing like him. How would his AI be programmed? (Each character's fits their personality). What loose information would he give us about his lore? What would his dialogues be like about his teammates? What would be his reaction upon meeting us? Would he break the wall like Strong Bad, just as he has at one point in the game he comes from?