During The game prizes tonight, Wargaming – game developers World of TanksWorld of warships and World of Warplanes – made a surprise announcement when revealing Steel Hunters an entirely new IP built on Unreal Engine 5 and a game unlike anything they've made before.
We sat down with the developers on the Guilford team practically before the TGAs for an in-depth analysis Steel Hunters and to see some gameplay. THE Beast Wars the vibrations were strong at first glance, but Steel Hunters it's nothing like it Transformers. It's a third-person mech hero shooter that plays on an open-world map and combines elements of battle royales and extraction shooters.
Steel Hunters It's free to play and focuses on and rewards team skills and tactics. Players participate in teams of two and will succeed based on smart play and positioning more than perfect aim, including timing powerful skills that are on cooldown and syncing with your partner. Wargaming refers to this as “Duo Symbiosis” after testing all sorts of team sizes and compositions.
What are steel hunters? Explanation of the new Lore of Wargaming IP
Hunters are giant mechanical beasts with unique abilities and weapons, not to be confused with mechs or exosuits.
Steel Hunters is set in a post-cataclysmic world where a rare and valuable alien resource called “Starfall” has arrived from spaceruining Earth's habitable surface. The remnants of humanity now live in space or underground. The Starfall material is essential for technological evolution and to feed the world, so the select few humans who have a natural resistance to Starfall's powers have become Hunters, transforming their consciousness into Hunters to fight for this material in various fields of hunt.
When will Steel Hunters be released?
Wargaming's Steel Hunters Limited closed test begins now!
A 10-day closed playtest starts nowand players can sign up through the Wargaming Game Center and at Steam. THE Steel Hunters The Open Beta will launch in Spring 2025. The game will launch on PC first, with plans to come to consoles at a later date.
Steel Hunters The playtest includes seven mechs (pictured in the first gallery above) with additional Hunters (and more lore) on the way and additional Hunters being released each season after the game's full release. While monetization plans have not yet been finalizedthe developers told me we can expect cosmetic purchases and some sort of battle pass system in the future.
The mode displayed in Steel Hunters The gameplay revealed at The Game Awards is called “Starfall Harvest” and this is what the playtest will present to players. The full game will feature other modes and events and will evolve as a live service title.
Steel Hunters is available on Wargaming Game Center and Steam.