Steel Hunters marries Wargaming's machine design with energetic gameplay

Wargaming, the studio behind World of Tanks and World of Warships, is throwing a curveball for its next game. At the latest Game Awards, the developer announced Steel Hunters, a mech-based third-person shooter that blends extraction and battle royale elements. I got to run a couple matches of Steel Hunters at GDC 2025, getting a close look at the mech designs and a better sense of how matches will flow.

A match in Steel Hunters features five teams of two players, but its PvPvE format means that you’ll also have to deal with a variety of CPU enemies in between engagements with human players. Early on, I blasted through robotic enemies, looting them for armor and weapon upgrades so that I could be as prepared as possible for my eventual encounters with other players. Loot is broken into a standard colored tier system, with green meaning uncommon, blue meaning common, and so on.

Over time, the play area slowly contracted as is tradition in the battle royale genre. After a certain point in the game, an extraction point became available in the center of the map. Then, it became a race to not only outrun the circle, but to successfully extract before the other players. My team converged with two other squads at the extraction point, and it was all-out chaos. Gunfire and explosions blanketed the area as we fought to make it out alive.

What you can and can’t do in battle is strongly influenced by the Steelhunter you pick to play as. These mechs have unique weapons and abilities that provide them and their allies bonuses. In one match, I played as a Steelhunter who used a sniper rifle to deal heavy damage from a distance. I was able to get the jump on NPC allies who were guarding certain areas, and stay out of the fray when it was time to start battling other players.

Players can further customize their Steel Hunters by editing their loadout, applying perks and changing their gear. This customization extends to cosmetics, as each character will have unlockable skins through a Battle Pass and in-game store.

Steel Hunters is set to launch on April 2, 2025, on PC. Wargaming is currently considering ways to bring the game to consoles in the future. For more on the games we played at GDC this year, browse our dedicated topic page.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_