If the developers of “World of Tanks,” “World of Warships” and “World of Warplanes” were asked to bet on what they would create next, the first, second and third would not be the third-person PvPvE mech shooter “Steel Hunters”. Wargaming announced Steel Hunters at The Game Awards and announced that the first playtest will run from today, December 12, through December 22.

At a briefing last week, Wargaming told us more about Steel Hunters. First, the player-operated suits of mechanized armor are not “mechs” in the traditional sense of the word, as Wargaming calls them; Wargaming just calls them hunters. This distinction seems arbitrary, but it may be an effort to create a reasonable expectation by moving away from the term “mecha.” Hunters are not walking tanks with swivel arms and guns. They are humanoid or animal-like combatants, some of whom can carry weapons with their hands and punch things. Basically, they are more like gundams than mechwarriors.

Other important details:

If you are a fan of World of Tanks or Mechwarrior, it is important to understand about the heroes: Hunters have a specific role and name, and a limited variety of weapons. a few that Wargaming has shown off Hunters included one dedicated sniper with cloaking capabilities, another a novice soldier with an assault rifle, and my personal favorite, an eight-legged Spider-Mech with a minigun on his shoulder.

I wasn't able to play Steel Hunters, but I did watch a complete match; I haven't touched World of Tanks in a decade, but Steel Hunters was a faster game in my eyes. Duos are encouraged to keep moving, whether it's wiping out NPC robot camps that drop shield upgrades or occupying towers that trigger big advantages, like towers that spot all enemies within a huge radius. This seems to be the flow of Steel Hunters' economical 8-15 minute matches. They patrol the map and either passively collect upgrades or take out other duos.

Time to kill is longer than in traditional shooters, and most of the fighting takes place in open areas, with hills, trees, and settlements partially hiding the 8-meter-high Hunters. Hunters are more agile than WW2 tanks, but Wargaming's signature “careful gameplay” is still present in Steel Hunter. Weapons are accurate from a distance and can take a long time to reload, so it is important to know when to pick a fight or avoid it.

I asked Wargaming how Steel Hunter's monetization plan compares to World of Tanks, which pushes players to charge for premium versions of tanks and lucrative consumables. Steel Hunters is cosmetic and battle paths and would be a more traditional live-service game, but Wargaming has not ruled anything out.

“To be honest, we are very focused on the core gameplay loop as we are just now releasing the game,” said Laurent Lartisien, Wargaming's marketing director. We're still fine-tuning a lot of it,” said Laurent Lartisien, Wargaming marketing director. We are still fine-tuning much of it and gathering feedback from players, but these are our high-level plans.

“At the moment, we don't see any scenarios where premiums would be advantageous.”

Hmmm, that “so far” has done a lot of work. Now, they have made me curious enough to give Steel Hunters a try. The playtest is now open, and you can sign up on the Steel Hunters Steam page.