As part of a Steam Publisher Weekend, World of Tanks and World of Warships developer Wargaming is having a playtest of Steel Hunters, its upcoming fusion of mech-hero shooter with extraction battle royale. The four-day beta is going until February 24, and is free to participate in via Wargaming’s website or on Steam.
A community-wide event during the playtest will let players’ cumulative performance unlock a permanent skin for everyone involved. There’ll also be a daily leaderboard competition, if that’s more your speed. In addition, the battle pass from the original playtest will continue, letting you unlock another skin—though the game version of this playtest is “packed with new and revamped content,” says Wargaming.
In Steel Hunters players take control of a uniquely-built heroic mech, teaming up with another player in duos to take on five other teams across a battlefield littered with tech to gather and neutral enemies to take down. At the end, only one team can extract from the hunting grounds.
Each Hunter has its own distinct playstyle, with the game overall favoring tactical decisions over simple reflexes. Each of the Hunters has a progression system to earn your way through and a set of unique abilities to use symbiotically with your partner.
This is the second playtest for Steel Hunters, which debuted last year, and it looks like Wargaming intends to let players get plenty of hands-on time with playtests before they commit this one to a proper release.
You can find Steel Hunters on Steam and on Wargaming’s website.