STEEL HUNTERS

Replacing tanks and warships with the joy of mechs

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With a thunderous thud, our Hunter touches down on the battlefield.

It's a fitting entrance for a mech the height of a warehouse, towering over the shells of vehicles strewn across a scorched wasteland. A ping from our partner signals it's time to move, and our spider-like machine, Weaver, scuttles into action. To be victorious in Steel Hunters' Last Stand Mode, we must extract before the other five duos (or take them out entirely) but it's not as simple a task as it sounds. For the best chance of controlling the king-of-the-hill-style extraction point, some grinding is required. Whether that's blasting the drones and other players roaming the map or completing a range of objectives with similar requirements, the real aim is to level up before the ultimate race to the finish.

While these rules of engagement may be typical for a thirdperson extraction shooter, this is far from standard fare for developer Wargaming. Known for historical warfare games World Of Tanks and World Of Warships, the realm of fiction constitutes a new avenue. As such, Steel Hunters isn't called 'World Of Mechs' for good reason. It's being created as an all-new free-to-play production, with a new studio, DPS Games, set up to build it and diversify the company's lineup.

We arrive at DPS's HQ in Guildford to view the production line and meet the architects behind the machines. One issue they encountered, we're told, was that of forming a connection between players and their mechs. While