TRENDING NEWS
Back to news
01 Apr, 2025
Share:
Mecha Break competitor Steel Hunters releases in early access on Steam this week, offering a slower, more tactical free-to-play mech game
@Source: pcgamer.com
Skip to main content PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES Search PC Gamer View Profile Movies & TV Gaming Industry PC Gaming Show Newsletter Signup Community Guidelines Affiliate Links Meet the team About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine Subscription Why subscribe? Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag Try a single issue or save on a subscription Issues delivered straight to your door or device From£35.99View Spring Prime Day Monster Hunter Wilds Marvel Rivals Mecha Break competitor Steel Hunters releases in early access on Steam this week, offering a slower, more tactical free-to-play mech game Aron Garst 1 April 2025 The World of Tanks developer's mech combat game is entering public beta. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Wargaming) Steel Hunters takes the the spark-filled clashes between Megatron and Optimus Prime and slows them down to create a methodic, tactical experience with familiar hero shooter and extraction elements. The mech battler from World of Tanks developer Wargaming releases in early access on Steam this week, on April 2. I played a demo of Steel Hunters at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco a couple weeks ago, where I was shown seven mechs with fascinating designs—ranging from your standard humanoid Gundam-like models to mechs based off of dogs and bears—as well as slow, tactical gameplay that felt gripping while facing off against mechs, but mundane in the moments in between. One of Steel Hunters' primary modes sees six teams of two drop into a large map filled with a variety of drones, supply drops, and other points of interest to explore. Each team spawns at one of eight predetermined spawn points across the map, far enough from each other to discourage early game combat between player-controlled mechs. Steel Hunters' combat follows a MOBA-like match progression system where players kill drones and bots in order to collect energy and save up enough for special abilities and ultimates that are later used in battle. As a result, the opening moments of the few matches I played were slow and unvaried. I kicked drones with my Ursus bear mech, shot others down with whatever gun I had equipped, and then walked to pick up the energy they dropped. Gear loadouts were decided before dropping into matches, so there was no specialized looting found in battle royales to add excitement and variety to the first portion of a match. While those early moments moved like molasses, the actual fights against other players—bots during the demo, but still—were far more exciting. Individual abilities for mechs went on display immediately as coordination with my AI-controlled teammate was essential. My Weaver spider mech had a Reinhardt-like shield that provided cover for my teammate and I as we emptied clips into the enemy. (Image credit: Wargaming) Slow, tactical coordination was almost forced. Maneuverability—especially for the four legged mechs—while smooth, was extremely limited. Jumping and dashing were restricted to two uses at a time, two small energy bars needed to recharge before they could be used again. I understand the interest in wanting to move meticulously and in synergy with your partner, but I don't think that means that you have to do so as slowly as Steel Hunters wanted me to. The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Fights were lengthy, even though I didn't feel completely comfortable controlling the mechanical beasts in front of me after so little time with the game. It helped that combat situations shared a large amount of DNA with similar situations found in hero shooters or battle royales. Fighting over an extraction point often led to a flurry of explosion effects, debris from the destructible small houses and cars, and shield graphics that popped up. Despite being limited to teams of two, this is a tactical game. Every second of a match should ideally be planned out, from early rotation direction choices to which bots you engage to what sort of terrain you meet enemy players on. All the choices I made mattered, but the actions I took while making those choices didn't feel all that exciting. Lighting up two enemy players teased out more enthusiasm from me, but were barely worth the time I spent lollygagging around the map looking for droids to bop and boxes to open. (Image credit: Wargaming) It's hard not to compare Steel Hunters to Mecha Break, another mech-based shooter with an extraction mode and other similar ideas releasing this spring. Mecha Break is all about recreating action scenes from Gundam and Pacific Rim while moving at breakneck speed. Steel Hunters couldn't have felt more different in that regard. There is no twitch-based gameplay or fast maneuverability in Wargaming's mech battler. There is a jump and dash, but they are subdued compared to arcadier mech action games and the stamina system limits them greatly. Every ability—even my bear's melee attack—had a cooldown that made me panic in some fights when it wouldn't let me simply melee my opponent multiple times in succession when they were feet away from me. Steel Hunters did inspire more of a feeling of 'real' mech combat for me, though. Slowly clashing against other teams while buildings crumble and cars flip on the ground around us created a sense of scale that Mecha Break didn't, but if I had to choose, I'd pick Mecha Break's Gundam-style action over Steel Hunters' more subdued battles, which lean further in the direction of MechWarrior. (Image credit: Wargaming) Overall, Steel Hunters has fascinating mech choices and combat designed with balance and tactical gameplay in mind. But it's slow. Even when running around on all fours with the bear, I felt sluggish and I had to plan each paw swing carefully. Wargaming is keeping things simple for now: There are only seven mechs and game modes are limited to six teams of two—and there will be no trios and squads for the beta launch. The developers will ramp things up over time, adding more complexity with new mechs and modes over time. While Mecha Break offers my preferred flavor of mech warfare, Steel Hunters had a promising closed beta in December—it attracted over 200,000 players and the studio gathered over 700 pages of feedback. Wargaming was so confident in the game that it moved the early access release up—it's out on April 2 on Steam. Social Links Navigation You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. Latest in Sim Mecha Break competitor Steel Hunters releases in early access on Steam this week, offering a slower, more tactical free-to-play mech game How to get and use pseudo in Schedule 1 Schedule 1 roadmap: future plans for the drug-dealing sim include a 'classic fishing minigame,' plus 'parkour' and 'heroin' Schedule 1 just got its 5th patch, teaching its blackjack dealers to no longer let you look at their cards and promising a full-on '1st content update' this weekend Schedule 1 cheats and console commands for infinite money and free ingredients How to change clothes in Schedule 1 Latest in News Mecha Break competitor Steel Hunters releases in early access on Steam this week, offering a slower, more tactical free-to-play mech game Inzoi hotfix stops your zois from dying too young, as long as nothing awful happens to them Schedule 1 roadmap: future plans for the drug-dealing sim include a 'classic fishing minigame,' plus 'parkour' and 'heroin' Schedule 1 just got its 5th patch, teaching its blackjack dealers to no longer let you look at their cards and promising a full-on '1st content update' this weekend Not just crumbs in the CPU socket: Over 100 AMD 9800X3D chips are now reported to have gone pop and the most by far have died in ASRock motherboards 'It satirises itself because it's so freaking evil': Den of Wolves isn't a satire on late stage capitalism but it doesn't help that its doomsday scenario is starting to unfold More about sim Schedule 1 cheats and console commands for infinite money and free ingredients Schedule 1 roadmap: future plans for the drug-dealing sim include a 'classic fishing minigame,' plus 'parkour' and 'heroin' Schedule 1 cheats and console commands for infinite money and free ingredients See more latest Most Popular Schedule 1 roadmap: future plans for the drug-dealing sim include a 'classic fishing minigame,' plus 'parkour' and 'heroin' Inzoi hotfix stops your zois from dying too young, as long as nothing awful happens to them Not just crumbs in the CPU socket: Over 100 AMD 9800X3D chips are now reported to have gone pop and the most by far have died in ASRock motherboards 'It's easy to play with other people': Den of Wolves devs confirm that you don't have to talk to your teammates at all to be able to complete missions Ex-Payday 2 devs think they've solved the problem of player in-fighting for their next co-op heist game: 'The bar is low' 'It satirises itself because it's so freaking evil': Den of Wolves isn't a satire on late stage capitalism but it doesn't help that its doomsday scenario is starting to unfold Schedule 1 just got its 5th patch, teaching its blackjack dealers to no longer let you look at their cards and promising a full-on '1st content update' this weekend HP Omen is now making upgrade options, like fans and PSUs, and it makes the gaming PC builder in me quite happy Oh, you tease—we don't know when exactly GTA 6 is coming out because Take-Two's CEO wants 'to maintain the anticipation' After Swen Vincke wagged his finger at a Wizards of the Coast DMCA, Stardew's Baldur's Gate 3 mod is back online HARDWARE BUYING GUIDES LATEST GAME REVIEWS Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads Best graphics card for laptops in 2025: the mobile GPUs I'd want in my next gaming laptop Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most Best 14-inch gaming laptop in 2025: The top compact gaming laptops I've held in these hands Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I've tested Rosewater review: a sun-baked and unhurried adventure Lian Li O11 Vision Compact PC case review Gigabyte Aorus Master 16 gaming laptop review Ayaneo 3 handheld gaming PC review Razer Blade 16 (2025) gaming laptop review PC Gamer is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site. Contact Future's experts Terms and conditions Privacy policy Cookies policy Advertise with us Accessibility Statement Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885. Please login or signup to comment Please wait...
For advertisement: 510-931-9107
Copyright © 2025 Usfijitimes. All Rights Reserved.