Wargaming Has Provided More World Of Tanks: HEAT Details Just In Time For Closed Beta Testing

World of Tanks was released 15 years ago, which is forever in gaming industry years, and the game itself draws its source material from a time period roughly a century ago. The newest entry from Wargaming, World of Tanks: HEAT, seeks to update the franchise, bringing it more in line with modern gaming trends and player tendencies.

As the cliché goes, “This isn’t your father’s World of Tanks.” Considering the age of the average WoT player, many of whom are thought to be in their 40s or 50s, that might be a literal statement.

“Above all, we’re trying to make a game that’s fun,” said Wargaming Head of Community Luke Nicholls in a press briefing earlier this week. “For sure, we’re hoping to attract a new audience, but we think it’s something ex-World of Tanks players will also like.”

As an ex-World of Tanks player myself (I think my last match was in 2018 or so) and aficionado of hero shooters, I’m intrigued by HEAT. I’m a history geek who loves realistic simulations, complete with their gritty visuals and overabundant earth tones, but after a decade and a half, it’s probably time for a new coat of paint on Wargaming’s premium franchise.

Personal Touches

The first look I had of HEAT was from its Steam page, where just a quick look at the trailer video and screenshots makes it clear that the game isn’t beholden to its predecessor’s pacing, visual palette, or time period. Rock music, colorful characters, and just the right splashes of color – without looking too garish – let you know right from the start that this is a game with more of a 2030s than 1930s aesthetic.

World of Tanks: HEAT is set in an alternative timeline, where special agents, known as High Efficiency Armored Teams, are sent to various hotspots “to stop conflicts before they ignite.” (What better way to stop a big conflict than with smaller conflicts?) Vehicles and maps are fictional but inspired by the real world, going by what Nicholls called a “70/30 rule”: 70% realistic and 30% “we go a little nuts.”

Unlike base World of Tanks, where your vehicle was the primary driver of your success, and crew members served only a supporting role, World of Tanks: HEAT is going for more of a hero shooter vibe, with characters, or “agents,” taking the lead. There are three classes of agent – Defender, Assault, and Marksman – and each of them has up to two customizable tanks that players can alter to suit their play style.

The agents come in three roles. Defenders lead on the front line and are the best at survivability. Assault agents are mobile and aggressive, and Marksmen have long-range attacks, filling the game’s sniper role. For now, there are eight total agents: two each of Defenders and Marksmen, and four Assault. Each agent has active and passive skills, as well as an ultimate ability, further cementing the game in the hero shooter genre.

Their ultimate abilities will be the usual game-altering Q-presses that you’re accustomed to from this type of game. Assault agent Kent’s ultimate lets him call in an aerial bombardment that has a greater effect the longer he can hold down sights on the target zone. Marksman Hound fires long-range guided missiles with his ultimate, while Defender Chopper launches multiple artillery blasts that can devastate tightly packed groups of enemies.

Don’t worry, tank fans, the vehicles themselves aren’t being left out of the mix. Customizable modules will allow you to tweak builds to exacting standards, offering simpler benefits like greater speed or survivability, or more tactical choices, like greater fire-starting capability.

Heated Battles

During the beta, you’ll have four choices of game modes, three of them 5v5 affairs. Hardpoint and Control revolve around capturing control points, with Hardpoint having points that rotate during the match and Control featuring a single point, with a best-of-three format. Kill Confirmed is the name of the third 5v5 mode, and it’s more like a typical deathmatch mode, with the added twist that you need to grab the token dropped by a defeated enemy to secure the kill and score the point for your team.

The fourth mode, Conquest, is a 10v10 battle that tasks each with capturing and holding multiple points at once. Matches run about 10 to 15 minutes, or close to 20 for Control.

All four modes sound similar in practice to things we’ve seen in other games of this type, so it’s not as if Wargaming is trying to re-invent the wheel (or tread … though some vehicles are wheeled), which is probably a smart move. Games can sometimes try to do too much at an early stage, for the sake of innovation, which can result in the core of the game not getting properly fleshed out.

All matches at this stage of the game will be of the “Quick Play” variety, though we were told that there might be ranked/competitive play in the future, sometime after full launch. There was an alpha tournament using a fifth mode, Plant/Defense (perhaps not the official name), which is similar to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s or Valorant’s main mode, that is also in the testing stages.

Another expected statement for a free-to-play game of this type is that monetization will be the industry-standard “no pay-to-win,” with cosmetic customization and battle passes that we’ve all come to know and love/hate being offered.

One final, but significant, thing to mention that further distances World of Tanks: HEAT from its old-school predecessor: There will be respawns. That seems natural for any hero shooter, but it conflicts with the standard set by most of Wargaming’s other titles, and it’s a sign that the team is willing to do whatever it takes to make the new game a good experience for everyone, whether they’re a seasoned tanker or it’s their first time behind the wheel. “We’ll listen to what the players are saying,” Nicholls said about what fuels their design philosophy.

The players will likely have a lot to say during the World of Tanks: HEAT beta, which runs from April 16-20. You can sign up on the platform of your choice: PC (Wargaming Center or Steam), Steam Deck, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, or NVIDIA GeForce NOW.