Alpha Channel has confirmed that brutal vehicular RPG TankRat will launch on PS5 and PC via Steam on 15 January.
The release date was revealed during gamescom Opening Night Live, alongside an extended trailer set to William Blake’s The Tyger. Developed in partnership with Kepler Interactive, TankRat mixes post-apocalyptic exploration, customisable tanks and plenty of mechanical destruction.
Players take control of Whittaker, a digitised human consciousness known as a Sleepwalker. More importantly, Whittaker can fuse with fully customisable tanks, which feels considerably more useful when your surroundings are packed with machines trying to tear you apart.
TankRat sends Sleepwalkers into the ECA
Whittaker’s goal is to reach the fabled city of Highpoint and find salvation. Unfortunately, getting there means travelling through the Event Containment Area, or ECA.
This war-torn wasteland is occupied by machines known as Tankrats. As the journey continues, Whittaker’s mission also begins to challenge their understanding of morality, consciousness and power.
Thankfully, you won’t be completely alone. Cyril, a mysterious guide and mentor, will help Whittaker through the ECA. Your tank should also prove fairly handy.
As per the press release, TankRat features six unique areas to explore and seven enormous mechanical bosses. Survival sits at the heart of the experience, but how you approach it depends on how you build your machine.
Players can choose between two tank types. The light tank focuses on speed, dodging projectiles and escaping dangerous encounters. Meanwhile, the medium tank trades mobility for the ability to absorb punishment and dish out plenty of its own.
Scrap tanks, steal parts and build something horrible
There are more than 25 weapons to equip in TankRat, ranging from a 90mm cannon built to tear through metal to a 10mm cannon suited to picking off targets from a distance.
Choosing your starting setup is only part of the job, though.
Destroyed tanks can be dismantled and harvested for new parts. Those components can offer unique advantages, perks and new ways to cause trouble across the ECA.
Essentially, if you reduce an enemy tank to scrap, you might as well see if anything useful survived.
Creative Director Daniel Ebanks said combat sits at the centre of TankRat, while the game’s machines pay homage to miniature kitbashing and its world draws inspiration from 20th-century science fiction.
According to Ebanks, the studio wanted the game to deliver mech action while giving players plenty of mechanical details to geek out over.
TankRat launches on PS5 and PC via Steam on 15 January. If your idea of survival involves stripping enemy tanks for parts and bolting increasingly unpleasant weapons onto your own machine, the ECA may be calling.