The TankRat gameplay reveal is 15 minutes of pure tank carnage, and it looks wild. Kepler Interactive and Alpha Channel have finally shown off the first gameplay from TankRat, the follow-up to TankHead, and it is a noisy, explosive, gloriously chaotic ride through a world where tanks are everything. The new footage centers on a mission called Ironstrike, and it packs in a new mechanic, a new boss and a new face — all of it set to the kind of heavy-metal mayhem the series is known for.
TankRat Gameplay Reveal: The Ironstrike Mission
The TankRat gameplay reveal opens on Ironstrike, a brand-new mission that was not in TankHead. Whittaker is on the hunt for Persona Zero, the original copy of his now-digital self, and he is being guided by the mysterious Cyril. The mission shows off the game’s wide-open battlefields, its fast tank combat and the sheer scale of the war Whittaker is fighting. It is the first real look at what TankRat plays like, and it does not hold back.
Remote Viewer: Steal an Enemy Tank and Turn It on Its Friends
The star of the show is the new Remote Viewer mechanic. It lets players temporarily steal control of enemy tanks and turn their weapons on their own allies. In the footage, Whittaker hijacks an enemy tank mid-battle and uses it to blast the squad that was hunting him — a trick that opens up all kinds of tactical chaos. It is the kind of mechanic that makes you rethink every encounter, because the tank shooting at you might be yours by the time the dust settles.
Cableworm Boss: A Nine-Pronged Laser and a Flood of Radiation
Then there is the Cableworm. The boss is a mech-fusion built from the landscape itself, and it attacks with a nine-pronged laser that sweeps the battlefield. While you are dodging that, Grabber TankRats swarm in and flood your tank with radiation, forcing you to keep moving and keep fighting at the same time. It is a messy, high-pressure encounter, and it looks like the kind of boss fight people will be talking about long after launch.
New Faces: Willow and the Hunt for Persona Zero
The footage also introduces Willow, one of the first Highpoint residents to upload her consciousness. She is a new NPC in a world where uploading your mind is becoming normal, and her story adds a human — or post-human — thread to the hunt for Persona Zero. Between Cyril’s guidance and Willow’s arrival, TankRat is shaping up to be as much about identity as it is about explosions.
Watch the TankRat Gameplay Trailer
You can watch the full 15-minute TankRat gameplay reveal in the trailer above. It is the best way to see the Ironstrike mission, the Remote Viewer and the Cableworm in action.
TankRat Release Date: January 15, 2027
TankRat launches on PlayStation 5 and PC (Steam) on January 15, 2027. That is a little over two months of waiting — and if this first gameplay reveal is anything to go by, it will be worth it. Keep an eye on Proven Gamer for more TankRat news as launch approaches.
If tanks are your thing, NTE Version 1.5 also puts you behind the wheel — driveable tanks are part of its huge new update, and you can read our coverage of NTE Version 1.5 here. And for more PC releases this week, check out Cities: Skylines II Park Adventures, out December 2.
Source: Kepler Interactive / Alpha Channel, via Games Press.
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