War Thunder

War Thunder is a free-to-play multiplayer military combat game developed by Gaijin Entertainment, bringing aircraft, tanks, ships, helicopters, and other military vehicles from the pre-World War II era through the modern age into a single persistent game.

Its biggest strength is the sheer breadth of the simulation. More than 2,500 recreated vehicles are currently available, spanning numerous nations and decades of military technology. Vehicles use historically based characteristics and physically based damage models, meaning armor placement, ammunition, weapon performance, mobility, and vehicle configuration can all have meaningful consequences in combat.

Ground battles are where many players first encounter War Thunder. Rather than simply reducing tanks to health bars, the game models individual components and crew members. A well-placed shot can disable a gun, destroy ammunition, injure crew, or knock out an engine without necessarily destroying the entire vehicle. Learning where to shoot, and understanding where your own vehicle is vulnerable, is therefore a huge part of becoming better.

Air battles provide an entirely different challenge. Aircraft have different flight characteristics, weapon configurations, energy-management considerations, and engagement ranges. Dogfights can quickly turn into contests of positioning and maneuvering rather than simply who sees the opponent first.

Naval combat expands the game again, ranging from smaller coastal vessels to much larger warships. Depending on the mode and vehicle, battles can involve guns, torpedoes, aircraft, anti-aircraft weapons, and other systems simultaneously.

One of War Thunder's defining features is that these branches aren't completely isolated. Combined battles can put aircraft and ground forces into the same match, creating situations where a tank battle can suddenly become an air-defense problem—or where an aircraft can change the course of a ground engagement.

The game offers several approaches to combat, including Arcade, Realistic, and Simulator battles. This gives players room to decide how much assistance and realism they want, rather than forcing everyone into the same experience.

There is also a substantial progression system. Vehicles are organized into national research trees, allowing players to work from early machines toward increasingly sophisticated vehicles. The sheer size of these trees can make progression feel like a hobby in itself.

War Thunder is also unusually well suited to players who enjoy military hardware for its own sake. You can spend hours comparing variants, researching obscure vehicles, learning their histories, and figuring out why a particular machine performs differently from another that looks almost identical.

The game is free to play, although premium vehicles, currency, and account benefits can accelerate progression. Gaijin itself notes that spending money can speed advancement and provide access to additional vehicles, while stating that premium vehicles aren't inherently more powerful than regular ones.