War Thunder

 PC
User Score
3.8

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 1908 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 590 out of 1908
  2. Mixed: 203 out of 1908
  3. Negative: 1,115 out of 1908

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  1. SgtToast
    May 21, 2023
    0
    F**k your god awful economy changes making the unplayable to the where even paying players like I struggle to even have fun with such s**t rewards and never mind that even with a premium vehicle and premium time it takes forever to do ONE tech tree unless you make this game your whole life
  2. M808B
    May 21, 2023
    0
    I've been playing this game since 2014. But now, some 10 years later, the game's developers are money-mad. If you want to spend your money hard and throw it in the trash, spend it on this game
  3. DiscountIvy
    May 21, 2023
    0
    New players please avoid. The game developers only care about money, not the playerbase.
  4. SansGrafNie
    May 21, 2023
    0
    The new economy update is absolutely terrible. We will not stop review bombing until you fix it.
  5. GTX_1060_6GB
    May 21, 2023
    0
    broken economy, developers that threaten users by saying they will shut down the server what a ridiculous game XD
  6. metapleb
    May 21, 2023
    0
    not worth your time with the current economy you're better off playing something else until the situation improves
  7. Jurek25
    May 21, 2023
    0
    I didn't want to do this But Gaijin needs to stop. SAY NO TO SNAIL MAY 26TH SAY NO TO HIGH REPAIR COST SAY NO TO LOW TO LOW EARNINGS OF SL AND RP REVIEW BOMBING WILL CONTINUE UNTIL ECONOMY IMPROVES
  8. Ghostdivison5
    May 20, 2023
    0
    Cant recommend to new and returning players until economy and grind is fixed
  9. Iitto630
    May 20, 2023
    0
    The game has become extremely pay to play, with a very long time between unlocking new vehicles, something which is the most crucial mechanic in this type of F2P progression game
  10. Ireon
    May 20, 2023
    0
    Free2Play is a lie

    Economics While overall the game itself can be a lot of fun, without paying for premium you'll quickly be basically unable to progress as Gaijin is making the time needed to progress longer and longer. But not only this, even with premium you more or less have to buy premium vehicles too cause otherwise you won't earn enough ingame currency to even keep playing the    Free2Play is a lie

    Economics
    While overall the game itself can be a lot of fun, without paying for premium you'll quickly be basically unable to progress as Gaijin is making the time needed to progress longer and longer. But not only this, even with premium you more or less have to buy premium vehicles too cause otherwise you won't earn enough ingame currency to even keep playing the game. Considering that higher tiered Premiums cost more then full AAA titles and you basically needing several of these if you want to play different nations reliably, the Gaijin tries to force you more and more to pay large sums of money to be able to enjoy the game. Complains by the community are getting ignored and changes are only made to make the situation worse and worse.

    Balancing
    Overall, the game is kinda balanced, but playing it you'll experience and notice certain vehicles for certain nations are being quite a bit favoured by the developers, some vehicles being too weak for what they encounter, some vehicles definitely being too strong. Then there is also the fact that pretty much all vehicles when initially researched are not really capable to compete with its counter parts as they come stock. Crucial components being locked till you either pay real money to unlock them, or by grinding the vehicle. High tier planes being hurt the most from this approach as all enemies will have Anti Air Missiles and you not having flares to counter these as you have to research them first.

    Map design
    I can only assume its made by the unpaid intern. Some maps are cool, a lot are complete **** Especially so considering that some maps are impossible to be properly played on certain tiers, but Gaijin doesn't care, limiting certain maps to certain tiers is too hard for them I guess.

    So yeah tl.dr.:
    Gaijin keeps making the grind harder and harder so that even just having a premium account is not enough any more.
    Balancing is often based on made up lies without any transparency on actual statistics.
    Maps are often a complete joke. (Getting killed in spawn from the enemies spawn and vice versa)
    Bugs and Bug reports are regularly being ignored or dismissed.
    Certain cosmetics are giving you a unfair advantage and Gaijin is refusing to fix this issue.

    If you wanna play the game, go for it, but I suggest not to pay any money on the game till Gaijin actually starts fixing these issues.    … Expand
  11. xRed_Ray
    May 20, 2023
    1
    This game has some pretty interesting mechanics at its core. But do not get me wrong! It is a horrible game, designed by absolute c*nts with horrible russian bias, managed by a greedy, money hungry company that blocks out all community feedback and actively spits on its players at every opportunity, along with begging them for money like their disappointed mothers once a month when theThis game has some pretty interesting mechanics at its core. But do not get me wrong! It is a horrible game, designed by absolute c*nts with horrible russian bias, managed by a greedy, money hungry company that blocks out all community feedback and actively spits on its players at every opportunity, along with begging them for money like their disappointed mothers once a month when the rent is due... but it has its moment. Singular! ONCE EVERY 20 HOURS OF PLAYTIME… Expand
  12. Bergebis
    May 20, 2023
    2
    The game is alright through mid ww2 vehicles, but after that, the developer has gated everything behind two different grinding gates: 1) In game economy - this has slowly been nerfed into the ground, and even premium players need a 2-3.0 KD to break even in game, and 2) research grinding - which has been slowly nerfed by adding new vehicle variants you are required to research andThe game is alright through mid ww2 vehicles, but after that, the developer has gated everything behind two different grinding gates: 1) In game economy - this has slowly been nerfed into the ground, and even premium players need a 2-3.0 KD to break even in game, and 2) research grinding - which has been slowly nerfed by adding new vehicle variants you are required to research and increasing vehicle research costs.… Expand
  13. transfer2
    May 20, 2023
    0
    The economy in this game gets worse and worse with every update and the monetization is getting out of hand.
  14. BrotherJ
    May 20, 2023
    0
    A terrible investment that new players should avoid. While new vehicles are added at a regular clip, they provide trivial differences to what is old, tired, uninspired game play and game modes that haven't changed in nearly a decade. The game isn't so much updated as it is regularly restocked and occasionally tweaked to extract more time and money from those who have already invested tooA terrible investment that new players should avoid. While new vehicles are added at a regular clip, they provide trivial differences to what is old, tired, uninspired game play and game modes that haven't changed in nearly a decade. The game isn't so much updated as it is regularly restocked and occasionally tweaked to extract more time and money from those who have already invested too much of both.… Expand
  15. Vigno
    May 20, 2023
    0
    To pair this review with the most recent clown economy changes(and the ones from the past 4-5 years), we've gone from grinding vehicles(lets say 3-5 vehicles on average) in about a week, to 3-5 vehicles in several months from 2017-2023, you will take years to get a vehicle you want at the end of the tech tree line, and that's not even accounting for the comical amounts of ingame currencyTo pair this review with the most recent clown economy changes(and the ones from the past 4-5 years), we've gone from grinding vehicles(lets say 3-5 vehicles on average) in about a week, to 3-5 vehicles in several months from 2017-2023, you will take years to get a vehicle you want at the end of the tech tree line, and that's not even accounting for the comical amounts of ingame currency you need to actually buy the vehicle, crew the vehicle, expert it for convenience and actually use it with a high repair cost( almost every vehicle people want to use have high repair). The grind is atrocious, and coming from a player who's played since 2015, I don't think this game deserves any better than the lowest review possible. The developers will tell you they deserve more because monetization, but they've been doing amazingly well since the player boom from the pandemic, and lots of newbies giving out free high reviews, this is not what the game actually looks like, or is even after say, 10-20 hours of playing. (and you will be playing a lot if you want even a low rank vehicle)

    To anyone reading about this for the first time, tread carefully since this game is addictive, and soul crushing. The monopoly it holds in this genre is astounding, and the developers refuse to admit their fault when it comes to handling the game by "using statistics over years" over actually playing the game or listening to players. It is no different from what EA does, and Gaijin Entertainment has made it clear they're not going to change.    … Expand
  16. busted-betty
    May 19, 2023
    0
    The Devs dont care about a healthy relationship with the Customer , they only care about your money, nothing else, some bugs(mostly the broken ones)never get fixed or just looked over it,

    they never plan to fix basics

    they allways blast out premiums.
  17. sexman69
    May 19, 2023
    0
    GARBAGE GAME **** YOU GAIJIN dfdfdfdfdfdfffffffffffffffffffffffdfddfdfdfdfdf
  18. Gunther_222
    May 19, 2023
    0
    The grind has become unbearable. Repair cost are too high with everything and the SL gain got nerfed into the ground.
  19. Sawiszcze
    May 19, 2023
    1
    So that's it, I'd you asked me about this game 3 years ago I'd say that it's a dream for a military enthusiasts, although grind was a bit hard but manageable, but as of now things changed, through years of constant developers' greed the game is in almost unplayable state for any new player, and even veterans have hard time enjoying it. Until situation improves I advise against playing this game.
  20. LTcoolk
    May 19, 2023
    0
    This game has become unplayable due to the company’s greed, I wouldn’t recommend playing until they fix the games issues.
  21. The_Clear_File
    May 19, 2023
    4
    This game is like this in a word.
    "Game hostile to users"
    They said that they make games by reviewing and researching real-world data. It's a lie and a comedy. Except in some countries (*cough*Russia*cough*), most of the performance and wrong vehicle in reality that users find difficult to understand appears, causing despondency and anger. For example, Japan has never had an f16 but    This game is like this in a word.
    "Game hostile to users"
    They said that they make games by reviewing and researching real-world data.
    It's a lie and a comedy.
    Except in some countries (*cough*Russia*cough*), most of the performance and wrong vehicle in reality that users find difficult to understand appears, causing despondency and anger.
    For example, Japan has never had an f16 but it does or Italy's Ariete MBT's armoured material is expressed as having none just because it's confidential.
    And you should be very good at this game or subscribe to premium benefits.
    Or most of the time, when you look at the results window after the game, you make a little bit of money, or you lose money.
    Other than this, there are some minor bugs and errors in each patch, some unbalanced game maps, some developer who forgot this was a game, but it's fun to watch various war machines come out and fight each other, so it's a game that's good enough to get 4 points.    … Expand
  22. komet2
    May 18, 2023
    0
    The game has become a cash grab, don't waste your money on the game, don't even waste your storage space.
  23. Laya_de_Glory
    May 18, 2023
    0
    Please, make the game for players not the money. It would be low beneficial. But, you know, we're all want long lasting game.
  24. Billy349
    May 18, 2023
    0
    I have played warthunder since its release on consoles however many years ago, having switched to PC almost entirely to improve my experience with the game. Over the years the devs have consistently sought to give their player base the metaphorical finger, with economy changes designed (by the dev's own admission) to ensure the vast majority of players are losing money when usingI have played warthunder since its release on consoles however many years ago, having switched to PC almost entirely to improve my experience with the game. Over the years the devs have consistently sought to give their player base the metaphorical finger, with economy changes designed (by the dev's own admission) to ensure the vast majority of players are losing money when using non-premium tanks and a standard account. The BR system remains beyond broken, with many planes sat either far above or below the ranks they should be at and naval battles despite being a relatively new addition in the grand scheme of things have been all but abandoned. The biggest shame is that Warthunder is the perfect example of what happens when a company has no competition, over the years Gaijin has become greedier and greedier. Either this needs to change or a competitor needs to emerge in the market because as it stands, while Gaijin's account balance will bloom the fantastic and unique game will flounder and the player base will drop.… Expand
  25. Filibiny
    May 18, 2023
    1
    the game balance is awfull, many vehicles are extremely overpowered with others suffering, the game actively tries to put you against stronger vehicles the better you are, which is a good idea, untill a point where the game puts you against enemies you have no chance of killing, with some being literally unkillable by any of your vehicles, furthermore the developers keep making economythe game balance is awfull, many vehicles are extremely overpowered with others suffering, the game actively tries to put you against stronger vehicles the better you are, which is a good idea, untill a point where the game puts you against enemies you have no chance of killing, with some being literally unkillable by any of your vehicles, furthermore the developers keep making economy changes which actively make the players play more and gain less so that the players need to buy premium accounts/vehicles and even then they are not earning enough… Expand
  26. TRPilot06
    May 18, 2023
    1
    A brilliant game with immense possibily ruined by greedy developers. WT couldve been a great game but its nothing more than a chore. You have to work your ass off just to be able to playe the vehicles you own. Thats ofc considering that you have actually managed to grind your life off getting that said vehicle.
  27. marcu_wojac
    May 18, 2023
    0
    Good game but griddy as hell company, do not spend even a single dime. Until Gaijin will adrresss this and ease up the economy, this game will be trash, shame for its mechanics and nice gameplay.
  28. xDev120
    May 18, 2023
    0
    War Thunder, although advertised as a free to play game, actually is a clearly pay to win game. Repair costs which make you need to pay real money to get in-game funds, as the match rewards are inadequate. Gaijin manipulates its player base into paying more and more money. Don't get this game for your own sake.
  29. IronTrump
    May 17, 2023
    0
    The game director said the goal of in-game progression is for anyone passed 20% mark (above rank III) unable to meaningfully progress without paying $20 per month for premium and 50% mark (rank VI and onward) to not progress if not buying a premium bundle (more expensive than most AAA tittles, $70 + VAT).
    So you are expecting $90 a month minimum to enjoy the advised content on their    The game director said the goal of in-game progression is for anyone passed 20% mark (above rank III) unable to meaningfully progress without paying $20 per month for premium and 50% mark (rank VI and onward) to not progress if not buying a premium bundle (more expensive than most AAA tittles, $70 + VAT).
    So you are expecting $90 a month minimum to enjoy the advised content on their frontpage (BMP-2, T-72 1989, M1A1 Abrahams, Boeing AH-64 Apache) and grind for 2-4 months for casual players which means you would spend $350 to have one of the cover tanks.
    So NO    … Expand
  30. TheDon79
    May 17, 2023
    0
    This game advertises itself as F2P, which is the case if you want to wait days for your vehicles to repair without spending in-game currency. The dev has made it progressively worse and worse to achieve goals in the game, or to play it without losing money on it.

    Every update just introduces copy/paste vehicles that are already in the game, with a minor tweak to them. Premium vehicles    This game advertises itself as F2P, which is the case if you want to wait days for your vehicles to repair without spending in-game currency. The dev has made it progressively worse and worse to achieve goals in the game, or to play it without losing money on it.

    Every update just introduces copy/paste vehicles that are already in the game, with a minor tweak to them. Premium vehicles cost as much as a standard AAA title.

    They do not do enough to combat bot players and cheaters. They moderate every comment you might want to make about the game in their forums, and will delete anything that is negative towards them and their actions. I recommend staying away from this game.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

45
#45 Best PC Game of 2013
10
#10 Most Discussed PC Game of 2013
18
#18 Most Shared PC Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Jan 25, 2017
    87
    One of the cornerstones of War Thunder is that player’s skill is more important than his wallet. Premium vehicles offer no combat advantages, there is no “microtransaction-only” ammo or consumables, so no amount of cash will buy you a spot on the top of the food chain. [Issue#216, p.56]
  2. GRYOnline.pl
    Jan 13, 2017
    75
    The official launch of War Thunder reminded me why I like this game so much. It's adorably chaotic - in contrast to the reliably designed World of Tanks. That's why it can be really fun and frustrating at the same time. There's tons of great vehicles (and the planes are superb!) and a difficult simulation mode, but there are also balance and technical issues.
    Read full review
  3. CalmDownTom
    Aug 14, 2014
    90
    Overall the War Thunder tank battles are great even at this early stage.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »