Enlisted Opens the Far Eastern Front With the Invasion of Manchuria

Enlisted continues to carve out its own corner of the crowded World War II shooter space, and its "Far Eastern Front" major update, which launched on December 16, 2025, takes the war somewhere the genre rarely goes. Developed by Darkflow Software and published by Gaijin Entertainment, the free-to-play squad shooter now lets players fight through the Soviet Invasion of Manchuria, the sweeping August 1945 offensive against Imperial Japan that helped bring the war to its close.

It is a smart pick. Most WWII shooters funnel players into the same handful of European set pieces, so a whole new theater, with its own arsenals, uniforms and battlefields, gives Enlisted a distinct flavor that its competitors simply do not offer. The Far Eastern Front is exactly the kind of underexplored ground the game has made its identity out of covering.

Squads, Not Soldiers

What makes Enlisted different from a standard shooter is right there in the core loop: you do not command a single soldier, you command a squad. You control one trooper directly while your AI-controlled squadmates follow, and when your active soldier falls you simply jump into the next member. It turns every engagement into a small-scale tactical puzzle, letting you field riflemen, machine gunners, engineers, snipers and vehicle crews all within a single life.

That squad structure scales up beautifully in the game's larger battles, where infantry, tanks and aircraft all share the same map. The sense of a living, chaotic front line, planes strafing overhead while tanks grind through a village and infantry scrap over a capture point, is Enlisted at its best. Few shooters let a single player touch so many roles in one match, and it gives every battle an ebb and flow that a standard respawn shooter cannot match.

A Steady Drumbeat of Content

Enlisted keeps itself fed with roughly nine to ten battle passes a year, so there is a constant flow of new weapons, squads and cosmetics to chase. The progression system has drawn some criticism over the years, particularly the way upgrades are handled per soldier and per squad, but the fundamentals of the moment-to-moment combat remain a genuine draw, and the free-to-play entry point means you can judge it for yourself without spending a cent.

The game runs on Windows PC alongside PlayStation and Xbox consoles, with cross-play keeping the matches populated. For newcomers, the mix of historical authenticity and approachable, arcade-leaning action makes it an easy game to pick up and a deep one to master.

With the Far Eastern Front now open, there has rarely been a more interesting time to enlist. Fighting through Manchuria offers a change of scenery that most WWII shooters can only dream of. You can Play Enlisted free on PC on Windows and take command of your first squad on a front you have probably never played before.