Why War Thunder Is Still One of the Best Free Games on PC

Plenty of free-to-play games come and go. War Thunder just keeps growing. More than a decade after launch, Gaijin Entertainment's vehicular combat sim remains the most staggeringly comprehensive free game on PC — a single title where you can dogfight in a WWII fighter, command a Cold War tank and captain a warship, all rendered with a level of authenticity almost nothing else attempts. It is still one of the best things you can download for nothing.

Scale that nobody else matches

War Thunder spans air, land and sea, with thousands of accurately modelled aircraft, tanks and ships drawn from across military history — from pre-WWI vessels through World War II and Vietnam to modern hardware. Each vehicle is recreated with obsessive detail, right down to individual armour plates and crew positions. No other free game offers this breadth, and Gaijin keeps the tech trees expanding with regular updates, so there is always a new machine to grind toward.

As approachable or as hardcore as you want

The clever part is the three-tier realism system. Arcade mode is fast, forgiving and a genuinely fun pick-up-and-play experience. Realistic dials up the simulation and the stakes. And Simulator mode goes all in — cockpit views, real physics, the full white-knuckle experience that flight-sim diehards live for. The same game serves the curious newcomer and the obsessive alike, and you can slide between them as your appetite for punishment grows.

Very few games let a total beginner and a hardcore simulation fan share the same title and both walk away happy. War Thunder has done exactly that for over ten years.

Cross-platform play keeps the servers heaving, and because it runs on Windows, macOS and consoles alike, you are never short of opponents. On PC it looks and runs superbly, and the flight and armour modelling reward every hour you put in.

The progression grind is real, and the game's economy has drawn its share of criticism over the years — this is a free-to-play title with a store, and it earns its keep. But you can ignore the wallet entirely and still get hundreds of hours out of the early and mid tech trees, which is more than most paid games deliver.

Prefer boots on the ground? Try Enlisted

If squad-level infantry combat is more your speed, Gaijin publishes a natural companion in Enlisted, a free-to-play WWII squad-based shooter developed by Darkflow Software. Instead of a lone soldier, you command a small squad across iconic theatres like Normandy and Berlin, mixing riflemen, snipers, medics, tankers and aircraft into large, cinematic battles. It shares War Thunder's love of historical detail but trades the cockpit for the trench.

The bottom line

What keeps both games great is generosity of scope. You can play either for years without paying a cent, and you will still be discovering new vehicles, nations and tactics. For sheer amount of authentic military hardware to command, nothing free comes close.

War Thunder is free on Windows and macOS, and Enlisted is free on Windows. If you have somehow never tried them, start here: Play War Thunder free and, for the infantry side of the war, Play Enlisted free. A decade on, Gaijin's twin combat sandboxes are still among the best-value games on PC — full stop.