In today’s massive 20-game-long post, we’ll be stepping across various gaming genres to bring you 20 of the best war-themed games out there. From top-down strategies to first-person shooters, this list contains some of the most thrilling, intense, and epic battlefield experiences out there today. And we’re kicking it off with…
#20: Escape From Tarkov
(PC)
Escape From Tarkov is a realistic and hardcore FPS/RPG/Simulator mix that comes with MMO-style features that help this title stand out from other War FPS experiences. The fictional city of Tarkov is the setting of a complicated, ever-expanding war being fought by two private military companies controlled by the whims of their powerful employers, and daily, they conduct violent operations in a constant back-and-forth power struggle. It's a matter of survival in Tarkov, and you have to do whatever it takes to escape with your life.
In Escape From Tarkov, you’ll create your own mercenary and go off to experience a variety of violent, fast-paced combat scenarios that feature true-to-life ballistics and projectile hit physics, as well as a realistically advanced weapon customization system. The RPG/MMO features come into play as you explore Tarkov’s environments which range from civilian apartments to chemical plants and secret underground facilities. You’ll earn new loot from conducting raids, so long as your character doesn’t die and lose all their supplies during a mission, which you can sell and upgrade as you see fit while interacting with NPCs and even exploring an extensive story-driven scenario about escaping the city. A strong start to our list, and while there’s much more to tell, we still have 19 games to go on this list. So take my word for it and check out Tarkov.
#19: Six Days in Fallujah
(PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X-S)
One of the most chillingly realistic games on this list, Six Days in Fallujah is a 4-player tactical co-op title based upon the Second Battle of Fallujah over the span of 6 days in November 2004. Created with the help of over 100 real-world Marines who fought that very battle, Six Days in Fallujah gives players a first-hand look into one of history’s more recent conflicts, where they will have to carefully utilize actual military tactics if they want to make it out alive.
Fallujah features a procedural architecture system that ensures there is no “correct” route for your squad to take, and in turn, that you’ll never know what to expect in the mission ahead. AI enemies will take up random positions around the map on top of flanking, stalking, and ambushing your squad, further adding to the heart-pounding uncertainty that you will face as you play the game. To make it out of Fallujah alive, you and your squad will need to stay close and use precision teamwork as you face off against the same tactics that made the real Second Battle of Fallujah among the bloodiest in half a century.
#18: WARNO
(PC)
Realistic, immersive, and breathtaking, WARNO is a real-time tactics military fighter that brings a new sense of scale to the genre and dubs itself the ultimate World War III battle simulator. The spiritual successor to the acclaimed Wargame series, WARNO gives you the power to control hundreds of units on a battlefield that is as brutal as it is beautiful in a cold war that’s turned hot.
WARNO guarantees an authentic, expansive, and meticulously researched real-time strategy experience where you can align yourself with the nations of either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. Across multiple campaigns and operations, you’ll be able to control more than 1000 different military units from fleets of tanks and airborne fighters all the way down to platoons of soldiers, all of which feature a large selection of famous military formations and brigades, each with their own unique identities. Step right into the heart of the war near the infamous Fulda Gap and take your place in this devastating, techno-thrilling World War III conflict that will burn across Western Europe.
#17: Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2
(PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X-S)
The most challenging entry yet in this acclaimed series, Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 has its players take on the role of Raven, a highly-skilled killer for hire, as he embarks on a series of contracts in a lawless region of the Middle East located along the Lebanese and Syrian borders. You have been given the nearly impossible task of bringing a high-ranking, insidious criminal syndicate to justice, one bullet at a time. Using a combination of close-quarters combat and what the game calls extreme-range sniping, you’ll fight across 21 main contracts that are littered with side objectives, each of which can be completed in a wide range of ways, making the entire game highly replayable if you choose to complete every challenge the game has to offer.
Contracts 2 has the most lifelike enemies to date, making the enemy faction led by the ruthlessly violent Mahmoud Zarza, aka ‘The Butcher’, one of the most difficult challenges to overcome in the SGW series. Luckily for you, you’ll be able to use a wide arsenal of weapons based on realistic military equipment, the most exciting of which obviously being the sniper rifles, which you can use from over 1000m distances to turn your enemies’ heads into a fine, red mist, a first for the series. Whether you pick off enemies from afar or pull off up-close stealth kills, you’ll experience both and more with the game’s viscerally detailed graphics that add an extra level of grizzly detail to your missions. And of course, we can’t forget the cinematic bullet camera!
#16: War of Rights
(PC)
From the high-powered luxuries of the modern age, we’ll now be jumping back in time, specifically to September 1862, smack in the middle of the Maryland Campaign of the American Civil War. In War of Rights, you’ll be able to take part in massive 350-player battles across the American landscape of over 160 years ago and experience the unparalleled brutality and glory of the Civil War.
War of Rights creates a historically authentic experience through both its stunning visuals and its complex line-formation team gameplay. 135 real-world Regiments have been faithfully recreated in the game, and you can express your Regiment pride while playing several character classes that range from Privates and Officers to Flag Bearers and Drummers. From muskets to canons to simply and brutally running the enemy through with bayonets, you’ll fight in over 30 recreated real-world locations from numerous battles and sieges from across the war when playing War of Rights. In short, if you’re a fan of history, or if you just want to fight in savage and bloodthirsty battles based on one of the most intense periods in American history, this is the game for you.
#15: Enlisted
(PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X-S)
While most World War 2 FPS titles give you control of a dime-a-dozen grunt and expect you to earn all the glory yourself, Enlisted gives that formula an interesting spin by instead putting each player in control of a 4-man squad of ai-controlled soldiers. This causes the battles to feel truly massive as entire waves of soldiers charge across the battlefield, and if you fall during battle you can just take control of another soldier in your squad to keep the fight going.
From the streets of Berlin to the islands of the Pacific Oceans, you’ll fight in all corners of the World War while controlling a variety of soldier types, from the frontline footsoldier to the tank crew units and even fighter pilots. There are more than 300 pieces of famous and diverse military equipment, giving you a diverse selection of tools you can use to decimate your enemies on the battlefield. All of this and more combine to make Enlisted one of the most hectic, chaotic, and exciting shooter games on this list.
#14: Project Wingman
(PC/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X-S)
Dogfight, air strike, and fly your way through the combat zones of a war on an alternate-history Earth in Project Wingman, a fast-paced single-player flight action game that will get your adrenaline pumping in no time flat. From the cold waters of the Bering Strait to attacking tanks in the brutal environments of Yellowstone magma fields, you’ll be taking the fight all over the world in this pure combat flight experience where just one careless maneuver is all that stands between living and getting plucked out of the sky by the enemy forces all around you.
Project Wingman lets you pilot over 20 unique aircraft, with each having over 40 different weapons in total at your disposal, and you’ll need each and every advantage you can get as you weave your way past ace squadrons of enemies, high-powered railguns, geothermal-powered armaments and more. Project Wingman focuses more on being an all-out, stupidly fun action game rather than being another simulator, meaning that you don’t need to worry about what “makes sense”, just that you need to be prepared for anything if you want to stay alive. From other fighter pilots in other planes to giant mechanized battle fortresses, you never know what you’ll face in the next battle… plus, you can play it in VR! You know, if you wanna lose your lunch.
#13: Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront
(PC/Mac/Linux)
Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront is a turn-based RTS that will take you from June 1941 to the end of the “Great Patriotic War” fought between Germany and the USSR in May 1945, and every gritty, bloody battle in between. Ostfront not only lets you command your armies from above like most RTS games, but it also allows you to enter third and first-person views for ground units like soldiers and vehicles respectively, which you can freely switch between.
Ostfront features plenty of realistic details ranging from sound design to how tank armor can absorb an impact, tying into the immersive in-game missions that can be played alone or in co-op play. One of the most interesting ways of playing is the game’s dynamic campaign which can range from short-and-sweet to a near-infinite campaign experience. And to top it all off, with over 250 different vehicles and over 100 heavy weapons across your soldiers, you can also fight in calculated PvE or PvP battles to really put your strategic knowledge to the test however you’d like.
#12: Men of War: Assault Squad 2
(PC)
Sticking with the RTS theme for a bit longer, Men of War: Assault Squad 2 cranks up the intensity and lets you drive face-first into the heat of battle as explosions roar and the world crumbles around you. With significant game engine and visual improvements from previous games, Assault Squad 2 will immerse you in the frantic carnage of war as you engage in massive battles across spectacular maps set around the world.
Whether playing in the 30-plus single-player skirmishes or 8v8 multiplayer battles, Assault Squad 2 gives you over 250 vehicles and 200 individual soldier types to control across the game’s five playable nations. Unlike most other RTS games, Assault Squad 2 will make sure that your presence is felt by whichever battlefront you’re currently fighting for. Fighter planes can fall out of the sky and crush moving vehicles below, oil tankers in train depots can detonate, buildings can crumble, and much more can be done to constantly shift the balance of power depending on where your men are currently standing. In short, Men of War has delivered yet another stunning RTS experience that shouldn’t be missed if you’re a fan of the genre.
#11: Foxhole
(PC)
Coming up at #11, we’ll be shining the spotlight on one of my personal favorite games on this list: Foxhole. A massively multiplayer wargame experience that pits two similar, yet still unique factions against each other in an endless war. A war that’s entirely controlled by thousands of real-world players all playing at the same time.
Not only do the players in Foxhole fight on the frontlines to capture enemy-controlled towns to try and capture the game’s enormous map, but they also stay in the backlines to convert raw materials into the guns, vehicles, building materials, even the bullets that will be used throughout the way. Massive coordination between players is used to keep the frontlines stocked with necessary supplies and to construct complicated structures that range from sprawling bunker and trench networks to full-scale railroad lines and fully operational trains to nuclear missile silos that can devastate entire towns. And that’s not all, either. This level of teamwork ensures that whichever current war is being played is fought and won purely through the hardships and cooperation of the players in that army, making Foxhole one of the most unique MMO games on the market today.
#10: Battlefield V
(PC/PS4/Xbox One)
Standing at the 11th mainline installment in this long-running series, Battlefield V plunges its players knee-deep into World War 2 in classic Battlefield fashion. From grizzly close-quarters firefights in the crumbling streets of a bombed-out city to large-scale assaults across land, air, and sea in the Pacific Islands, every expansive environment will immerse you as you blow them apart to get the advantage on your enemies.
From classic game modes like 64-player Conquest to newer additions like Airborne, where you will have to parachute onto a battlefield to help spearhead an invasion, to Firestorm, the game’s high-stakes battle royale mode, Battlefield V brings a little bit of something for every kind of player. You’ll get to fight across maps based on real battlefields ranging from the famous to the obscure in that iconic blood-pumping battlefield fashion, where no match ever feels the same as the last.
#9: Rising Storm 2 Vietnam
(PC)
Rising Storm 2 Vietnam puts players right in the middle of the hot and humid action of the Vietnam War and lets them run wild in massive 64-player battles that feature 6 different playable armies, each with their own weapons and abilities. The game balances historical accuracy with the freedom to focus on having fun that video games provide, creating a game that’s as enjoyable as it is intense.
From the United States and their allies to the various armies of Vietnam, each faction has its own special equipment that adds a unique flavor to whatever match you might be playing, such as the US/Marines having access to special airburst artillery and napalm attacks, while the NVA and VC forces can build player spawns or traps to kill enemies with, simulating the frantic experience of the real-life war. Over 50 weapons are usable in-game, ranging from basics like machine guns and sniper rifles to more extreme options like flamethrowers or helicopters, among other things. However you choose to fight, and whichever side you fight for, the one experience everyone will share is the blood-pumping in-your-face combat that makes Rising Storm 2 the fan favorite that it is.
#8: Spec Ops: The Line
(PC/Mac/Linux/PS3/Xbox 360)
Perhaps one of the most well-known titles on today’s list, Spec Ops: The Line makes players face the harrowing true nature that comes from wide-scale conflict. Six months after the city of Dubai was wiped off the map by a historic sandstorm that claimed thousands of lives, a mysterious radio signal is picked up from within the city, resulting in a Delta Recon Team being sent in to locate survivors. But what they find is a city in the iron grip of war, and it falls onto their shoulders to stop the people responsible for this conflict. But they’ll need to make some potentially horrific decisions along the way if they want to survive.
Spec Ops: The Line features pulse-pounding third-person close-quarters combat with squad-based mechanics that set out to and succeed in delivering the up-close brutality of combat. As you fight through the versatile environment of a half-buried Dubai, you’ll need to lead your squad through multiple enemy encounters and deadly sandstorms alike if you want to survive the game’s gripping storyline. Spec Ops will challenge your own morality as it continuously puts you in the middle of unspeakable situations that show players the dark side of war, where sooner or later you’ll have to cross “The Line” by making unimaginable choices that will affect human lives, one or way another.
#7: This War of Mine
(PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X-S/Nintendo Switch/iOS/Android)
We’re going to keep it up with the depressing feelings for just a bit longer as we move onto This War of Mine, which offers players a different perspective of war than most other games. Instead of playing as an elite soldier on the frontlines of a conflict, you focus on a group of civilians trying to survive in a city ravaged by the horrors of war. These civilians struggle to keep a steady supply of food, water, and medicine as they hide away from the snipers, scavengers, and whatever else out there that wouldn’t think twice about killing you for whatever’s in your pockets.
Snipers watch the streets during the day, which means you’ll spend your time trying to repair your shelter into something that’s actually livable by crafting items, trading, and taking care of your survivors. At night is when you leave to scavenge the city for crucial supplies, and potentially come across other survivors, be they dangerous or desperate. On any given day you will need to make life-and-death decisions driven by your conscience, either to try and protect your survivors or to sacrifice someone in the name of long-term survival. Anything can happen, you just need to stay alive if you intend on living with it.
#6: Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
(PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X-S)
Coming in at #6 is the most recently released game on our list, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Set in the early 90s, Block Ops 6 is a spy-thriller where the CIA has been infiltrated by a shadowy force of unknown origin, and anyone who resists their efforts is branded a traitor to the country. Now exiled and on the run, players will take on the role of Black Ops veteran Frank Woods as he and his team soon find themselves hunted by the same military machine that created them.
Of course, if you aren’t interested in the game’s single-player storyline, the game still features that renowned CoD multiplayer gameplay experience, now with some new twists. The biggest change to multiplayer combat is the new omnidirectional movement feature, which allows you to sprint and dive in any direction regardless of the camera. You’ll be able to master these new movement options across 16 new maps in total across the multiple game modes that Black Ops 6 offers, not the least of which includes the return of the fan-favorite Round-Based Zombies mode. Because, after all, is it really a Call of Duty game if it doesn’t have zombies? You know, on top of the whole military shooter thing.
#5: Hell Let Loose
(PC/PS5/Xbox Series X-S)
Jumping back to good ol’ World War 2, because you can’t ever go wrong with a WW2 shooter, we’ll now be looking at Hell Let Loose, an FPS that pits players in massive 50v50 battles across iconic locations from the Eastern and Western Fronts. Locations like Omaha Beach, Stalingrad, and many others are recreated as large-scale maps that further flex the larger-than-life feeling you’ll get when fighting for supremacy.
Unlike most FPS games, Hell Let Loose isn’t about kill-death ratios and personal glory, instead the focus is on working together with your team to not only keep up the fight but to ensure your side has enough resources to actually keep the fight going. Using any of the 14 playable classes, ranging from Snipers and Medics to Tank Crewmen and Pilots and more, you’ll take part in massive offensive pushes that are coordinated by a Commander, an actual player that’s helping to lead you and your fellow soldiers to victory via the tactical map. With all of that and more, Hell Let Loose lives up to its name and then some, as each round is an intense, complex march to freedom that could go either way at any moment.
#4: Insurgency Sandstorm
(PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X-S)
Experience the intensity of modern combat in Insurgency Sandstorm, a team-based FPS that puts players in a Middle Eastern warfare setting and sets them loose on each other in close-quarters, objective focus gameplay. Move quickly but cautiously as you fight and secure your way across various Middle Eastern-inspired settlements in up to 14v14-player missions, or 8-player PvE missions against waves of AI enemies, and immerse yourself in this action-packed whirlwind of tactical chaos.
When playing Sandstorm, death comes at you fast. You’ll have to carefully manage your ammunition and tactically navigate the environment around you if you want to survive the mission ahead, let alone win it. Teamwork is the key to victory, as you’ll need to coordinate moving from room to room and when to fire at the enemy team if you want to be the most effective you can be on the field. Of course, there are also smaller-scale PvP matches that focus on speed and intensity, among other ways to play with the various in-game weapons, equipment, vehicles, and so on. However you prefer to play, Insurgency will give you plenty of options to help you enjoy the intense no-nonsense action it brings to the table.
#3: Squad
(PC)
Squad bridges the gap between arcade shooters and real-life military simulation by letting players run wild in huge 100-player battles where teamwork and communication are crucial to your survival. The game was designed to give players the most fun and authentic infantry experience possible, ranging from city-wide stalemates to aquatic invasions and even tank-on-tank warfare. Not many games come close to the experience that Squad gives its players, and just from playing it even a little bit, it won’t be hard to see why.
Squad features 13 playable factions that can duke it out in blood-pumping firefights across 24 massive maps that feature a variety of environments, where combat can switch between being horizontal and vertical in a snap, and a sweeping arsenal of weapons and vehicles to help you decimate whichever enemy you might be facing. In the game’s 50v50-player battles, you’ll join up with a 9-man squad and help each other survive tense combat encounters that feel like something ripped right out of a movie. You’ll also need to adapt to the ever-changing battlefield using building and logistics systems that allow you to build fortifications like defensive structures or weapon emplacements, or give supplies like much-needed ammunition to your teammates. Whatever you choose to do, you’ll be part of a larger machine whose only goal is to crush the enemy before they can do the same to you.
#2: Arma 3
(PC/Mac/Linux)
Perhaps the most well-known game on this list, or at the very least one with the biggest cult following even 10-plus years later, Arma 3 is one of the definitive multiplayer military simulation games out there today. Set across two fictional Mediterranean islands that stretch over 290 km² distances, Arma lets you set out in large-scale military operations both alone in the game’s campaign and in co-op or PvP multiplayer.
Possessing over 40 weapons and more than 20 land, air, and sea vehicles to choose from, along with highly customizable load-outs that feature various pieces of military equipment, Arma 3 is one of the most diverse open-ended army experiences on the PC today. You’ll be able to fight in large-scale military operations across a handful of multiplayer scenarios, where you will get to explore and fight across numerous rich Mediterranean environments, from the rolling hills of the countryside to close-quarters civilian centers. And if all of that isn’t enough, there’s plenty of custom content out there created by the game’s community that can turn the Arma experience into something entirely different. For example, you could mod this into a Star Wars game if you wanted to badly enough!
#1: War Thunder
(PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X-S)
I think some people could have guessed that this game would be our #1, and it’s only fair that it is, as War Thunder is probably the biggest military game ever created if you look at it from a point of sheer amount of playable content. This cross-platform free-to-play title has dedicated itself to giving the most realistic simulation of military vehicle combat ever created, which includes vehicle designs for land, air, and sea dating back to the early 20th century along with featuring some of the most advanced machines of the modern age.
War Thunder allows you to fight against millions of daily players from all over the world in realistic, comprehensive battles that span across 100 maps representing the world’s most historically famous battle theatres. And you will be able to do so using over 2,500 individual real-life vehicles, each of which has been painstakingly studied and recreated in-game to feel as close as possible to actually driving the real thing. If knowing the game has that much to choose from isn’t enough for you to give the game a try today, then really, what are you doing here?
