In today’s Top 15 article, we’ll be showing off 15 exciting war-themed games that you can play right now without having to pay even a single cent to access!
From WW2 aerial battles to battlefields across distant planets, and even fights between giant robots, this list of games should have a little bit of something for everybody out there, especially those who enjoy getting great values for their games.
So let’s not waste any more time talking about these games, and let’s instead jump right into this Top 15 list! And we’ll be kicking things off with…
#15: GUNS UP! (iOS/Android)
GUNS UP! Steam Trailer
GUNS UP! takes the familiar real-time strategy and combines it with Tower Defense and side-scroller elements to create one of the more unique games that we’re showcasing on this list. Instead of taking your time and planning your moves in a round-based order, in GUNS UP! you’ll instead have to formulate both darring offensive attacks and well-crafted defense plans to achieve victory. Strategic control of the battlefield can only be achieved through carefully planned deployment of units and the special abilities they possess, and equally careful planning of your base’s defense systems, as in GUNS UP!, you aren’t the only would-be commanders looking to dominate the battlefield, so you will need to do everything in your power to make sure that you’re at minimum one of the very best out there.
Your offensive strategy is just as important as your defensive strategy in GUNS UP!, as the game generally takes place across two main modes of either attacking an enemy base with your growing army or defending your own base from the forces of an enemy player. The only way to achieve victory in either situation is to ensure the continued growth of your army’s strength, which is achieved by unlocking new troop types and further upgrading their skills over time so that you can both use your troops to overwhelm an enemy base and stand as first and last lines of defense when your base is attacked. Alongside the various ground troopers, you can also unlock various defense items like barbed wire fences, mortar cannon emplacements, and gun towers, along with special abilities like smokescreens, bombing runs, and more.
What GUNS UP! best succeeds in doing is giving its players the satisfaction of knowing their diligent strategic efforts are what led their vast armies to victories across countless missions, and if they should instead fail in their pursuit of victory, that only encourages them to replay and adapt to better overcome the challenges set before them. I would have ranked GUNS UP! higher on this list, but recently it was announced by developers Valkyrie Entertainment that the game would become disconnected from internet services for both its Steam and PlayStation versions on December 14th, 2023, making these versions unplayable. But thankfully the mobile versions of these games are still entirely playable, which allows me to keep this free-to-play title as a sort of honorary #15 here in this Article. So, ultimately, if you’re a fan of mobile games and you’re willing to try something a little out of the ordinary, GUNS UP! continues to fight on even after seven years and shows that, and continues to prove that it’s worth at least some of your time.
Build the strength and size of both your army and your military base, and take on the forces of enemy players to prove that you’re the most dominant commander on the battlefield.
#14: Demise of Nations (PC/Mac/Linux/iOS/Android)
Turn-Based Strategy: Demise of Nations
Starting us off at #15, Demise of Nations will take you across history with its 4X turn-based strategy gameplay that easily reaches that same level of quality as other games in the 4X strategy genre. From the rise of Rome to the fall of modern civilization, Demise of Nations will pit you against both AI and real-life opponents alike in turn-based combat that requires you to plan each action you take with great care strategically. Not only will you need to defend yourself through combat if push comes to shove, but you will also need to defend yourself with diplomatic communication if you want to expand your nation into the greatest empire the world has ever seen.
In Demise of Nations, you will be able to command the armies of various historical nations from throughout history, including the Roman Empire, the British Islands, Germany, Japan, the United States, and plenty of other nations that you can lead to victory. Demise of Nations puts its focus on ensuring that you’ll get a fun single-player and a thrilling multiplayer experience when playing, and it utilizes a streamlined interface that further helps make the game easier to to learn for any newcomers in the genre. And if you want to have an even bigger impact on the in-game world, Demise of Nations also features modding support that allows you to create custom maps to play with in both single and multiplayer, giving you the ability to dominate an all-new, custom-created world with the usual 4X strategic gameplay that fan can hope to expect from this genre.
Demise of Nations is far from the most popular 4X game on the market, but that’s not to say that it doesn’t both look and play extremely well for a free-to-play title. If you’ve never played a 4X strategy game before and you’re wondering if you’d be a fan of the concept, then Demise of Nations offers the perfect opportunity to dive right in and find out firsthand, all without having to spend some cash to do it. Or if you’re a long-time genre fan who just wants to try a game without “civ” in the title, you’ll also find plenty of reasons to end up playing this title for hours on end.
Take control of various nations throughout history and command them to a stunning victory or a crushing defeat in this free-to-play grand strategy title that will take you across history from the rise of Rome to the fall of modern civilization.
#13: Warplanes: WW2 Dogfight (PC/Mac/Linux/Nintendo Switch/iOS/Android)
Warplanes: WW2 Dogfight - Nintendo Switch launch trailer ESRB!
It’s the year 1942 and the world has been plunged into a global war, where the very fate of humanity is placed into the hands of just a few world powers, and men are giving their lives to fight for their countries across land, sea, and in this case, air. In Warplanes: WW2 Dogfight you will grab hold of the control yoke of an authentic warplane and take off across the wild blue yonder that overlooks battlefields from across World War II. You can control over 50 different WWII-era planes across numerous historical factions and fly your way to victory by completing several fighter pilot campaigns that give you that authentic WWII fighter pilot experience in an all-new fashion.
From classic fighters to light and heavy bombers like the Spitfire, P-51, Hurricane, Lancaster, Il-2 “Shturmovik”, La-5FN, Ju-87 “Stuka”, Fw 200 “Condor” and B-17 “Flying Fortress”, Warplanes give you not only the means to pilot numerous iconic war machines from the period but also the ability to repaint, customize, and upgrade them to give these beautiful aircraft a personal touch. It’ll be up to you to decide which pilots and which planes will be best suited for missions like experiencing deadly encounters with enemy fighters, piloting bombers to destroy strategic ground targets, and even weakening enemy naval fleets. While flying these missions you will also be able to look across the beautiful landscapes of Europe, Africa, and Asia, where you can further immerse yourself using the in-game radio chatter that features American English, British English, Russian, German, and Japanese to give you the full experience of a World War II dogfight.
Another thing to do in Warplanes when you aren’t fighting other pilots thousands of feet in the air is to manage your base as a squadron leader, which includes buying new planes, recruiting and training new pilots, and building additional structures. Upgrading your base like this will slowly allow you to unlock new ways to play the game in both the available single-player campaign and multiplayer skirmishes. So, if you think you have the skills it takes to assume the role of a pilot and squadron leader of an elite Air Force unit, then you should check out Warplanes: WW2 Dogfight.
Take to the skies across iconic WWII locations to fight with deadly enemy pilots, take out strategic targets on land, disrupt naval operations, and more in this immersive WWII dogfighting experience.
#12: Armored Warfare (PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/S)
Armored Warfare – Release Trailer
In the late 2010s, Europe suffered a severe political and economic crisis that ultimately reached its boiling point when two dirty nuclear bombs were detonated outside the cities of Paris and Berlin. This event led to a revolution against the current world order, plunging the globe into chaos, and when things finally settled down there was only a brief window of celebration before the population realized they had only traded one overseer for another, as when the crisis ended the world’s largest corporations rose to power. Now, in the late 2030s, many have grown to hate the status of the world to the point where the globe is becoming unstable once again, and it is only a question of time before the world is plunged into the chaos of war once more.
Armored Warfare is a free-to-play MMO that features both extensive 15 versus 15-player PvP and story-driven, smaller-scale 5-player PvE missions that take place across dozens of maps based on real-life locations, such as the scorching African deserts, the mountains of China, the Northern tundra, and neon-drenched urban jungles. As you might have guessed from the game’s title, in Armored Warfare you’ll primarily fight against other players using modern vehicles designed for war, of which there are more than 300 selectable vehicles from across numerous eras and originating from over 34 real-world countries. Along with these heavy-hitting vehicles, you can also deploy NPC ground infantry who can attack the enemy with explosive weapons, call in air strikes to mow through targeted areas, and use many more selectable abilities that might just turn the tide of a battle to your favor.
While the last game on our list let us soar to new heights above the clouds in fast-paced, high-velocity dogfights, Armored Warfare takes us in the complete opposite direction by putting its players in control of thousand-ton machines of war that wield enough firepower to make full-scale buildings look like tissue paper, and it succeeds in doing so in the most satisfying of ways. The near future is being torn apart by wars fought with corporate-funded mercenary armies in the world of Armored Warfare, and that makes for an exhilarating gaming experience. Even when you’re the one being blown apart! Well, mostly. If only for how cool it looks.
Enter large-scale 30-player conflicts across dozens of maps based on real-world locations and unleash the awesome firepower of over 300 individual war machines in this free-to-play MMO.
#11: Call of War: World War 2 (PC/iOS/Android)
Call of War 1942 | World War II | Extended Game Trailer
Call of War: World War 2 takes concepts from classic board games like Risk and Axis & Allies, and brings them to life inside the virtual world of video games so that you can play with people from around the world. This MMO strategy game allows you to take control of one of the mighty nations of the world during the World War II period and puts you into matches that can potentially last for multiple real-life weeks, where you will fight against other players in games that can support up to 100 individual players. In Call of War, you have the potential to change the course of history as we know it, and all it takes is enough cunning, strategic skill, and the willingness to take the world for yourself!
Long-term strategy is the name of the game in Call of War, as since a single round can potentially take weeks to finish, you will need to rely on careful strategic planning to make the most out of every turn. Whether that means ensuring you send the right unit type to attack the piece of land you intend on conquering, forming a coalition with another country to support each other in and out of combat mutually, spending precious time and resources to develop new technology in the game’s huge tech tree, or unleashing a devastating nuclear strike or any of the other secret weapons you might unlock through playing, are decisions that only you can make. Due to the game’s long-lasting games, a unique feature of Call of War is that you can use your account on your PC to make precise troop movements while also using your account on your mobile device to give quick commands no matter where you might be in the real world, allowing for seamless cross-platform play that few other games also achieve.
When it comes to war games, you really can’t go wrong when it comes to the turn-based grand strategy formula, and Call of War takes that formula and pushes it to its limits in spectacular ways. The game allows you to conquer every inch of land across the globe in several different gameplay scenarios if you so choose, complete with different terrain types and different ways to cross them, whether by land, sea, or air. With the amount of gameplay that the game gives away for free, and continues to add to with continued regular updates from developers Bytro Labs GmbH even six years after it first released, all on top of the game being free-to-play? In the end, if you’re a fan of grand strategy games that certainly emphasize the word “grand”, then you should think about looking into Call of War: World War 2 if you haven’t already.
Take control of one of the mighty nations of the world during WWII and change the course of history by doing whatever it takes to win the war and become the world’s one true superpower!
#10: Blood of Steel (PC)
World-Introduction of Blood of Steel
Around the end of the Iron Age, the Earth underwent cataclysmic changes that caused part of the natural land to sink into the ocean, and later resurface into a new landmass that became known as the Steel Land. The new generation of humans born after the rise of the Steel Land can now regain the abilities and memories of their previous lives through certain trials, turning the select few able to complete these trials into heroes known as Awakeners, whose influence has reestablished the rule of ancient civilizations, and in turn, brought war to the world as new rulers lead age-old factions in conflicts between the East and the West, with those caught in between taking the opportunity to rise to power themselves. Amid this chaos, you will ride into battles where thousands of soldiers clash, leading the charge across authentic medieval battles in hopes of leading your chosen faction to ultimate victory.
Blood of Steel takes certain hack-and-slash, strategy, and MOBA elements, and puts them together to create a unique online warfare experience that itself is like few other army-vs-army strategy games out there today. The game features realistic slashing and defense mechanics, utilizing techniques such as armor penetration, rolling, leaping attacks, and combo moves of light and heavy strikes to make gameplay feel all the more realistic as it places you in the heart of various intense, realistic medieval battles. You will be able to have direct input on the battles you play beyond placing units, as Blood of Steel features numerous historical figures brought back to life for you to control, ranging from Richard the Lionheart, Julias Caesar, Zhang Fei, and dozens of other selectable generals that you can play as to lead your chosen faction to victory via third-person hack and slash combat.
Few games on this list, and few games in general can compare to the strange, yet also strangely perfect blend of gameplay styles that Blood of Steel manages to achieve so well, and for that alone it earns itself a spot on this list. And when you consider that the development team YC Games has committed to assuredly fair gameplay between two players without outside factors like higher cultivation or pay-to-win advantages, that only makes it more of a hidden gem that’s worth your time, especially when you remember that some free-to-play games aren’t shy about trying to earn some extra cash from you. So if you have the time and want to try out something truly different, Blood of Steel is worth a look in my opinion.
With many of history’s great leaders and generals being given life through the trials of the Awakeners that give humans knowledge of past lives, the world is plunged into a new age of war where dozens of history’s greatest nations are vying for control in this all-new world.
#9: Stronghold Kingdoms (PC/Mac/iOS/Android)
Stronghold Kingdoms MMO Trailer (English)
Stronghold Kingdoms is a massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game that puts you on a throne as a new feudal lord or lady in charge of their very own kingdom. Of course, you’ll start small with little more than a simple village to oversee, but as time goes by and you grow in both strength and experience, so too will your village grow in size and become a full-fledged medieval city. But creating and successfully defending your city is only the first step, as once you’ve gained a proper foothold in your starting lands, from there you will turn your eye to the rest of the country in pursuit of spreading your influence across the world.
In Stronghold Kingdoms you will need to use every ounce of diplomatic strategy at your disposal if you want to grow in power to become one of the top kingdoms that the world has ever seen. Not only will you be tasked with building your own castle towns, but you will also inevitably need to send your troops to besiege rival lords and sworn enemies alike, attacking without warning to cripple their economies and take their lands. But if you want to engage in even more political mind games, you can also join up with other player-led Houses to topple your mutual enemies and rule over entire countries alongside your fellow bannermen.
Whether you decide to put your focus towards peaceful farming and trading, sharp-witted diplomacy, or become an all-powerful warlord that dominates the countryside, the game features a vast tech tree that you can use to specialize and expand into whatever direction you want. Thousands of other players are constantly vying for power in the game’s online multiplayer, so you never quite know when or what you’ll need to prepare your castles for when trying to carve out your own kingdom’s legacy, making for a constantly changing and constantly exciting battlefield for players to navigate. If you have what it takes to become a ruthless ruler, a decadent diplomat, or anything else in between, then take up the crown and set your sights on ruling the world in Stronghold Kingdoms. Just don’t think that the road to power will be anything but a rough one.
Expand from a single village into a vast and powerful kingdom and do whatever it takes to become the top feudal lord or lady in your country, and maybe even the world.
#8: Operation: Harsh Doorstop (PC)
Early Access Launch Trailer
One of the most recent releases on today’s list, Operation: Harsh Doorstop is a mod-friendly game that primarily has strong roots in the tactical shooter genre, inspired by other games like Project Reality, Squad, and Red Orchestra, but also goes beyond being specifically just a tactical shooter. Harsh Doorstops compares itself to other easily moddable games like Ravenfield and Garry's Mod, only this game is specifically rooted in military simulation-style gameplay similar to games like Squad and Arma III. What this ultimately means is that the base gameplay of Harsh Doorstop will play more like Squad or Insurgency: Sandstorm, but the ability to freely modify the game however you want means that the limits for what you can do in Harsh Doorstop are virtually nonexistent.
Developers Drakeling Labs have made a point to ensure the development of Operation: Harsh Doorstop entirely through donations, so that the game remains free-to-play and open for anyone to play it not only whenever they want, but how they want. In the base game, you can play through missions such as the “Khafji” mission, where you will assault Middle-Eastern urban environments, but thanks to the game’s modding capabilities, you can also play custom-created missions like the “Troopers” mod, where you will defend your base from waves of hostile alien creatures, along with countless other community-created game modes. This focus on both the official developer-supported modes and community-created modes means that you will be able to freely enjoy nearly every military-orientated experience that you can think up.
Few games out there are as upfront about being community-orientated to the degree that the Harsh Doorstop devs are, and personally, I find this behavior to be a breath of fresh air when compared to the way the rest of the gaming world at times. If you’ve played games like Garry’s Mod and the others that Harsh Doorstop has compared itself to before, or if you just want to experience a military game like few others, then Operation: Door Stop is a game well worth your consideration. Because what’s not to love about a shooter where the only limit is your imagination? It’s like a slightly more violent children’s movie!
Experience single-player play, cooperative play, and competitive multiplayer play in this Unreal Engine-powered and incredibly mod-friendly military shooter sandbox.
#7: War Robots (PC/iOS/Android)
WAR ROBOTS official Trailer
Though you’ve likely experienced third-person PvP gameplay in some capacity before, chances are that you haven’t experienced it quite like this. In War Robots you don’t experience combat as a human, but rather you take control of towering mechanized robots that wield devastating weapons of incredible strength. Using these robots and their unimaginable firepower, you will play in real-time 6v6 multiplayer matches that put you head-to-head against other players and their custom war machines.
The machines that you’ll be controlling in War Robots are deceptively nimble despite their immense size, meaning that you’ll need to be prepared for surprise attacks, intricate tactical maneuvers, and the many sneaky tricks your rivals will have in store for you during gameplay. War Robots features 45 individual battle robots that each possess different strengths, and can each be equipped with over 50 different weapon types, including ballistic missiles, energy, and plasma guns. You can use numerous different combinations of weapons and robots to dominate across 12 different playable maps, where you can also complete additional military tasks for bonuses in hopes of earning the title of Best Pilot come the end of the match.
I have my doubts that there are many of us out there in the world who don’t enjoy the concept of giant robots obliterating each other with frankly ridiculous amounts of firepower, at least to some degree. So I think it’s fairly safe to say that most of you reading this very segment of this very article will be hard-pressed not to find some modicum of interest in a game like this! Which is why I believe it's safe to say that, if you’re looking to wreak havoc on the battlefield from a powerfully all-new perspective, then War Robots is worth checking out. I mean come on… giant robots! What else is there to say?
Customize the size, speed, strength, and weapons of a massive battle robot so you can dominate the battlefield with the playstyle that best suits you.
#6: Conqueror's Blade (PC)
Conqueror's Blade: Knightfall - Cinematic Trailer
Developed by Booming Tech and published by MY.GAMES, Conqueror’s Blade is a tactical action MMO where you will need to master the art of siege tactics if you want to come out on top against your online opponents. Conqueror’s Blade allows you to amass vast armies and command them in real-time during intense castle sieges, where coordinating with your team to either attack or defend castles will be crucial to your success. You can join a team of up to 15 individual players and work together to defeat whatever enemy lies before you with the combined might of your armies, utilizing iconic siege weaponry like siege towers, trebuchets, motors, and more as the backbone for the armies that will win you wars and earn you new territories to rule. So long as you have the skills to lead those armies to victory, that is.
Conqueror’s Blade gives you dozens of melee, ranged, cavalry, and other soldier varieties to command across a wide selection of maps, all of which are inspired by real-world warriors from medieval history. But you will need a commander to lead these brave soldiers with, which is why the game allows you to create a custom hero unit that you can freely customize with a range of powerful weapon classes that offer distinct playstyles and tactical advantages on the battlefield, including such weapons as the classic Longsword and Shield, the martial arts-inspired Pike, the explosive power of the Musket, Bows and arrows, and a range of other weapons that can be freely switched out at any time. With your custom character and their armies prepared, you can choose to take part in a range of online battles that range from more casual matches to the game’s Territory Wars mode, where you can join up with other players in Houses and Factions and work together to claim and hold territories across an in-game map while fighting against rival Houses.
Conqueror’s Blade is similar to Blood of Steel from earlier on this list, only it focuses more on being a bit more historically accurate as well as teamwork between players in the same server. And still similar to Blood of Steel, Conqueror’s Blade is an incredibly well-made game that takes the setting of medieval warfare and turns up the dial to make for an exciting experience all around. One that, if you’re a fan of medieval-era warfare, you’ll easily be able to enjoy for hours on end yourself!
Engage in epic online battles where you and your custom-made commander unit will fight alongside other players in real-time online multiplayer battles, whether it be to raid a castle or to defend your own.
#5: EVE Online (PC/Mac)
This is EVE - Uncensored
EVE Online proudly boasts its status of being “the largest single-shard space MMO of all time”, as the game features over 7,000 known solar systems and a record of player history that has been affecting the in-game universe for over 20 years by this point. Though the game features four different playable races with distinct backgrounds and histories, you’ll primarily be playing in the cockpit of one of the various spaceships that exist in the world of EVE Online, which come in four varieties of ship classes ranging from Small starships, Medium Starships, Large Starships, and Extra-Large or Capital Class starships that can reach up to four kilometers in length. Once you’ve taken control of your chosen vessel you’ll be able to jettison across the stars and explore the vast cosmos however you see fit, where you will come face to face with danger, adventure, and everything in between
In EVE Online you can experience thrilling space exploration, immense PvP and PvE battles, space mining, industry manipulation, a thriving player-driven economy, and many more exhilarating discoveries to be found inside the game’s ever-expanding universe sandbox. The actions and decisions you make in any of these roles will leave a lasting effect one way or another, as EVE Online takes place in a single, massive server that houses every player that’s currently online, as well as details of player actions that have taken place over the years. One of the most notable examples of EVE’s scale is the 2014 Battle of B-R5RB, or the Bloodbath of B-R5RB, where over 7,548 individual player characters fought in a large-scale space battle that saw the destruction of hundreds of in-game ships over 21 real-world hours, with the in-game cost of the losses totaled over 11 trillion Interstellar Kredits, the in-universe currency, which equals an estimated theoretical real-world value of $300,000 to $330,000. With this incident being one of the largest and most expensive battles in video game history, a monument consisting of non-salvageable capital ship wrecks named "The Titanomachy" was placed in the system B-R5RB by the developers to commemorate this historic battle.
Though the primary focus isn’t specifically warfare itself, EVE Online’s starship-based interstellar dogfights are one of the main gameplay pillars of EVE that, when put alongside everything else you can do in the game, make for an all-around amazing experience. While I’m sure it doesn’t need saying, I will mention that a game of this size does feature a decent chunk of in-game microtransactions that can help you purchase certain ships and other items quicker than normal, so while the game is still completely free I do feel I should even the scales a bit with the truth. But if you’re not the kind of person to get too bothered by something like that, then you’ll be able to find that EVE Online is still a masterfully put-together game that earns the high praise it gets, and in turn, makes for an excellent addition to this list all around.
Take to the stars and engage in intergalactic starship battles, deep-space mining operations, a thrilling player-driven economy worth trillions of Kredits, and many other adventures that are waiting to be discovered.
#4: PlanetSide 2 (PC/PS4)
PlanetSide 2 | Return to Glory | Official Gameplay Trailer
In the far-off year of 2444, a mysterious wormhole producing strange transmissions that all but confirm the existence of extraterrestrial life opens over a war-torn Earth, and fearing the threat of hostile alien life, the warring governments of Earth end the global conflict and reform into the Terran Republic, an authoritarian but ultimately benevolent United Nations-like organization. After alien technology was discovered in a segment of the Kuiper belt over 100 years later, multiple corporate leaders formed the New Conglomerate, a libertarian organization seeking to capitalize on the discovery and free themselves from strict Terran Republic control. Even later on, the wormhole opens again and representatives from both factions and a group of scientists venture through it, only to get stuck on an alien world now known as Auraxis with no way to return to Earth, resulting in an open war of desperation for control between the two factions that ultimately becomes a three-way battle when the scientists, after discovering alien Vanu artifacts, denounce their neutrality and form the Vanu Sovereignty.
In PlanetSide 2, three warring factions fight an endless war for power and leadership over the alien planet they’re stuck on, a war that’s fought with immortality technology that keeps its soldiers fighting forever. Whether you decide to fight for the Terran Republic, the New Conglomerate, or the Vanu Sovereignty, you will be fighting alongside thousands of other players in real-time first-person shooter combat that takes place across four massive, diverse continents with dozens of square kilometers of seamless gameplay space, every inch of which is hand-crafted and contestable, be it in open fields, barren desert, in armed and armored bases, or in the skies above. Each faction features six playable classes to select from, ranging from the jetpack using Light Assault, the sniper-using Infiltrator who can turn invisible, the Mechanized Assault Exo-suit MAX soldier that wields canons for hands, the Combat Medic that’s the beating heart of the squad, the guns blazing Heavy Assault, and the Engineer that deploys crucial equipment and fixes virtually anything. The game also features over 18 rapidly deployable ground and air vehicles that range from standard fare tanks, troop transport dropships, and massive carrier ships that can launch other air vehicles directly into the battle.
With all of these toys to play with and an entire planet to fight over with them, PlanetSide 2 features some of the most extensive team-based shooter gameplay that you could hope to find in an MMO. And it’s safe for me to say that this game is one of my favorite games on this list because of this, as there’s something that I just love about the chaotic back-and-forth warfare that you get to experience firsthand when playing. And if large-scale war for control of an alien planet sounds like something that you might enjoy too, then I implore you to give PlanetSide 2 a try. Because gameplay like this just never gets old!
Set out onto the world of Auraxis and join a never-ending war for world domination where thousands of real-world players fight alongside and against one another across three warring factions.
#3: World of Warships (PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/S/iOS/Android)
World of Warships - Launch Trailer
From the fast-paced action of Auraxis, we now turn our attention to the slower-paced, yet still just as intense naval combat gameplay that you will experience within World of Warships. This free-to-play multiplayer war game takes place across the vast expanses of Earth’s oceans, and pits players against each other in matchups that require a degree of slow, methodical thinking to effectively succeed both on your own and as a team. From modern-day naval vessels to historical warships from bygone eras, and even a selection of submarines, World of Warships has practically everything that you could for in a naval battle game of this size and scale.
World of Warships does its best to bring its players as much variety and versatility as possible when it comes to the warships themselves, of which there are over 600 individual ships across 5 different ship classes to choose from. The ship selection goes back to the early 20th century at the dawn of dreadnought battleships, giving you the ability to choose from slow-paced command battleships with devastating firepower, versatile but vulnerable cruisers, stealthy but lightly-armed destroyers, or quick-striking but fragile aircraft carriers, and a handful of other ship varieties that can be used across various game modes, such as the more casual 9v9 or 12v12 team-based multiplayer battles against other players, PvE battles that put you and a team of other human players against difficult computer-controlled opponents, and even seasonal Ranked Battles where you can test your mettle against the best of the best. The selection of warships features a vast number of historical designs from various countries and their navies, including the United States Navy, the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Royal Navy, and plenty of other represented countries from around the globe.
Whether you choose to play as more of a lone wolf or as a team-orientated player, the deep well of ship options available in World of Warships gives you the means to battle across the high seas in whichever way you prefer. With the hundreds of ships that can be unlocked through the rewarding in-game progression system, you’ll have plenty of content to unlock over the inevitable hours that you’ll find yourself spending in this high-stakes naval combat gem that’s been riding high since its 2015 release. If becoming the captain of a powerful warship and decimating your opponents across the seas sounds like fun to you, then you should check out World of Warships sooner or later. I mean, after all, what’s not to love about a boat fitted with guns the size of someone’s house?
Take command of hundreds of naval warships that date back to the early 20th century, including historic vessels like the USS Iowa and the Yamato that have been painstakingly recreated with breathtaking details, and fight for dominance against other players in real-time multiplayer ship-to-ship battles.
#2: World of Tanks Blitz (PC/Mac/Nintendo Switch/iOS/Android)
World of Tanks Blitz - Teaser Trailer
Now that we’ve looked at a world all about warships and naval warfare, we’ll shift our focus to one that instead focuses entirely on ground-based armored warfare between two teams of tanks. In World of Tanks Blitz, you and six other players can team up to fight in strategic 7v7 multiplayer matches that take place in 26 unique battle arenas where real and alternate histories collide to create a unique matchup every time you play. Whether you choose to play on your desktop computer or on the go with your mobile device, World of Tanks Blitz offers fast-paced tank-vs-tank gameplay featuring tight controls and stunning graphics that all come together to create a well-made MMO to play wherever you please.
World of Tanks Blitz features over 300 unique tanks from throughout history and from various nations around the world, and you can play with whichever one of the hundreds of available tanks you want in whatever historical setting that you might find yourself in the game’s various maps. And unlike some other mobile games out there, World of Tanks Blitz features a “free-to-win” style of progression that allows each player equal access to in-game elements, meaning that all you need to do to unlock all available content in the game is simply to play it. Once you have picked your tank and selected the crew upgrades that best fit your playstyle, you are free to launch into a variety of online matches that range from casual quick-play games to more intense ranked battles, and even tournaments, the Realistic Battles and Mad Games modes, and many more beyond those that can be played either alone or alongside clanmates from one of the thousands of joinable, player-made in-game clans.
In case the title didn’t already give it away, let me just confirm real quick that World of Tanks Blitz is, in fact, made by Wargaming Group Limited, the same development team behind the previously mentioned World of Warships. So if you were a fan of the overall technical and visual quality of Warships but you’re looking for something a little bit more up-close and personal, and maybe even something a bit more mobile, then you should certainly check out World of Tanks Blitz… and, maybe even the main World of Tanks game itself. Which is technically less popular than Blitz, which is a bit interesting, isn’t it?
Select from over 300 different kinds of tanks and do battle with other players in this thrilling, fast-paced MMO action shooter all about tank battles where real and alternate histories collide in spectacularly explosive fashion.
#1: War Thunder (PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/S)
'Air Superiority' Update Trailer / War Thunder
Closing out our list at #1 is not only one of the most popular military games but also one of the most popular free-to-play games out there today. We’re of course talking about War Thunder, the self-dubbed most comprehensive free-to-play, cross-platform MMO military game available today, which features aviation, armored vehicles, and naval craft that span from the early 20th century to the most advanced modern combat units available today. While other games on this list have focused on one specific genre of war-fighting vehicles, War Thunder brings practically every form of vehicle-based combat to light in spectacular fashion and freely hands you the keys to these vehicles so that you and millions of other online players can take part in major battles within ever-evolving environments that range from on land, in the air, and at sea.
If you’re looking for the most realistically authentic vehicular warfare experience you can get out of a video game, War Thunder has everything you could ever hope for, including not only impeccable visuals but also a deep-rooted commitment to the mechanical realism of each playable vehicle that combines to bring every battlefield to life. Across the board of every vehicle type, War Thunder features over a whopping 2,000 individual vehicles that can be controlled by the players, ranging from helicopters, tanks, warships, and quite literally thousands of other options that are each crafted carefully from historical documents and surviving sources. The level of accurate realism is so in-depth that the game has indirectly caused real-life classified military documents to be leaked on the War Thunder forums by its players during discussions about the accuracy of the many vehicles depicted in-game, an occurrence that has happened several times in the past three years alone! And how many other games can you think of that have caused real-world military secrets to be leaked onto the internet, eh?
When you put all the cards on the table, there are few games out there that can match the level of love, sweat, and maybe even tears that have been painstakingly put into the details of War Thunder. And when you consider the fact that you can take each of those impressively crafted details and put them together to make an experience that isn’t just great to look at, but also great fun to actually sit down and play for hours on end, it’s no question why War Thunder is our #1 on this list. So if you’re looking for the penultimate example of realistic large-scale military combat simulation inside of a video game, it’ll certainly be a challenge for you to find another game that gives you that very experience better than War Thunder. It’s almost hard to believe that it’s still free-to-play, isn’t it? Well, believe it sister, because that’s the truth.
Take control of over 2,000 individual real-world air, land, and sea vehicles that can be played within 100 maps representing the main historical battle theaters and battle against millions of other real-world players in seamless cross-platform gameplay.
Conclusion
And that’s the end of this article about 15 free-to-play war games. For those of you who read to the end, thanks for sticking around for as long as you did, truly. If you have any comments you’d like to leave, I would be more than happy to hear them, but other than that, we’ve hit the end of today’s post, so I’ll leave it with that and maybe I’ll see you in the next article.
