Enlisted – A game review

In 2019, I downloaded Battlefield V, DICEs World War Two themed first-person shooter. While it was a fun and graphically/musically stunning game (like its predecessor Battlefield I), something felt off.

What had worked in Battlefield I’s favour was that it was set in World War One, hence there was no need to code in large cities and towns. This is because most of the fighting on the Western front and in the Gallipoli campaign was on coasts of Turkey, and in the fields and trenches of France. However, what ultimately felt off about Battlefield V was indeed a lack of urbanised warfare.

From Stalingrad, (between 1942 and 1943) as well as the Battle of Berlin itself, World War Two was defined by its urban conflict as well as its mechanical conflict. While the mechanics in Battlefield V were polished and fun, with the ability to play within a range of vehicle types, weapons, and locations, it lacked (with the exception of a few maps), a key component of the warfare which was the ability to take part in the most famous and major battles of the war in key cities.

Similarly to Battlefield V, Enlisted sees the inclusion of tanks and planes however, their gameplay is more realistic

In 2021 however, history video game nerds’ prayers for a historically pleasing game were pretty much answered when Hungarian studio, Gaijin Entertainment (the creators of War Thunder) released Enlisted, a first-person shooter set in World War Two which off-the-bat had one key difference from Battlefield V – it was free.

Gaijin ultimately decided to follow the free-to-play model which had worked so well for War Thunder and had been greatly expanded by the likes of Epic Games with Fortnite, Rocket League and Fall Guys. This meant relying on a pay model to get its money back by allowing players to purchase extra elements, such as weapons and skins.

Despite this, the progression system in the game is rather generous, with players having the ability to earn ‘research tokens’ whenever they play a match. These, in turn increase the number of weapons and vehicles you can use alongside the promise of daily rewards when players log into the game (akin to mobile games).

Similarly to Battlefield V, Enlisted sees the inclusion of tanks and planes however, (especially in the case of tanks) their gameplay is more realistic, with tanks needing to be repaired if they get damaged during battle – with the inclusion of a specific tank mechanic class to cater towards this. I can see that while many could like this mechanic for being historically realistic and adding to the immersion of the game, it could also, understandably, annoy others who dislike the disjointed and often complicated process of playing as tanks and ground vehicles in the game. These vehicles are also incredibly easy to destroy and somewhat harder to drive compared to other games of the same genre, much to the chagrin of tank enjoyers like me.

The main reason I would recommend this game is due to its incredibly high attention to detail

Unlike Battlefield V, the shooting mechanics of the game are smoother and more accurate. This ultimately, depending on your skill, includes incurring a higher rate of deaths. However, Enlisted, rather than have you play as one specific soldier allows you to lead a small squad into battle and then take over another squad member when you die. In this way, the game encourages you to take risks and throw yourself into the action without having to worry about large wait-times between death and respawning.

A criticism I have is that it is not easy to refuel ammo when you run out which happens very frequently. Also, if you haven’t equipped a side-arm it can lead to you potentially having to fling yourself into the enemy with a melee weapon and hope for the best. This can also be part of the fun of the game as well.

Despite all this, the main reason I would recommend this game is due to its incredibly high attention to detail. Unlike Battlefield V, Enlisted developers have poured their hearts and souls into the game’s historical accuracy. This includes 1:1 recreations of famous battles including Stalingrad and most impressively, Berlin. You can play as the Soviet Army and fight your way across Berlin to the Reichstag building ruins and the Brandenburg Gate, or even fight inside the famous Kroll Opera House. Even smaller details such as the old Presidential palace is included and can be explored, with one map even allowing for a full-scale battle to take place in Hitler’s grand palace, residence and his office). It certainly is telling, the amount of detail the developers put into the game as they carefully studied historical maps and photographs from the time period during development, and then used them as a starting point to develop each instalment in the game’s incredibly large roster of maps.

This game combines the best elements of titles such as Call of Duty but mixes that with the diverse gameplay mechanics of the Battlefield series. At the same time, it is paying such attention to detail that a history fan such as myself cannot help but to just wander off during matches to explore every last detail (akin to DICE’s Star Wars Battlefront games with its hidden easter eggs for fans of the movies).

At the end of the day, if you are a fan of first-person shooter games and/or history, it may be worth downloading Enlisted especially considering, after all, it’s a bargain!