War Thunder is the flight combat MMO action game set in the Golden Age of military aviation. The game continues the armored warfare theme marked in the highly-acclaimed World of Tanks and will throw players into a never-ending tussle for air dominance.

Based purely on aircraft setting, World of Warplanes will allow players to build full-scale careers of virtual pilots offering machines of several key eras, staring from 1930's with biplanes and up to Korean War jet fighters that led the way to modern air forces.

War Thunder will feature a wide range of warbirds, each of them unique in their effectiveness and behavior. Virtual pilots will choose from three main warplane classes - single-engine light fighters capable of engaging enemies in close dogfights, heavy fighters with their deadly straight attacks, and strafing aircrafts, the fearsome threat for ground targets.

Every plane will feature multiple variations of ammo types, engines, and other crucial modules, and their various combinations will allow to pick the optimal configuration for the most effective behavior in combat.

“The overall concept for War Thunder has been evolving continuously throughout every step of the game’s development, but our basic motivation has remained the same: to create the best possible combat game that will meet the specific requests, expectations, needs, and skills of a broad audience,” says Gaijin Entertainment’s creative director Kirill Yudintsev, who is also the War Thunder project lead. “No matter how challenging this has been, we are successfully discovering effective ways to fulfill this goal. And we’ve been driven all along by our absolute love for flying, aviation, and history.

To give War Thunder players the most diverse gameplay experience possible, Gaijin is working on several PvP and PvE modes, which are being unveiled to the public today.

PvP modes (Player versus Player)

Historical battles: The primary game mode, which allows players to gain in-game experience and unlock new content and gameplay features. Historical battles offer:

• Realistic physics that define the behavior of all objects, necessitating that all planes are subject to gravity, aerodynamics, and other factors;
• Individual flight models for every aircraft, created according to historically correct technical characteristics;
• Painstakingly reconstructed locations that represent the areas where the most crucial battles occurred during WWII;
• Theatres of war that define which planes, belonging to which countries, will face off in battle;
• Optional Virtual Instructor (designed to assist players in dealing with stalls and spins) and Mouse Aim system (an aircraft control mode that helps players of any skill level fly any plane simply and safely)

Arcade battles: The other basic PvP mode, which allows players to gain in-game experience, unlock new planes, train their crews, and so on. The general features of Arcade battles are as follows:

• Planes from all available nations can appear in the same round and on the same level, regardless of historical accuracy;
• The flight model is simplified, however planes’ primary technical characteristics (such as speed, maneuverability, weaponry, and others) remain realistic and maintain their gameplay role;
• Available locations are completely fictional and none of the aerial, ground, or naval combat represents any specific historical events.

Sandbox: This game mode allows players to create their own battles, set rules and define conditions, preset view settings, choose which planes will be available in the game, turn off all or several elements of the GUI, set mission goals that need to be achieved in order for a team to win, and much more.

Missions (PvE, Player versus Environment)

Players of War Thunder will have an opportunity not to only fight with each other, but also to complete a set of interesting and challenging missions. This means that virtual pilots will be able to join the most pivotal battles on all theatres of WWI and fight for victory, alone or in cooperation with friends, using any control settings they prefer, from arcade to simulation.

• Standalone missions are PvE missions scripted by Gaijin’s designers. Players will unlock new missions based on their in-game progress and on which planes they have.
• Dynamic campaign is more than a simple set of PvE-missions; players’ success or failure defines the outcome of massive military operations. The results of each mission influence the conditions of the ensuing battles. In the dynamic campaign, players can set the starting conditions.
• Quick mission editor is a multifunctional tool for players who love to create their own combat missions and want to create a really exciting game for themselves and their friends.

In the future War Thunder will also feature the Global War mode, the Full Mission editor, an option for players to exchange user-generated mission scenarios, and of course player-controlled ground and naval military equipment.

War Thunder is designed as a free-to-play game with inclusion of additional paid content. The list of features that can be purchased, for very reasonable prices, includes: historical campaign  (a set of storyline-based missions that recreate historically correct events of WWII); leveling boost; several premium aircraft; full access to the dynamic campaign and quick mission editor, and additional options. However the general game modes and the majority of War Thunder’s rich content will always remain free. This will help Gaijin to maintain in-game balance, as the paid features have been designed so as not to give purchasers an unfair advantage.

Today Gaijin is revealing that War Thunder has successfully reached the second half of the closed beta testing program, which started on schedule in the first quarter of 2012. The international team of beta testers—thousands of players including virtual pilots (core aviasim fans)—is helping Gaijin immensely and inspiring the team with their enthusiasm and passion for this project.