The Most Historically Accurate World War II Video Games

The “War to End All Wars”, World War II is undeniably the definitive event of the 20th Century. An estimated 85 million individuals lost their lives, significantly altering the course of human history in the process. The fallout of World War II would go on to shape modern diplomacy and help lead to a more globalized society, so it makes sense that we continue to be fascinated by the event, its impact, and its causes. As such, World War II has always made a great setting for entertainment, interactive or otherwise, with some of our most cherished media centering around the conflict. And while games tend to focus on the shooting and action of World War II, there are plenty of other titles out there that trade thrills to err more on the side of being historically accurate.

However, just because a game is a historically accurate representation of World War II doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. Quite the contrary, some of the greatest World War II games offer startlingly realistic depictions of the war and its technology. Whether looking at first-person shooters, third-person tactical shooters, real-time strategy, or vehicular combat games and flight simulators, World War II games continue to be some of the most popular military games for the same reasons we as a society continue to study the conflict in an attempt to make sure such an event never occurs again. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it, and the following games serve as a reminder of the bloody reality of World War II.

Call of Duty: WWII

• Release Date — November 3, 2017
• Publisher — Activision
• Developer — Sledgehammer Games
• Review Aggregate Score — 80% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 69% (Mixed)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Sledgehammer Games’ follow-up to Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare went in the complete opposite direction of its predecessor, returning to the series’ time-honored traditional World War II setting after delivering players a futuristic take on the franchise. To prepare for the series’ return to WWII, Sledgehammer would extensively research photographs and documents to painstakingly recreate several iconic locales from across all theaters of war. So while Call of Duty: World War II might not be the most realistic game in terms of its story (or especially in terms of its Zombies mode), it does present some of the most realistic and best-looking environments in a World War II game, recreating them in stunning graphical fidelity and fully immersing players into the era.

IL-2 Sturmovik

• Release Date — November 20, 2001 (Original), October 22, 2014 (Battle of Stalingrad)
• Publisher — 1C-777 Limited
• Developer — 1C Game Studios
• Review Aggregate Score — 91% (Original, Universal Acclaim), 74% (Battle of Stalingrad, Mixed or Average)
• Steam User Score — 79% (Mostly Positive)
• Platforms — PC

Long considered one of the greatest dogfight simulators and the gold standard for World War II flight combat games, IL-2 Sturmovik is one of the oldest games on this list. However, age has done little to slow the franchise down, as the series still has a hugely dedicated fanbase that continues to play the latest iteration in the form of the Greatest Battles series. The newest entry, Battle of Stalingrad, is a visually impressive flight combat sim that features some incredible detail when it comes to the aircraft and how they operate, as well as faithfully recreating their technical specifics and interiors. As far as historically accurate and immersive World War II flight games go, it’s almost impossible to top IL-2 Sturmovik.

War Thunder

• Release Date — August 15, 2013
• Publisher — Gaijin Network Ltd
• Developer — Gaijin Entertainment
• Review Aggregate Score — 81% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 72% (Mostly Positive)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Speaking of historically accurate flight combat games, Gaijin Entertainment’s War Thunder continues to be one of the most popular for the same reasons players love IL-2 Sturmovik. Each of the vehicles in the game (which extend well beyond planes and tanks from World War II to include modern warcraft) are painstakingly recreated for realism’s sake, and there’s obvious effort put in to make each vehicle feel different in terms of how it operates. That said, the game is a free-to-play MMO, so players are rolling the dice on the level of communication and cooperation with their teammates. Still, when a squad can coordinate and work together efficiently, War Thunder is one of the few immersive experiences that emulates the experience of wartime vehicular combat.

Day of Infamy

• Release Date — March 23, 2017
• Publisher — New World Interactive
• Developer — New World Interactive
• Review Aggregate Score — 77% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 84% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC

Taking its name from the famous speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt ahead of America’s involvement in World War II, Day of Infamy is one of the most realistic WWII shooters ever to exist. The game is actually a spin-off from New World Interactive’s previous title Insurgency, and features many of the same gameplay mechanics but in a World War II setting. Accordingly, players do not have access to common FPS elements like a HUD or aiming reticle, faithfully recreating the realism of wartime combat, complete with each shot having the potential to be fatal. Day of Infamy is a tough game that requires strategy, coordination, careful aiming, and patience, making it an experience with enough tension to feel real.

Call of War: World War 2

• Release Date — October 21, 2017
• Publisher — Bytro Labs GmbH
• Developer — Bytro Labs GmbH
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Steam User Score — 71% (Mostly Positive)
• Platforms — PC

Bytro Labs’ Call of War: World War 2 takes the same premise that made tabletop board games like Risk and Axis & Allies popular and translates it into a realistic World War II strategy game. For those who like to zoom out from the “boots on the ground” approach of most World War II games and view things from a more strategic perspective, Call of War delivers plenty of thrills in terms of gathering resources, planning attack routes, and securing victory for your units. The game’s historical accuracy comes through not just in its setting and unit types but also in the approximation of what it takes to keep the war machine moving across multiple theaters of war.

Enlisted

• Release Date — July 16, 2024
• Publisher — Gaijin Network Ltd
• Developer — Darkflow Software
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Steam User Score — 77% (Mostly Positive)
• Platforms — PC, PS4/PS5, Xbox One/Series X/S

In the most recent game from the same studio responsible for War Thunder, Enlisted ditches the vehicles for squad-based FPS action. Notably, Enlisted is similar to the Battlefield series (especially the World War II-themed Battlefield V), but trades that game’s cheap thrills for a stronger focus on realism, coordination, and squad-based tactics. The game goes to great lengths to faithfully recreate some of the most famous battles in World War II, complete with nailing the right unit types, vehicles, and troop movements to offer an experience as close to the real thing as possible.

Steel Division II

• Release Date — June 20, 2019
• Publisher — Eugen Systems
• Developer — Eugen Systems
• Review Aggregate Score — 73% (Mixed or Average)
• Steam User Score — 79% (Mostly Positive)
• Platforms — PC

One of the best parts of Steel Division II is that the game takes a nice middle-ground approach to its strategy gameplay. Sitting comfortably between RTS and grand strategy, Steel Division II offers players some truly massive maps that dutifully recreate the real-life fronts of World War II, but it does so while never taking the player’s focus away from the battlefield and the moment-to-moment action. Even more impressive is that the game’s realism extends to the pros and cons of the unit types on the Eastern Front, with German and Russian soldiers behaving according to historical reports of how conflicts actually played out.

Hell Let Loose

• Release Date — July 27, 2021
• Publisher — Team 17
• Developer — Expression Games, Cover 6 Studios
• Review Aggregate Score — 77% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 84% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

As far as realistic World War II squad-based shooters go, Hell Let Loose is perhaps the best to release since the heyday of Gearbox’s Brothers In Arms series. Hell Let Loose prides itself on its massive, realistic-feeling battles with dynamically shifting front lines based on each side’s performance in battle, giving a natural feel to the flow of combat. Further, the 100-player battles are just half of the equation, as Hell Let Loose incorporates a compelling meta-game with RTS elements that showcase the real cost of war, tasking players with collecting resources and managing bases in between each harrowing encounter.

Company of Heroes

• Release Date — September 11, 2006
• Publisher — Sega
• Developer — Relic Entertainment
• Review Aggregate Score — 93% (Universal Acclaim)
• Steam User Score — 94% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — Android, iOS, PC, Nintendo Switch

Like IL-2 Sturmovik is to World War II flight games, Company of Heroes is the gold standard of tactical strategy games taking place in the Great War. Sega and Relic Entertainment’s now classic Company of Heroes series has had two full-fledged sequels that build on the original, but it’s the series’ first game that still serves as the franchise’s highlight in terms of realism and historical accuracy. Aside from using both well and lesser-known battles pulled directly from the history of the conflict, Company of Heroes‘ approximation of the flow of battle and implementation of real military tactics makes it one of the greatest World War II games of all time.

Hearts of Iron IV

• Release Date — June 6, 2016
• Publisher — Paradox Interactive
• Developer — Paradox Development Studio
• Review Aggregate Score — 83% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 91% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC

While the other strategy games on this list are RTS titles, Hearts of Iron IV fully embraces the grand strategy subgenre to deliver a strategy game set in World War II of unprecedented scale. In Hearts of Iron IV, players get to witness the inner workings of warfare from a macro perspective, and the game’s commitment to realism and historical accuracy is practically unmatched. Not many games will drive players to do real-world research on the countries and territories involved in World War II, but Hearts of Iron IV practically encourages it if players are to get the most out of this grand strategy experience.

Silent Hunter III

• Release Date — March 15, 2005
• Publisher — Ubisoft
• Developer — Ubisoft Bucharest
• Review Aggregate Score — 90% (Universal Acclaim)
• Steam User Score — 87% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC

What’s most interesting about Silent Hunter III, aside from the fact that few games (if any) have attempted to replicate its elements almost 20 years later, is that it runs counter to the typical World War II game. Where most games set during the conflict focus on the destruction and bombast of warfare, Silent Hunter III places players into the quiet and claustrophobic confines of a U-boat in what was one of the major theaters of World War II — naval conflict in the globe’s oceans. Silent Hunter III takes its submarine gameplay seriously, too, with players needing to carefully consider velocity and timing as they plan to launch strikes against Allied ships. In terms of naval combat games set during World War II, Silent Hunter III is still the pinnacle.

Call of Duty 2

• Release Date — October 25, 2005
• Publisher — Activision
• Developer — Infinity Ward
• Review Aggregate Score — 89% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 93% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC, Xbox 360

Despite being almost 20 years old, few World War II games have yet to top the phenomenal Call of Duty 2. Taking the foundations of the original Call of Duty and building on them in meaningful ways, Call of Duty2 is a masterpiece in just about every sense of the term, and its place as a gaming industry phenomenon is well deserved. What makes the second Call of Duty game still one of the best in the series despite decades of advancement is its brutal realism and historical accuracy, delivering a thrilling FPS campaign and addictive multiplayer that uses real-life weaponry, vehicles, locations, and set pieces from World War II in a way few games have either before or since its release.

Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad

• Release Date — September 13, 2011
• Publisher — Tripwire Interactive
• Developer — Tripwire Interactive
• Review Aggregate Score — 76% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 93% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC

One of the most brutally realistic World War II games out there, Red Orchestra2 gets its name from the real-world anti-Nazi espionage unit, and its gameplay is similarly respectful of the historical realities of the era. Like Day of Infamy, players have almost no HUD elements whatsoever in Red Orchestra 2, needing to take distance and wind into account when making shots with era-appropriate weaponry in order to adjust for bullet drift and drop. Additionally, each shot can be fatal, forcing players to carefully consider each movement and use cover wisely across the game’s dense, 64-player maps.

Squad 44

• Release Date — August 9, 2018
• Publisher — Offworld
• Developer — Offworld
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A
• Steam User Score — 79% (Mostly Positive)
• Platforms — PC

Formerly known as Post Scriptum, Squad 44 is another profoundly realistic World War II game. Accordingly, the game is not for the faint of heart. While Squad 44 is similar to games like Hell Let Loose or Red Orchestra, the title trades accessibility in favor of realism, including allowing players to use more than 80 different real-world pieces of weaponry and equipment that have been researched to behave accurately in-game. Ultimately, Squad 44 is a challenging game that makes each victory feel well-earned. In terms of providing a historically accurate World War II experience, not many titles can claim that same commitment to authenticity.

Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway

• Release Date — September 23, 2008
• Publisher — Ubisoft
• Developer — Gearbox Software
• Review Aggregate Score — 76% (Generally Favorable)
• Steam User Score — 90% (Very Positive)
• Platforms — PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Arguably both the best and most historically accurate World War II game, Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway still has a dedicated following all these years later for a reason. Unlike the earlier Brothers In Arms games, which utilize a first-person perspective, Hell’s Highway switches things over to third-person, incorporating a Gears of War or Rainbow SixVegas-style cover system in the process. The end result is that Brothers In Arms delivers some of the best squad-based shooting of any game set in World War II, complete with extensively researched tactics actually used by the military during the conflict and some stunningly recreated environments pulled from the annals of history.

The image featured at the top of this post is ©Call of Duty 2 gameplay screenshot.