The developers of War Thunder have a new VR game coming to PSVR 2 and PC and it looks great
If there was a genre of games you would immediately think is perfect for VR, you would probably say it is Flight Sims. For starters wearing the headset feels like wearing a helmet adding to the immersion, no other medium is capable of making you feel like you are actually flying and you can gain so many advantages just by being able to naturally move your head to look around.
There are already a few good VR flight combat games available for PC like VTOL, DCS or War Thunder. The PSVR 2 however is lacking in this category, but that is about to change with Gaijin Entertainment’s new game Aces of Thunder.
Step into the boots of a WW2 fighter pilot
Aces of Thunder is a flight combat game set in the middle of the chaos of World War 2. This means you will get to explore the Pacific, European and African theaters of war across 15 varied maps.
And you will be doing this in historically accurate recreations of WW2 combat aircraft. So far the planes confirmed are the American P-51 Mustang and P-63 Kingcobra, the German Bf 109 and Fw 190, the Soviet Il-2 and Yak-9T, the British Spitfire and the Japanese A6M3 Zero. Being British myself I can’t wait to sit in the cockpit of a Spitfire, hopefully in a Battle of Britain setting if that’s not too much to ask.
Aces of Thunder won’t be locked behind paywalls
If you have played War Thunder in VR you will understand why I am excited for Aces of Thunder. That’s because War Thunder is a brilliant recreation of aerial combat in VR, Gaijin Entertainment has had years to perfect their formula. And with it being confirmed as not Free to Play, it removes one of the biggest barriers to War Thunder being truly great, the constant paywalls.
On top of this the game has been built from the ground up for VR. So this won’t just be a flat game with VR developed as an afterthought. It will take full advantage of VR with everything designed with that in mind.
Aces of Thunder also seems to be skipping the standalone headsets so it is not going to be held back in scope. We all know how powerful the PS5 is with VR, so it is going to be interesting to see how Gaijin Entertainment takes advantage of the more powerful hardware.
Judging by the gameplay trailer already released, they have done an impressive job, the graphics look stunning. The environments in each map look varied, each different theatre seems to have its own character. The planes themselves are the star of the show though and they look incredible, each model has been faithfully recreated. You can even get out of the plane and walk around it to inspect every little detail.
Aces of Thunder will have full Hotas support
Gaijin Entertainment has also confirmed that Aces of Thunder will have full Hotas support, which is a relief to hear. So you can have full immersion in the dogfights.
Whilst Aces of Thunder will have a single player campaign, it has not been confirmed if this is a full blown campaign or just disjointed missions. However that’s not important, as the game is meant for multiplayer, where you can test your mettle against the rest of the world.
The dogfights look frantic, chaotic and intense
In terms of the dogfights, they look glorious. In parts of the trailer you can see moments which involve dozens of planes engaging in combat. It looks frantic, chaotic and intense, or in other words it looks like a lot of fun. Right now we should assume you get a variety of missions such as targeting bombers, carrying out bombing runs on ground targets and just straight up simple dogfights.
If War Thunder was anything to go by, Aces of Thunder won’t simply be finished once it is released, we should expect a lot of DLC for this one adding new maps and planes.
Aces of Thunder doesn’t have a release date yet but it is due to release in Q4 2024 for PSVR 2 and PC.
