Korea. IL-2 Series

[h2]NOT RECOMMENDED — $80 for 6 planes, 2 missions, wingmen who do nothing, and a user agreement that reads like something straight out of North Korea[/h2] Let's start with arithmetic, since 1C was clearly hoping nobody would. When this thing was announced in November 2025, the press release bragged about [b]eight meticulously detailed aircraft[/b]. When Early Access was announced in May 2026, the pitch was again [b]eight aircraft[/b]. On August 4th, the game launched with six, and the other two showed up on the store page as $19.99 apiece. They didn't add DLC. They took two planes out of the game and sold them back to you. That's not day-one DLC — day-one DLC is at least honest about being extra. This is a shakedown. When players pointed this out, the devs asked, with a straight face, what anyone meant by "day one DLC." Sir. You have a section on your own store page labeled [b]Content For This Game[/b]. There are multiple DLCs for sale in it. The game came out yesterday. [hr][/hr] [h2]The price, since we're here[/h2] [list] [*] Base game: [b]$79.99[/b] — six aircraft, one map, a career mode that needs another year [*] Premium bundle (the two planes you were already promised): [b]$99.57[/b] [*] Deluxe Edition: [b]$169.99[/b] — which includes a "Future Expansion." Not a released expansion. A future one. You are being asked for a hundred and seventy dollars for an unfinished game plus an expansion that does not exist. That's not a Deluxe Edition, that's a GoFundMe with a Sabre on the box art. [/list] [hr][/hr] [h2]The actual gameplay, which is somehow the worse half[/h2] The flight and damage models are adequate but unspectacular. The graphics are decent on a flat TV. The VR performance, on a best-in-slot rig (5090+9800X3D) is atrocious. It runs badly, none of the settings can get it to a steady 90fps, and the graphics are underwhelming for how poorly it runs. The cockpit is nice, everything else is mid. Now let me tell you about your wingmen. In the [b]stock MiG-15 mission[/b] — the showcase, the first impression — you're sent up with seven AI wingmen to intercept B-29s. Not one of them fires a shot. They orbit a hundred meters above the bombers like a flight of very expensive seagulls, ignore every command you give them, and then fly straight and level until they're shot down. You will personally kill everything that dies in that mission, and you'll run out of ammo before you finish, because the game budgeted for eight shooters and delivered one. It doesn't improve. AI flights can't hold formation. They can't locate a ground target, can't pick one, can't hit it — and issuing orders reliably makes them [i]worse[/i], so the winning strategy in a combat flight sim built around squadron command is to say nothing and hope. The command menu is a phone book you scroll through until the moment has passed. The kicker: this AI is [b]noticeably worse than IL-2 Great Battles[/b], a game from 2014, made by these same people, on the old engine. Twelve years, a new engine, an $80 price tag, and they went backwards. That's not a regression, that's a demolition project. The best-implemented feature in the game is Museum Mode, where you stand still and look at aircraft. Fitting, really. It's what your wingmen will be doing too. [hr][/hr] [h2]Other problems reported by the community:[/h2] [list] [*] Controller remapping is broken, and loading a controller profile can crash it — in the first game in the series to advertise gamepad support [*] Broken minimap [*] Trim behavior that has the aircraft somersaulting nose-over in seconds with no input [*] Hard crash on launch under Linux/Steam Machine, unadvertised [*] Radio comms are [b]text-to-speech[/b]. Pilot portraits and career images are [b]AI-generated[/b]. Both disclosed on the store page. Eighty dollars. [*] Minimum spec is [b]24 GB of RAM[/b] for a [b]35 GB install[/b]. The memory requirement is two-thirds the size of the entire game. What is it holding in there — the other two planes? [/list] [hr][/hr] [h2]And finally, the User Agreement[/h2] The User Agreement truly is a sight to behold. It strictly prohibits “indecent behavior,” which one might think is a good thing, because who wants indecent behavior in their games? But when you examine how indecent behavior is actually defined, it looks like something straight out of North Korea, mandatory worship of “Dear Leader” and all. Because you see, “discussing the actions of [1C] in any form” constitutes indecent behavior. As does “actions or posting of information, that in the opinion of [1C] … that are undesirable.” And we know 1C largely views any type of criticism as undesirable because they are mass-locking and deleting critical forum threads fully within Steam’s rules, but that go against their desired narrative for the game. They are doing this without flagging them as rule violations, meaning there simply is no appeal to Steam’s moderation. The reason behind this is that without the mass censorship, the front forum pages would be filled with critical threads that they don’t want you to read. Even worse though, go read the negative reviews on this page. Nearly every single one has [i]"A developer has responded to this review"[/i] stapled underneath it. Not with fixes. With arguments attempting to pressure the customer into flipping negative reviews into positive reviews. Combined with their user agreement, which (quite insanely) applies to social media channels, forums they don’t run, pretty much anything online, their pressure campaign has an air of mafia-style menace to it along the lines of “That’s a really nice IL2 account you have there…it would be a shame if something happened to it.” Beyond that, they are begging users on their [i]own [/i] forums to invade Steam and spam positive reviews and forum threads. So with regard to any positive reviews you see, take them with a grain of salt because the developers are running an active campaign to brigade the steam reviews and forums. That's the tell. A studio that spent its launch day litigating its Steam rating instead of patching its game has told you exactly where the effort is going. [b]If you must buy this game, wait for the inevitable 75% off sale. Wait until it actually has some content. Wait until it’s patched into something decent. Wait for them to put your planes back. Wait until the developers stop arguing with and censoring their customers and start listening to them. As for me, it’s an easy refund.[/b]

Впервые играю в авиасимуляторы Красивая графика. Детальная кабина, в которую можно рассматривать на протяжении всего боя. Особая красота для VR-очков (жаль, управление только с контроллера или клавиатуры, без поддержки VR управления). Детальные самолёты, которые можно прямо в меню рассмотреть и сфотографировать со всех сторон, а также функции по типу открытия закрылок и т.д. Пол боя смотрел по сторонам как будто снова вернулся в No Man's Sky в VR

It's overall a fun game, hampered by the fact that the AI blatantly cheats. You will watch the AI pull turns that if you did them, would immediately hit you into G-LOC. The AI apparently suffers no G forces; this is apparent when you are fighting a MiG, since in theory without a G-suit the MiG pilot doing hard turns should knock them out, and therefore you can gain an even greater turn advantage than the Sabre already has, but instead the MiG will out-turn you and ignore g-forces, since if you pulled the same turn, even with a G-suit, you would be knocked out cold. They should not have introduced this mechanic if they intended to not have the AI use it.

Coming from more casual flying games this kicked my ass at first. Took me ages to make one clean landing and it felt better than getting 20 kills somewhere else. Still learning, still crashing, still having fun :)

Too expensive for what's there. Buy on sale or play Sturmovik. Also 170 USD for the complete edition is insane.

The game is good, but there's still room for improvement. The graphics look fantastic, the aircraft are beautifully modeled, and using the Korean War as the setting feels fresh compared to the usual WWII or modern combat flight sims. I'm primarily a mouse and keyboard player. I have around 200 hours in DCS using only keyboard, another 200 hours in Nuclear Option with mouse and keyboard, plus plenty of time in other flight games with the same setup. I know I'm probably in the minority, and I'm fully aware that a HOTAS is the preferred way to play games like this. Still, since the developers added controller support, I was hoping mouse and keyboard players would receive some attention as well. Unfortunately, the controls feel almost identical to the previous title. The aircraft sometimes turns far too slowly or even starts turning slightly in the wrong direction, making dogfights unnecessarily frustrating (but still doable). Takeoffs can also be awkward at times (especially if in first person, third person makes it easier). A simple improvement would be allowing keyboard inputs to work alongside mouse controls, so players could make small control corrections when needed. That would make flying feel much more responsive and accessible, and it might even encourage more people to give the game a try. If the concern is multiplayer balance, this feature could simply be disabled in multiplayer while remaining available in singleplayer. Again, I know I'm in the minority, but it would be great if mouse controls received a bit more attention. Even a small improvement to mouse input could make a noticeable difference. The AI could also use some additional work, and I think the developers could communicate with the community a bit better, judging by some of their responses to reviews. Maybe the heatwave is to blame for that lol? Other than those issues, though, I'm enjoying the game and think it has a lot of potential.

Refund requested. Half baked trash. VR is so slow they may as well have just left it out. My PC is a beast. Ryzen 9 7950x, 64gbs of DDR5 and a 5080. IT wont even run well in flat screen. Straight garbage.

As an avid follower of this series for decades, writing a review that does not include a recommendation does truly pain me. Unfortunately, for $80 (minimum, plus locked paid content) is far too much to ask for this game. You get 6 planes, 2 missions, a career mode that needs more time in the oven, and 1 (large) map. Then you have the privilege of spending another $55 on the day 1 DLC to add 2 more aircraft that dont come with the "base" game. All of that makes this game absolutely anemic upon release to say the least. I have watched IL2 Great Battles grow and mature and assuming the same development principals are in place for Korea this game WILL become worth it at some point but it is not right now. It's nearly $150 for a neat tech demo at best and that hurts so much to admit. Save your money - wait for a sale, or skip it all together until it has some content a year or so later.