Most military shooters put you in control of a single soldier and leave it at that. Enlisted takes a different approach entirely: instead of just aiming down a single set of sights, you’re commanding an entire squad, switching between infantry, tank crews, and pilots as the battle demands. Built by Darkflow Software and published by Gaijin Entertainment, Enlisted turns World War II combat into something closer to small-unit tactics than a straight run-and-gun shooter, and it costs nothing to jump in.
What Makes Enlisted Different
At the core of Enlisted is a squad system that sets it apart from nearly every other shooter in the genre. Rather than controlling one character for the entire match, you command a squad of up to nine soldiers, directly piloting one at a time while the rest follow your orders and hold their ground. You can switch between active soldiers on the fly to react to whatever the fight throws at you, and if your controlled soldier goes down, you simply continue the fight through the next member of your squad rather than sitting through a full respawn timer. When your infantry falls, you’re not necessarily done either, tank crews and aircraft pilots are part of the same squad-based flow, so a single match can have you leading riflemen through a ruined building one moment and climbing into a tank turret the next.
Real WWII Fronts, Not Generic Maps
Enlisted doesn’t invent a fictional conflict to build its battles around. The game reproduces genuine WWII theaters, including the brutal defense of Moscow, the beaches and hedgerows of Normandy, the desert warfare of Tunisia, the grinding urban combat of the Battle of Stalingrad, and the partially released Battle of Berlin campaign, with each campaign built around missions that reflect the actual character of that front. Individual missions carry their own identity too, whether that’s an assault through a specific building in Berlin, a fight over a quarry near Moscow, or a fortress engagement in Tunisia, and each one runs across different game modes like Invasion, Assault, Conquest, and Destruction. If you have any interest in WWII history, Enlisted’s commitment to recreating specific, named battles rather than generic war-themed maps is one of its biggest draws.
Twelve Classes, Tanks, and Aircraft to Master
Ground combat in Enlisted spans 12 distinct infantry classes, giving you real variety in how you build out a squad, from riflemen and flamethrower troopers to dedicated sniper squads carrying period-accurate weapons like the Lee-Enfield No.4 MkI. Vehicle combat is just as deep, with more than 150 tanks in the game, including specialized flamethrower and amphibious variants, letting you fight from inside armored steel when infantry combat isn’t cutting it. Different campaigns even offer different tank matchups, Tunisia, for example, pits the Allied Crusader III against the Axis Pz.III J, giving each front its own distinct vehicle balance. Add in aircraft ranging from the Spitfire Mk.Vb to the Bf 110 F-2, and Enlisted gives you a genuinely complete WWII combined-arms sandbox to fight across, all without ever asking for a dime.
Free to Play, No Limitations
Enlisted is available to everyone at zero cost, and unlike some free-to-play military games that gate meaningful content behind paywalls, Gaijin has made a point of offering the full game with no limitations for players who don’t want to spend anything. That means every campaign, every class, and the vast majority of vehicles are reachable through regular play. As with most Gaijin titles, there are premium options and boosters available for players who want to accelerate their progress, but the core promise, a complete WWII squad shooter available to play for free, holds up from your very first match.
Cross-Play Across Every Major Platform
Enlisted is fully available on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5, with Steam Deck support baked in for anyone who wants to fight on the go. Cross-play stretches even further than that, covering PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S alongside Gaijin’s own PC service, meaning your squad can be made up of players on completely different hardware without anyone getting left out. For a squad-based game that leans so heavily on coordination between infantry, tanks, and aircraft, having your entire friend group able to play together regardless of platform makes a genuine difference.
Getting Into Your First Battle
New commanders should expect a learning curve that’s less about aim and more about squad management. Learning when to push forward with your full squad versus splitting soldiers to hold multiple positions, and knowing when to abandon a lost infantry fight in favor of hopping into a tank, is where Enlisted’s real depth lives. Picking a campaign that matches your interests, whether that’s the brutal urban fighting of Stalingrad or the open desert engagements of Tunisia, is a good way to get oriented before branching out to the game’s other fronts. Because you’re never truly out of the fight as long as any part of your squad survives, Enlisted rewards players who think several moves ahead rather than those chasing individual kills.
The Bottom Line
Enlisted takes the familiar WWII shooter setting and rebuilds it around something genuinely different: real squad command across authentic historical battles, with infantry, armor, and air combat all woven into the same match. With twelve infantry classes, over 150 tanks, real WWII campaigns, and full cross-play support, it’s a substantial military shooter that costs nothing to try. If commanding a full squad through the actual battles of World War II sounds more interesting than another generic multiplayer shooter, Enlisted is worth your first match.