World War 2 FPS Enlisted Enters Open Beta

Squad-based first-person shooter Enlisted has managed to catch a lot of players' attention since its announcement back in 2016, offering authentic WW2 battles complete with era-appropriate guns and vehicles. For all those intrigued by the new multiplayer game's bold concept, it's officially available to play in open beta right now, allowing those on PC, Xbox Series X, and PlayStation 5 to hop into the experience for free.

The announcement was made official via a new trailer on Enlisted's YouTube channel, showing off new clips of the game and a better look at its strikingly realistic environments. Players on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S can download the beta on each console's respective storefront, while PC players can get access over on Enlisted's website.

For those who haven't heard of the game, its latest trailer does a good job of setting up what makes the shooter so different from other iterations of the genre. For one, players don't just control a single soldier fighting on the battlefield, taking control of a squad of avatars with the ability to switch between their men at will. As the footage makes clear, these soldiers can range from nimble snipers to sluggish tanks and even planes, with players storming across various, historically accurate WW2 battlefields as they take the fight to their enemy.

The trailer also features an array of weapons pulled straight from the time period, including rifles, mortars, and flamethrowers. Gaijin Entertainment has always claimed that remaining authentic to the firearms and vehicles used during WW2 is imperative to the experience Enlisted is attempting to create, and the trailer makes it clear that the game will offer a more realistic and grounded experience as a result. The game entered closed beta last year, so it's great to see the studio opening up the game and welcoming more players.

Enlisted might not be the only WW2-focused shooter playable this year, with recent reports claiming that the next Call of Duty will be revisiting the era. Known as Call of Duty WW2: Vanguard, the rumored title will allegedly return to the Second World War for the first time since it launched Call of Duty WW2 in 2017. It will apparently have a traditional WW2 setting despite early rumors claiming it could have an alternate history spin, and will be developed by Sledgehammer Games. It seems wise to imagine the title will fall in line with most Call of Duty releases and hit shelves later this Fall.

While Evolve may not have been the sales success that Turtle Rock Studios had hoped for, the studio quickly pivoted back to the style of game that originally helped put it on the map. Back 4 Blood, a co-op shooter originally revealed back in 2019, gave most fans strong Left 4 Dead vibes something which wasn't lost on the studio. As a spiritual successor to Valve's popular franchise, Back 4 Blood looks to carry forward a lot of the things that made those games so noteworthy.

Following an Alpha test a few months back, many fans have begun to call the game an unofficial Left 4 Dead 3. During the alpha, players were able to see a number of familiar elements including special zombie types like the Hocker and Retch as well as experience a new form of The Director, an AI behind the scenes that dynamically alters the experience of each match based on how players are doing. Items, level-pacing, and even enemy spawn rates could all change at the flip of a coin based on player behavior.