IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad VR Review - A World War 2 Flight Simulator in Virtual Reality
If you’re looking for a hardcore VR World War 2 Flight Simulator to try then IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad (aka IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles) is definitely one that you should consider.
When I say hardcore I really mean hardcore. IL 2 is a game that is meant to be a simulation of the aircraft and piloting of World War 2 aircraft on the eastern front (and lately the western front as well), and while not originally intended to be played in Virtual Reality, definitely makes for a great Virtual Reality flying game.
While IL 2 VR can be hard to play the first few times you try it, and doesn’t have any VR motion controls, once you get over the hardcore learning curve it’s a VR flight sim that looks fantastic and offers massive realism and depth in your flying experience.
If you want to try a more easily digestible flight simulator then I’d recommend Warplanes: Battles Over Pacific for a WW2 flight simulator, or VTOL VR if you want to try out more modern aircraft.
Strafing a Train Station in IL 2 VR
IL-2 also features tanks as well, though they won’t be the main focus of this article. While the tank combat is a fantastic addition to this game, and fun in its own right, the addition of Virtual Reality didn’t add too much to it.
If you’re already a veteran of IL 2 and are wondering if Virtual Reality makes a good addition to this WW2 VR flight simulator, then I would certainly say yes. VR adds a whole new level of immersion to IL 2 and also makes it very easy to look around the skies with your actual head instead of messing around with head tracking hardware like TrackIR.
If you are a VR lover who is wondering if IL-2 would make a good addition to your library of VR games then I’d also say yes if you’re willing to invest in a joystick and take some time and effort to learn the extensive controls and intricacies of the various aircraft in this game.
IL-2 is not a flight simulator for the faint of heart, and to get the most out of it you’ll need to learn a lot and mess with a lot of keybinds.
If you want to know more then it’s time to go in depth in this IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad VR Review.
Just look at that countryside out of the side of this plane
How To Set Up IL-2 VR
Of course you may be wondering, “How do I launch IL-2 in VR?” or “What headset can I use to run IL 2 VR?”
If you want to just get straight to the review then skip to the next section below. Otherwise stick around here to find out how to run IL-2 in Virtual Reality.
As far as VR headsets go you can use any that is capable of connecting to a PC. If you’re using a Quest device then you will need the ability to connect a headset to your PC to run IL-2 VR, more on that below.
So if you’ve played PCVR games before on your PC, then running IL-2 VR is the same as any other PCVR game you’d play through Steam.
As long as Steam VR is running and detects your headset the game will automatically run in Virtual Reality mode. After loading is finished you will see the main menu in your headset.
The IL-2 main menu in VR
So setup is really easy. There are no mods and no additional packages that need to be installed. IL-2 Sturmovik runs in VR easily and flawlessly with very little choppiness as long as your PC can handle it.
If you’re using an Oculus Quest 2 or Oculus Quest 3 and haven’t run a PCVR game on your headset before then this guide for running VTOL VR on a Quest device should be helpful, but instead of running VTOL VR when you’re in Steam VR just run IL-2 instead.
Since IL-2 is a Steam game you can also use Steam Link to play it on a Quest device. This has been my preferred method since the release of Steam Link, as IL 2 not only runs even better with Steam Link, but is also much easier and faster to start up
Playing IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad In VR For the First Time
The first time I tried IL-2 VR I hopped straight from the main menu and into one of the “Quick Missions". You’ll notice when you get to the main menu that your touch controllers are already useless. At a minimum you will need a keyboard and mouse to play IL-2 VR, more on that later.
IL-2 offers a lot of different Singleplayer mission options, and even Campaigns and the eastern front World War 2 equivalent of a career mode.
With a lot of DLC content as well as the addition of World War 1 and the latest DLC covering the Western Front of World War 2, there’s an absolute ton of content to sink your teeth into if you want to (though the cost of those DLCs will add up).
That’s a lot of DLC, luckily you don’t really need to buy most of them
Even with only the base game there’s already an almost overwhelming amount of things to learn just by hopping into Quick Missions, which lets you select and customize missions of various types on a battle map that is accurate to the actual battles of World War 2 on the eastern front.
There’s all sorts of missions to choose from, like bombing runs, protecting allied bombers, dogfighting enemy fighters, intercepting enemy bombers, and each of these missions will dynamically generate a battlefield with other various allied and enemy units that may or may not interfere or help with your chosen mission.
It’s a great way to get into and learn how to play IL-2, which is good because I immediately noticed how incredibly hard this game is when I tried my first dogfight.
Getting destroyed in a dogfight
It was One on One, me versus an AI opponent, and boy did I get destroyed pretty quickly.
IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad is an incredibly hard World War 2 flight simulator, which comes down mostly to the realism and hardcore simulation aspects of it.
The game has no tutorial and not even any popups to help out first time players. You are immediately forced to sink or swim by yourself, and that’s without even talking about the controls.
As I mentioned before IL2 offers no touch controller support for VR. Just like when playing this game on the flat screen you’ll be forced to utilize a mouse and keyboard or joystick. This honestly isn’t a bad thing, because you will need a ton of keys to control even the most rudimentary aircraft.
Oh, and also beware of motion sickness, a lot of VR flying games can cause motion sickness easily when you look up through the roof or sides of your cockpit.
So if you’ve experienced motion sickness in VR before then beware that you might need some time to get used to IL2 VR before you can enjoy it without feeling nauseous.
This game even looks great when you’re on the ground
If you want a VR flight simulator that lets you use your VR touch controllers to utilize the controls of the plane then again I’d recommend Warplanes: Battles Over Pacific for a WW2 flight simulator, or VTOL VR if you want to try out more modern aircraft.
The fact that I was using a mouse and keyboard rather than a joystick (aka a HOTAS setup) also didn’t help. The sensitivity when using a mouse was all over the place, and even after tweaking it to be more comfortable it felt like a very odd way to steer a plane.
Though as I was struggling with the controls I also constantly thought about how beautiful the game is.
Even when waiting ten minutes for my plane to fly to the combat zone I’d be completely content just watching the mid 20th century Russian countryside roll by below my wings, or examining the inside of my cockpit.
Look at that countryside go by
After getting shot down a few times I tried some easier missions like bombing a target or intercepting enemy bombers, and while flying to or from a destination I’d frantically study the keybinds in the main menu. There are a LOT of keybinds that you’ll need to know, and that’s even before I bothered with learning how to take off and land.
Like I said, IL-2 VR is not a game for the faint of heart. It takes a lot of commitment to get into this game. Though despite all of that I was already becoming very enchanted by it.
You will need to know a lot of keybinds to play IL-2 VR
The scenery passing below, the distant sights and sounds of battle, the large empty steppes of central Russia from decades ago. It all looked so fantastic in VR. Not to mention the inside of every plane.
The interiors of each aircraft are exactly the same as the real thing, and all move and react as they should when you use the controls. Each is beautiful, and the gauges and dials actually work and display the same units of measurement as their historical counterparts, which is very useful when playing on more realistic difficulty modes that don’t have that information on your HUD.
Virtual Reality enhanced all of the little moments by making you really feel like you’re inside of that cockpit, while also making the intense feeling of combat all the more intense and immersive. Not to mention it’s very easy to just glance down at your dials, or up at another plane through the glass cockpit by just moving your head as you would if you were really a pilot.
Strafing enemy tanks
A bit of studying various keybinds and trying out and being very bad at various missions was pulling me in. I’d learn something new, get a little better, crash, and then try again. Even the smallest victory felt huge because of how difficult the game was to learn.
Oh, and I tried the tanks as well. As far as a tank combat simulator goes, IL-2 is also pretty great. Though as mentioned earlier Virtual Reality isn’t as useful or interesting in the tank combat.
Regardless, blowing up a few tanks was a good time, but what was really drawing me in was the flying simulation. Driving or gunning in a tank was not very much improved by Virtual Reality, because you can’t see much to your sides anyway, and end up just staring ahead through the driver’s port or gunner’s sight anyway. IL2 VR is not the best tanking game out there for Virtual Reality, but the tank combat is still great on the flat screen.
After getting hooked on IL-2 I just had to get a Joystick. Eighty dollars and a few days later it arrived, and I have to say that this joystick is definitely among the best gaming accessories I’ve ever bought.
Getting Immersed into IL-2 VR
The joystick made this game much, much better, and if you’re not already an IL-2 veteran who has one, you should definitely get one if you’re planning on trying this game.
I’d go so far to say that a joystick is required to enjoy IL-2 VR, that’s just the sort of game this is. It’s much easier and more immersive to control your plane with the addition of one. In fact a lot of Multiplayer servers require a joystick.
Getting strafed after making an emergency landing, this was a huge surprise
That was my next stop, the Multiplayer, to fly with others and learn more about the game. I was lucky enough to know somebody who has a lot of knowledge about the game, and that cut down on the learning curve a lot. Our flights together were an insane amount of fun, and there were always at least a few Multiplayer servers that were well populated, though some required DLC planes to fly.
IL-2 has great Singleplayer content for sure with its varieties of missions and Scripted Campaigns, but the Multiplayer is endlessly enjoyable. It’s where the game goes from flight simulator to a real World War 2 immersive experience with players on the ground in tanks and players in the air in planes all fighting with and against each other.
If you want to get into IL2 VR I’d recommend you check out the forums and look for a discord server (googling “IL 2 Discord” will get you a few) to find others to fly with. It makes the game not only much larger and more dynamic, but much more fun.
Though these Multiplayer servers also had much higher realism settings than what I was already used to from Quick Battles. That meant no more HUD, I’d have to read the dials on the plane for things like altitude and speed, and no more overlays telling me where enemies were and which direction my objective was in.
While this may sound limiting and possibly frustrating, it’s with the addition of higher realism that IL-2 VR really shines. Having to actually spot planes instead of just looking where the marker tells you is also where VR improves the game. This is meant to be a realistic World War 2 flight simulator after all.
The ability to just look around like an actual pilot in an actual cockpit was a huge advantage, and made spotting and tailing enemy planes not only easier, but much more immersive.
Trying and failing to hit an enemy plane
Also as I’ve already mentioned, IL-2 looks fantastic in Virtual Reality.
I was so drawn into the experience, and as I surveyed and mapped more and more keybinds to overcome the learning curve the game became easier to play and a more interesting simulation of piloting World War 2 aircraft than its simpler contemporaries.
Climbing the hurdles of IL-2 was definitely a challenge at first, but with a joystick and some time spent learning the game from others (and a couple of Youtube videos) the depth of the simulation was becoming more accessible and fun.
Though I’d still have to say that you need to want to not only invest not only in a joystick or HOTAS setup of some kind, but also to learn and get to know this game.
The cost of a joystick and the game itself combined means that IL-2 VR has a much higher price tag to enjoyment than most games, not to mention the time it takes to figure it out.
Taking AAA fire from the ground and getting hit in the engine
After many hours of playing I had shot down an enemy bomber, which felt absolutely amazing. It’s really hard to hit anything else up in the sky. I’d also destroyed a couple of ground targets, and started to feel really in control of the plane. The feeling of overcoming the challenges that real pilots face and succeeding was completely worth it.
There’s still so much game out there, so many things to learn and master. Each plane controls differently and has different features. In fact there’s a pretty long specification page for each of them. IL-2 simulates these aircraft as closely as possible, from their different systems, to how they react to being damaged.
If you’ve ever wanted to feel like an actual World War 2 pilot as much as possible then there is no game that I can recommend more highly to fully capture that experience.
A direct hit with a bomb on a train station
Virtual Reality, as it so often does, makes the flying easier to immerse yourself into, more enjoyable to look at, and actually simplifies the game a little bit.
By just looking around with a VR headset you don’t have to use a mouse to look around, you just do it naturally.
So for those who have already been bitten by the bug of IL-2, VR is a completely worthwhile addition to the game. Your situational awareness goes up the roof, and the game looks and feels better.
For newcomers who are wondering if IL-2 VR is worth it, then it is if you also want to play a VR flying game that includes factors like water radiators, propellor RPM, and engine fuel mixture levels. If you want a realistic World War 2 flight simulator in Virtual Reality, then there’s really no substitute for IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad (aka IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles) .
IL-2 VR sure is a complex game, but it’s a fantastic and realistic World War 2 flying simulator that runs extremely well in Virtual Reality. Enjoy!
