The game's free-to-play structure is of the "freemium" type, and significant progress can be made without purchasing anything, but access to higher levels of play and additional warships becomes progressively more difficult without financial investment.
In game screenshot with the HUD visible and a Colorado-class battleship under the player's control, one of many ships the player can acquire through gameplay
World of Warships is a slow-paced tactical shooter game with three basic types of armament: naval artillery, torpedoes and attack aircraft. The gameplay is team-based, and divisions can be established to allow a group of up to three players to join and fight battles together. The player's team can fight against other players (PvP) or against the AI (PvE) in several battle types.[6]
Co-op battles feature a team of players facing off against a team of AI-controlled bots, usually 9v9. Credit and experience rewards earned in co-operative play are notably lower than those earned in Random Battles (PvP), which are the most popular battle type in World of Warships. In Random Battles, captains are dropped into a game with other players according to the matchmaking system, with a majority of these being 12v12 battles. Scenarios pit a team of players against increasingly difficult waves of AI-controlled opponents in operations with unique objectives. In scenarios, players are allowed to queue solo, but are encouraged to gather their friends into a division; assembling a full division of 7 players will greatly increase the chances of success.[6]
Ranked Battles are a seasonal battle type and have restrictions to certain tiers of ships (usually from tier VI-X). A season of Ranked Battles is divided into sprints with a duration of 1–3 weeks (most of the time 2 weeks with rare exceptions) each and comprises three Leagues – Bronze, Silver and Gold. Ranked Battles involve players progressing up a ladder-style ranking system in each League from a low rank (such as "Rank 10") towards a high rank, with Rank 1 being the pinnacle of the ladder. Clan Battles are a special battle type, only available at specific times and restricted to certain tiers of ships. A team is formed from within a single Clan by at least one officer.[6]
Brawls are a specific battle type that have a shorter duration of several days, but long availability during the day. Brawls are held in small formats such as 1v1 or 3v3, and support participating either solo or in a division. The Training Room allows players to generate fully custom scenarios on a map of their choice, choosing the duration of the game, the team configurations, and even the exact number of ships on each team. Unbalanced teams are allowed.[6]
The game also has three basic game modes, which may occur with any of the battle types. Standard battles, a classic game mode involving teams, each with their own base; Domination, which features several key areas on the map that grant points when captured; Arms Race, which focuses on improving the characteristics of the player's ships by capturing key areas;
The game features combat missions, challenges,[7] campaigns[8] and collections[9] for the sake of creating extra goals, rewards and a meaningful progression for players during their time with the game. These systems also give an opportunity of creating stories inside or outside the military or historical genres. Some special Halloween,[10] April Fools,[11] and other holiday battle modes appear in the game. The secondary goal of the "holiday modes" is to test new game mechanics. Temporary anime tie-in events have occurred, featuring ships and characters (as ship commanders) from High School Fleet, Azur Lane, Arpeggio of Blue Steel, and Blue Archive. Other tie-in IPs include Warhammer 40K, Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Star Trek, and more. Other events have used science-fiction-themed ships and environments, but not tied to a specific franchise.
Battles take place on a limited number of specific maps, each depicting a certain location with different geographical layouts, usually featuring numerous islands of varying size that influence play.[12] Most maps have a static or dynamic weather system to make battles more diverse. Moreover, some maps are unique for a certain game mode, e.g. PvE scenario battles based on historical events such as the Dunkirk evacuation.
Scenarios is a PvE game mode where players cooperate and complete tasks.[13] They include a number of operations, each with separate stories, objectives, secondary objectives and rewards. Tasks include not only destroying enemy vessels but also bombarding shore installations, escorting convoys, or preventing enemy vessels from entering or escaping certain areas. To finish the scenario, players need to team up and complete the primary objective. On completion of the secondary objectives, they receive an additional star.
In addition to Ranked Battles,[14] Clan battles[15] were introduced as another competitive mode that is played in the season format. Players can only participate in Clan Battles as a team, as opposed to Ranked battles where individual players compete against each other.
A clan is a group of "teamed" players who either apply or are invited. Also, a bonus resource, oil, can be awarded and contributed to the clan. The commanders (owners) of the group can use this to build and upgrade fleet buildings, which give bonuses to every player in the clan.
The game originally had four different types of ships that each offer their own style of play: battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and aircraft carriers.[17]Submarines were also permanently added to the game with the release of Update 11.9.[18] Battleships are heavily armoured with the most hit points and their main guns can deal significant shell damage with each volley, but they are slow, difficult to maneuver and take a long time to reload; destroyers are fast and agile with rapid guns, but are weaker in both gun damage and hit points, and have to rely more on the much slower torpedoes against larger ships; cruisers have aptitudes halfway between the formers, being faster than battleships and stronger than destroyers. Aircraft carriers have large hit points but are slow and mediocrely armoured, but can launch airstrikes beyond other ship's gun ranges using carrier-based aircraft. Submarines are the weakest vessels armour-wise and with only moderate speeds, but can use homing torpedoes, as well as much more potent unguided torpedoes and remain submerged (and largely undetectable to large ships) for a limited amount of time, although they are vulnerable to ship- or aircraft-deployed depth charges. Battleships and some heavy cruisers can launch spotter aircraft that increase their observation range as well as drop depth charges on submarines within a designated zone. All surface combatants (i.e. excluding submarines) have automated anti-aircraft batteries that can shoot down approaching enemy aircraft, and battleships have rapid-firing secondary guns that autonomously attack any nearby enemy ships.
For practical purposes, each ship is placed in a tier system to facilitate balanced matchmaking.[19] There are ten tiers for each ship: Tier I is the lowest and Tier X is the highest; however, some tech trees have additional "superships" -denoted by a star- as one last progression after Tier X. With a few exceptions, each nation has a tech tree; smaller navies with one branch and larger navies with branches for each type and a ship of each type at most tiers. In some cases branches split, such as into heavy and light cruisers. The lowest tier for each tech tree ship type also varies: cruisers at Tier I, destroyers at Tier II, battleships at Tier III (the sole exception being Tier II Japanese battleship Mikasa), aircraft carriers at Tier IV and submarines at tier VI. There are also premium ships that are outside the tech tree; these are available for cash and/or in-game resources. Tier I is essentially a tutorial mode; only one ship of each navy is available in the game at that tier. These ships are classed as cruisers in the game, but historically some were classed as gunboats, avisos, or frigates, and all are from the WWII era. They feature a small number of 102mm to 152mm guns and relatively slow speed. Tier I is unique in that no other tiers are included in their matchmaking, with no other offensive capabilities outside of their main batteries. Tiers II through X include ships of increasing combat capability, generally following the chronological development of each ship type in each navy, beginning circa 1905–1910 and ending in the 1950s.[20] Ships whose construction were never completed or even begun, also called "paper ships", are used to fill gaps in the tech tree and explore hypothetical developments. Most Tier X ships, most Russian and French ships, and all of the German and Soviet aircraft carriers (Graf Zeppelin reached a late stage of construction but never entered service) are in this category.
Players can progress through the game via the research and purchase of ships from each tier. Each specific ship has a number of modules that can be accessed through experience. This experience is used to unlock modules, which can then be purchased with credits and mounted. Once a ship's modules are completely researched (credit purchase is not required), the player can acquire the next ship in the tree by spending experience and credits.[21] The previous ship, if fully upgraded, gains "Elite" status, meaning all of its subsequently earned experience can be converted to free experience by spending doubloons (which are primarily acquired via cash purchases). On any ship, warship elements such as commanders with skill trees and unique perks can be customized, as well as modification kits and consumables such as signals and ship camouflage.
World of Warships booth at the 2016 Taipei Game Show
On August 16, 2011, the company website of Wargaming, developer and publisher of World of Tanks and World of Warplanes, announced World of Battleships, a free-to-play naval action MMO, intended to complete the World of war trilogy developed by the company.[22] On August 2, 2012, the game was renamed World of Warships.[23] After a petition opened by South Korean players was signed 40,000 times, Wargaming removed the Rising Sun Flag from Imperial Japanese warships in July 2013.[24][25] After that, more than 12,000 signatures were gathered requesting reimplementation of the Rising Sun Flag,[26] but the decision was not overturned.[27][28] On November 14, 2013, the game entered closed alpha testing.[29]
Closed beta testing for World of Warships started on March 12, 2015, shortly after closed alpha ended, with the non-disclosure agreement covering the alpha being lifted at the same time.[30] On April 9, 2015, pre-order packages consisting of premium warships and access to the closed beta test became available for purchase by players.[31]Open beta testing for World of Warships started on July 2, 2015, as the final step prior to the game's formal launch.[32] As of the open beta test, approximately 85% of the core game development have been completed and there were future plans to introduce weather effects and night battle after the game's official release.[33]
On September 3, 2015, Wargaming announced that the game had exited open beta. The game was officially launched on September 17, 2015,[34] and later released through Steam and the Microsoft Store on November 15, 2017.[35]
An iOS and Android version titled World of Warships Blitz was released by Wargaming Mobile on January 18, 2018.[36] A console version of the computer game, World of Warships: Legends, was announced on June 20, 2018,[37] and was released in Early Access and Game Preview for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on April 16, 2019.[38]World of Warships: Legends fully released on August 12, 2019.[39]
World of Warships: Legends was rebuilt to support console and mobile gameplay, sharing the same core gameplay loop of the computer version. However, it was designed to have faster-paced battles, faster progression, and had several systems revamped to fit console and mobile players.[38]
According to Malik Khatazhaev, the general manager of Lesta Studio (the branch of Wargaming that develops World of Warships), in May 2019 World of Warships'Monthly Active Users (MAU) exceeded 1,000,000 worldwide active players.[40]
World of Warships has a score of 81/100 on Metacritic.[41]IGN awarded it a score of 8.3 out of 10, stating that the combat feels good and that the game's teamwork is satisfying.[49]GameSpot awarded it a score of 8.0 out of 10, saying "The thrills that await, along with the promise of unlocking advanced ships down the road, make World of Warships an enticing expedition into the sometimes turbulent waters of free-to-play games."[46]The Escapist awarded it four out of five, saying "With its tense naval battles and huge array of historical vessels, World of Warships is the free-to-play MMO that can make a wargamer out of anyone."[52]
A carrier battle group (CVBG) is a naval fleet consisting of an aircraft carrier capital ship and its large number of escorts, together defining the group. The CV in CVBG is the United States Navy hull classification code for an aircraft carrier.
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.
Battleship is a strategy type guessing game for two players. It is played on ruled grids on which each player's fleet of warships are marked. The locations of the fleets are concealed from the other player. Players alternate turns calling "shots" at the other player's ships, and the objective of the game is to destroy the opposing player's fleet.
Battlefleet Gothic is a naval miniature wargame that was produced by Games Workshop from 1999 to 2013 with Andy Chambers as the primary developer. A spin-off of the science-fantasy setting of Warhammer 40,000, the game has players command fleets of large spaceships belonging to one of several spaceborne factions. Although the wargame's miniatures and rulebooks are no longer supported by Games Workshop, two video game adaptations have been made since its cancellation in 2013.
War at Sea is a strategic board wargame depicting the naval war in the Atlantic during World War II, published by Jedko Games in 1975, and subsequently republished by Avalon Hill in 1976 and more recently by L2 Design Group in 2007.
Pacific General is a computer wargame depicting famous battles of the World War II Pacific campaigns. It was published by Strategic Simulations in 1997 using the same game engine of the earlier and successful Panzer General for Windows 95. It was re-released on GOG.com in May 2015.
Victory in the Pacific (VITP) is a board wargame published by the Avalon Hill game company in 1977 that simulates the War in the Pacific during World War II.
Naval Ops: Warship Gunner, released in Japan as Kurogane no Houkou 2: Warship Gunner is a vehicle simulation game released in 2003 for the PlayStation 2. It is an entry in the larger Kurogane no Houkou series, which also includes the games Naval Ops: Commander and Naval Ops: Warship Gunner 2.
Victory at Sea, subtitled "World War II Naval Combat Game", is a set of World War II naval wargaming rules published by Mongoose Publishing in 2006.
P.T.O. IV, released as Teitoku no Ketsudan IV (提督の決断IV) in Japan, is a World War II-themed strategy for the PlayStation 2 and PC produced by Koei. It focuses on naval combat in the maritime theaters of World War II, encompassing the Pacific Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean, with the option of playing as one of four major maritime powers of the time: Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, or the United States. P.T.O. IV is the latest game in Koei's P.T.O. series.
Bismarck is a board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1962 that simulates the hunt for the Bismarck.
A treaty battleship was a battleship built in the 1920s or 1930s under the terms of one of a number of international treaties governing warship construction. Many of these ships played an active role in the Second World War, but few survived long after it.
The Standard-type battleship was a series of thirteen battleships across five classes ordered for the United States Navy between 1911 and 1916 and commissioned between 1916 and 1923. These were considered super-dreadnoughts, with the ships of the final two classes incorporating many lessons from the Battle of Jutland.
World of Tanks (WoT) is an armoured warfare-themed multiplayer online game developed by Wargaming, featuring 20th century (1910s–1970s) era combat vehicles. It is built upon a freemium business model where the game is free-to-play, but participants also have the option of paying a fee for use of "premium" features. The focus is on player vs. player gameplay with each player controlling an armored vehicle, from the time of Pre-World War 2 to the Cold War-era.
Interstellar Marines is a science fiction first-person shooter video game that was developed by indie studio Zero Point Software until 2019. It was added to Steam Greenlight on September 3, 2012 and later released on Steam Early Access on July 2, 2013.
World of Warplanes (WoWp) is a free-to-play aerial combat massively multiplayer online (MMO) game developed by Persha Studia and published by Wargaming.net. The game was originally released in November 2013 in CIS countries, North America and Europe. It was relaunched as World of Warplanes 2.0 in October 2017 in the same countries, achieving significantly better reception.
War Thunder is a 2013 free-to-play vehicular combat multiplayer video game produced by Gaijin Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Oculus, and Vive. It was first released in November 2012 as an open beta with a worldwide release in January 2013; it had its official release on December 21, 2016. A spinoff game called War Thunder Mobile was released in 2023 for Android and iOS.
Wargaming Group Limited is a global video game company headquartered in Nicosia, Cyprus. The group operates across more than 16 offices and development studios globally. Initially focused on turn-based strategy and real-time strategy games, Wargaming switched to developing free-to-play online action games in 2009, including the military-themed team-based game World of Tanks, and later World of Warships,World of Warships Legends, World of Warplanes, World of Tanks Blitz, and World of Warships Blitz.
Bismarck is a turn-based strategy video game developed by Personal Software Services and published by Mirrorsoft. It was first released for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum in 1987 for the United Kingdom. It was ported to Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, and Atari 8-bit computers in both the United Kingdom and the United States the following year. In the game, the player can choose to control either the German battleship Bismarck or command the pursuing fleet of Royal Navy ships.
Azur Lane is a side-scrolling shoot 'em up video game created by Chinese developers Shanghai Manjuu and Xiamen Yongshi, released in 2017 for the iOS and Android operating systems. Set in an alternate timeline of World War II, players engage in side-scrolling shooter gameplay, using female moe anthropomorphic characters based on warships from the war's major participants. Other gameplay elements, like customizing a dorm and in-game characters, are also present.
1 2 Cameron Woolsey (September 17, 2015). "World of Warships Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 18 March 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
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