Hell Let Loose has the realism and the tactics; that slower-paced combat where the line between life and death is represented by a single bullet. Battlefield V, as is standard for DICE’s decades-old shooter series, is all about the destruction, while Rising Storm has the globe-hopping multiplayer maps and a smart cover system. But there’s another contender to the WW2 FPS throne, one that you may never have heard about. Released in 2020, it’s suddenly more popular on Steam than ever before.
This is Easy Red 2, a multiplayer and single-player WW2 FPS game which has remained largely under the radar since its release five years ago. Player reviews are glowing – of the more than 5,000 posted to Steam, 90% are positive – but the all-important concurrent user count has historically struggled to crest 500. At its peak in February, Easy Red 2 had 318 simultaneous players. But that’s all changed.
With a fresh DLC on the way as well as launches on the PlayStation 4 and PS5 incoming, Easy Red 2 has suddenly exploded on Steam. On Saturday March 22, it hit a new all-time player count record of 3,334. Since then, it’s been pulling in thousands of fans each day, possibly helped by the fact that it costs just $8.99 / £7.99.
You can play Easy Red 2 either solo or with pals. You pick a class, join a squad, and fight over control of small patches of territory, all scattered across an open map a la Hell Let Loose and Battlefield’s Conquest mode. Death is swift, and when you’re killed, you have to pick one of your CPU squadmates to take control over. You can use tanks and fighter planes, and all of the vehicles allow for multiple players with different roles.
Bullet and weapon physics are designed to be realistic and environments are fully destructible. All told, Easy Red 2 deserves more attention. If you want to check it out, head here.
Otherwise, try some of the best WW2 games, or maybe the best multiplayer games on PC right now.
You can follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides. We’ve also got a vibrant community Discord server, where you can chat about this story with members of the team and fellow readers.