UPDATE 20240910
I decided to review my update, I think that this game is in a significantly better state than it was however long ago when I first posted this review. A lot of the issues with the game that existed have been fixed such as repair costs, ghost shells, etc. That being said I feel that there is some what of a bias toward Russian vehicles in this game that make playing top tier ground and air unfun. Its not to the point where the game is unplayable, but all aspect thrust vectoring Russian missiles flare really put a sour taste in my mouth considering that there are very few realistic counters to them. With the Chinese getting a significant boost to their line up, I only see this problem becoming more prevalent. That being said the fact that the devs put a fair effort into making the game better as a whole means that, in my opinion at least, the game is worth playing now

UPDATE (some time in 2023?)
steam asked me to revise my review after playing another 400 hours. this game still sucks, but is slightly better
tl;dr at the bottom

This game is probably one of the most unique vehicle combat simulator games on the market, but its problems far outweigh the positives of this game.

I've sunken nearly 1.5K hours into this game, grinded out 2 air tech trees and have reached a point where I just don't want to play the game. The developers fail to correct issues that have been in the game for years now, they fail to improve on community feedback, and continue to introduce new vehicles and features while the engine and the servers are barely able to withstand the stress.

Most of the issues in the game are entirely the fault of Gaijin, the game's developer and publisher. There is simply no will to improve the game because there is no direct competition to the game as well as the fact that they get a constant flow of money. I'm sure that Gaijin have generated hundreds of thousands if not MILLIONS of dollars annually by introducing sales and adding vehicles that are borderline broken with no in-game competition such as the harrier family of jets. They also depend on you getting frustrated and impulsively buying premium vehicles or mods to vehicles that you already own. The grind for parts and vehicles gets ridiculously high the closer you get to top tier where getting an aircraft can take months and parts that are literally critical (such as FPE and repairs) take 10s of matches to get.

If that wasn't bad enough basic features of the game fail to function frequently. Missile detection just fails at random times, hit registration can be incredibly broken for both planes and tanks (visible here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6H9SR6BvbA and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFuT_E-Ro4A as just two examples) both of which are still issues to this day.

This game also tends to punish you for progressing. an issue that has been consistent throughout War Thunder's lifespan is BR (or battle rating) compression in which you, a late WWII tank or aircraft, can face mid cold war tech, tanks, and aircraft. Anything from fin stabilized rounds that slice through your armor like a hot knife through butter to anti-aircraft missiles, which as I stated before, frequently are just not detected, to aircraft that outclass you in every regard to the point where it's literally just a turkey shoot.

If I had written this review two years ago, I would have highly recommended it, but its just not worth playing at this time.

tl;dr: if you like BDSM and sinking money into a parasitic toxic relationship, this is the game for you.

UPDATE 20240910 I decided to review my update, I think that this game is in a significantly better state than it was however long ago when I first posted this review. A lot of the issues with the game that existed have been fixed such as repair costs, ghost shells, etc. That being said I feel that there is some what of a bias toward Russian vehicles in this game that make playing top tier ground and air unfun. Its not to the point where the game is unplayable, but all aspect thrust vectoring Russian missiles flare really put a sour taste in my mouth considering that there are very few realistic counters to them. With the Chinese getting a significant boost to their line up, I only see this problem becoming more prevalent. That being said the fact that the devs put a fair effort into making the game better as a whole means that, in my opinion at least, the game is worth playing now UPDATE (some time in 2023?) steam asked me to revise my review after playing another 400 hours. this game still sucks, but is slightly better tl;dr at the bottom This game is probably one of the most unique vehicle combat simulator games on the market, but its problems far outweigh the positives of this game. I've sunken nearly 1.5K hours into this game, grinded out 2 air tech trees and have reached a point where I just don't want to play the game. The developers fail to correct issues that have been in the game for years now, they fail to improve on community feedback, and continue to introduce new vehicles and features while the engine and the servers are barely able to withstand the stress. Most of the issues in the game are entirely the fault of Gaijin, the game's developer and publisher. There is simply no will to improve the game because there is no direct competition to the game as well as the fact that they get a constant flow of money. I'm sure that Gaijin have generated hundreds of thousands if not [i]MILLIONS[/i] of dollars annually by introducing sales and adding vehicles that are borderline broken with no in-game competition such as the harrier family of jets. They also depend on you getting frustrated and impulsively buying premium vehicles or mods to vehicles that you already own. The grind for parts and vehicles gets ridiculously high the closer you get to top tier where getting an aircraft can take months and parts that are literally critical (such as FPE and repairs) take 10s of matches to get. If that wasn't bad enough basic features of the game fail to function frequently. Missile detection just fails at random times, hit registration can be incredibly broken for both planes and tanks (visible here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6H9SR6BvbA and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFuT_E-Ro4A as just two examples) both of which are still issues to this day. This game also tends to punish you for progressing. an issue that has been [b] consistent [/b] throughout War Thunder's lifespan is BR (or battle rating) compression in which you, a late WWII tank or aircraft, can face mid cold war tech, tanks, and aircraft. Anything from fin stabilized rounds that slice through your armor like a hot knife through butter to anti-aircraft missiles, which as I stated before, frequently are just not detected, to aircraft that outclass you in every regard to the point where it's literally just a turkey shoot. If I had written this review two years ago, I would have highly recommended it, but its just not worth playing at this time. tl;dr: if you like BDSM and sinking money into a parasitic toxic relationship, this is the game for you.