War Thunder's Naval Battles Go Into Open Beta

If you've been waiting for your chance to play with ships in War Thunder, your time has finally arrived! The closed beta is over, and the open beta has begun, so anyone can try out Naval Battles in War Thunder in the new Update 1.83: Masters of the Sea.

You can read about the update on the website if you want, for such gems as "over German, Soviet and American vessels join the game" and "Increased detalization," but for English speakers, you're probably better off going with the voiceover on the video. Naval Forces are now available for all players for three nations, with British ships added to a new closed beta. As you'll recall, unlike World of Warships, which focuses on larger ships such as battleships and aircraft carriers, War Thunder's Naval Battles go the smaller route, with destroyers and light cruisers at the top end of the chain and tiny gunboats at the bottom.

Update 1.83 also takes aim at new air vehicles, including the first German helicopters, and there are also about a dozen new tanks and airplanes. Finally, Xbox One players can now get into War Thunder without an Early Release pack and can play the game for free -- provided they have an Xbox Live Gold account, of course.