Enlisted is free to play from Gaijin, but it costs $20 to get into the "early access" version on Steam.
Gaijin announced in January that its 100-player WW2 shooter Enlisted would be coming to Steam as Enlisted: Reinforced, an updated version of the standalone game that went into open beta in 2021. The early access Steam release finally happened on March 28—and later that same day, sales were halted due to a mix of technical problems and player dissatisfaction.
Enlisted: Reinforced is essentially identical to the standalone version available through Gaijin’s launcher, but access to it is restricted to players who purchase an “early access pack,” which includes various sorts of premium game content.
This apparently caught some players by surprise, either because they didn’t realize it was available free from Gaijin, or because they expected a different, more enhanced version of the game than what they got. Others complained that the premium items offered in the access packs on Steam are actually cheaper when purchased through the Gaijin launcher, although Gaijin said the contents and pricing of the content packs are the same.
An even bigger issue is that some players have been unable to link their existing Gaijin accounts to the Steam edition. That’s left dedicated players who want to use Steam to access the game cut off from their existing progress, and the more advanced weaponry and vehicles they’ve previously earned or purchased.
The mess sparked an influx of negative reviews, although it’s not a complete catastrophe: Enlisted: Reinforced is currently sitting with a “mixed” user rating, with 56% positive user reviews. Still, the blowback was strong enough that Gaijin apologized for the mess and halted sales of Enlisted: Reinforced the same day it went live. Anyone who purchased the Steam version of the game can continue playing it, while developers “assess what we can do to address the issues raised.”
It may take some time to sort out. Gaijin didn’t provide any sort of time frame for a fix or return to Steam but described the account linking issue as “a significant technical obstacle” that occurs when players link their Steam accounts to other Gaijin games—the popular military MMO War Thunder is also available on Steam—with a different email address than the one they used for Enlisted: Reinforced. “This completely breaks our linking procedure,” Gaijin said.
There’s no mention of refunds in the update, but in response to negative user reviews a Gaijin developer said players can obtain refunds through the regular Steam procedure.
Despite the trouble, Gaijin moved ahead with an Enlisted: Reinforced April Fool’s joke about “elite squads” whose performance is enhanced by the use of chemical “motivators.” The use of stimulants to keep soldiers in the fight was relatively common during the Second World War and I was almost fooled as I quickly scanned through the update, until I got to this final image, purportedly taken from historical databases:
(Image credit: Gaijin Games)
The Steam launch definitely hasn’t gone well, but the April Fool’s effort? Yeah, that’s not bad.
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