IL-2 Korea, need urgently improvements in visual effects!

[atomsic]

After several hours with IL-2 Korea, I'm honestly disappointed.

The flight model is solid, but the visuals are a huge letdown for a 2026 release. I compared it directly with War Thunder, and WT simply looks much better. The terrain, lighting, clouds, explosions, smoke, and overall visual effects all feel outdated.

The biggest disappointment is the lack of satisfying combat effects. Gunfire has very little visual impact, bullet strikes are underwhelming, and the explosions don't provide the sense of power or immersion I expected.

I also own IL-2 Great Battles, and visually IL-2 Korea feels almost like the same game. I expected a noticeable graphical upgrade, but I struggle to see where the $80 went.

For an $80 title, I expected a significant leap over previous IL-2 games not graphics that already look behind the competition.

If visuals and immersion matter to you, War Thunder currently delivers a much better experience. I really wanted to like IL-2 Korea, but for me, the $80 feels wasted.

If the game releases in its current state, I have a feeling the reviews won't be very positive. I'll still check out DCS World, although it's not really a fair comparison. But compared to War Thunder, I'm very disappointed. I don't have many complaints about the flight model, but the graphics and visual effects are a huge disappointment for me.

[robzerg]

The combat effects are one of the areas I'm particularly happy with IL-2 Korea - the explosions, tracers, smoke, fire and hits all look great to me! The landscape however... 

[Aparikk]

On 6/26/2026 at 7:19 AM, atomsic said:

After several hours with IL-2 Korea, I'm honestly disappointed.

The flight model is solid, but the visuals are a huge letdown for a 2026 release. I compared it directly with War Thunder, and WT simply looks much better. The terrain, lighting, clouds, explosions, smoke, and overall visual effects all feel outdated.

The biggest disappointment is the lack of satisfying combat effects. Gunfire has very little visual impact, bullet strikes are underwhelming, and the explosions don't provide the sense of power or immersion I expected.

I also own IL-2 Great Battles, and visually IL-2 Korea feels almost like the same game. I expected a noticeable graphical upgrade, but I struggle to see where the $80 went.

For an $80 title, I expected a significant leap over previous IL-2 games not graphics that already look behind the competition.

If visuals and immersion matter to you, War Thunder currently delivers a much better experience. I really wanted to like IL-2 Korea, but for me, the $80 feels wasted.

If the game releases in its current state, I have a feeling the reviews won't be very positive. I'll still check out DCS World, although it's not really a fair comparison. But compared to War Thunder, I'm very disappointed. I don't have many complaints about the flight model, but the graphics and visual effects are a huge disappointment for me.

Isn’t war thunder a tad overtuned when it comes to “boom, pew, explosions”? I think the effects look absolutely amazing. One thing that looks kinda off imo is the flames when your plane catches fire. But that’s also only when you look at that with the external cam.

[tikijoetots37]

I've got a lot of Wishlist for improvements so far, but I respectively disagree. I think the SFX in Korea is fantastic. Guns felt punchy, sound great and explosions look awesome without being Action movie unrealistic. I do agree, bullet impacts on the ground and some more effects on bullet impacts on objects would go a long way. Subjective, but I think War thunder looks terrible and cartoony in comparison. 

[Elf]

Dear devs team,

I've decided to duplicate my post along with Russian-speaking community page.

Please consider the possibility to enhance rear view mirror reflections, cause right now they're completely the same as in GreatBattles. I believe this must be improved for modern aircombat sim in 2026...

The pic is attached for your convenience (max details of reflection settings is enabled)

 

[Husar]

On 6/26/2026 at 12:36 PM, robzerg said:

The combat effects are one of the areas I'm particularly happy with IL-2 Korea - the explosions, tracers, smoke, fire and hits all look great to me! The landscape however... 

The combat effects (dust and smoke) are essentially use same technoloy and small variety of appearance since Rise of flight - 2009 They are very outdated and doesn't look good.

Edited June 30 by Husar

[Husar]

On 6/27/2026 at 2:53 PM, tikijoetots37 said:

I've got a lot of Wishlist for improvements so far, but I respectively disagree. I think the SFX in Korea is fantastic. Guns felt punchy, sound great and explosions look awesome without being Action movie unrealistic. I do agree, bullet impacts on the ground and some more effects on bullet impacts on objects would go a long way. Subjective, but I think War thunder looks terrible and cartoony in comparison. 

Explosion might look good but smoke and dust look outdated since they almost the same since 2009. 

[robzerg]

I take back some of my earlier comments re. landscape - after some tweaking I've got the landscape looking pretty nice in VR... cities and town slowdown notwithstanding. Overall though the graphics are generally a good improvement over GB. I particularly like the shine and lighting effects on aircraft, and find spotting and identifying easier in Korea than GB as a result.

 

[Husar]

19 minutes ago, robzerg said:

I take back some of my earlier comments re. landscape - after some tweaking I've got the landscape looking pretty nice in VR... cities and town slowdown notwithstanding. Overall though the graphics are generally a good improvement over GB. I particularly like the shine and lighting effects on aircraft, and find spotting and identifying easier in Korea than GB as a result.

 

IMHO The game has a problem (independent of a graphic settings) with texture lod and streaming objects. Game world engine was designed for WW1 and it's evolution throw GB and now Korea, yet not  address issues / limits which was hiden for a WW1 airplane user - rendering from high altitude and fast moving planes. 

Edited June 30 by Husar

[kranovchik]

8 часов назад, Husar сказал:

The combat effects (dust and smoke) are essentially use same technoloy and small variety of appearance since Rise of flight - 2009 They are very outdated and doesn't look good.

Да . Мне особенно не нравится зеленоватый дым ( утечка топлива ) . В Flying Circus это сделано намного лучше .