Gary Grigsby's War in the East 2
Gary Grigsby's War in the East 2
Game
Game2015
Gary Grigsby's War in the East
Developer 2by3 Games
Gary Grigsby's War in the East: The German-Soviet War 1941-1945 is a 2010 computer wargame developed by 2 by 3 Games and published by Matrix Games. It simulates the German–Soviet War of World War II. Two sequels were released: Gary Grigsby's War in the West in 2014 and Gary Grigsby's War in the East 2 in 2021. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
208 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy) · newest Sep 23, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
86
LovedLoved
159 positive · 25 negative
95% range 81–91%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 159 | 25 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 1 | 2 | 16 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 5 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
352 of 392 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
87% recommend · 164 yes, 25 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 189 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (527 of 586 positive).
Players widely praise the game's immense depth and historical accuracy. [1][2][3] Many note it is extremely complex and not for casual gamers. [1][4][5] Some reviewers complain about crashes and a high price. [6][7]
Liked
Representative posts
- [6]
Suddenly last update has killed the game which can no longer be safely saved, resulting in error message of crash because of unusual method of attempting to save the program. Worked fine for over 4050 hours of play, but no longer. Bummer. Reboot, reload have not fixed the problem. Beta on or off as well. No joy. With an additional 55 hours of play, sad to say there is still no joy because of the termination problem. …
- [1]
IMPORTANT - WARNING: This Game was developed for 100% dedicated WW2-Wargamers. It is a very complex Game, it's not "easy to learn - hard to master", it's more like "hard to learn, almost impossible to master". First, the Game looks like just-another-Hex-Turn-based-Strategy-Game. But this is a Trap, behind the Games very simple Graphics, there is the Engine which takes an extreme (!) Amount of Details. This Game is a …
- [4]
Definitely not a casual strategy game. No game is worth 80.00 if you cant try an in depth demo first. Watching gameplay also does not do it justice. However, If you can pick it up on sale or on the ((Forbidden Website)) I would highly recommend it. If you are looking for that step up for war gaming, this is it. I'm only 300 hours in and in the middle of my first full campaign, and its been an amazing experience so …
- [2]
What can I say ? Probably the most advanced strategy game ever. The attention to details is stunning. Every single vehicle and aircraft is modelled and rated including all division leaders and upwards. The game is easy to play but hard to master. Supply is working properly, raillines are your main routes. Panzers are your friends on open grounds. The enemy A.I is excellent and very hard to lure. The Air war is …
- [3]
unbelievably detailed and complex game. Great historical accuracy and far from easy to win but nevertheless keep playing it. God knows how Germans got as far as they did in real life. Having said that of course they did loose badly.
Summarised from 34 of the 214 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Players who liked Gary Grigsby's War in the East talk about unmatched depth and realism in Eastern Front simulation; those who didn't talk about very steep learning curve. Which matters more to you?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Eurogamer called the game system elegant, the game monumental, incredibly well researched, and astonishingly easy to start playing. It was also noted as an instant classic. Wargamer concluded: "[...] this product is the definitive game for the Eastern Front. Serious gamers should save their money and get it." Quarter to Three called it the most importance wargame since Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord (2000) GameShark called it "a good, very detailed example of the classic hex-based operational wargame." Muropaketti [fi] called War in the East video game history's most magnificent, comprehensive and enjoyable depiction of the German-Soviet war. They said the game has a better scenario…
From the “Critical reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 208 · most liked firstIMPORTANT - WARNING: This Game was developed for 100% dedicated WW2-Wargamers. It is a very complex Game, it's not "easy to learn - hard to master", it's more like "hard to learn, almost impossible to master". First, the Game looks like just-another-Hex-Turn-based-Strategy-Game. But this is a Trap, behind the Games very simple Graphics, there is the Engine which takes an extreme (!) Amount of Details. This Game is a Game for Veterans, which already understand the Importance of Supplies &…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →That thread saying like 'oh doublefine could swing 120 dollar games that would help them" is so fucking nutty like they're releasing Gary Grigsby's War in the East or something
neutral · AI labelView post →Suddenly last update has killed the game which can no longer be safely saved, resulting in error message of crash because of unusual method of attempting to save the program. Worked fine for over 4050 hours of play, but no longer. Bummer. Reboot, reload have not fixed the problem. Beta on or off as well. No joy. With an additional 55 hours of play, sad to say there is still no joy because of the termination problem. I have tried saves before ending turn but the result sometimes works,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A quick "is this game for you?" test. There are a couple of hundred divisions on the German side alone, more on the Soviet side. Do you fancy micromanaging every. single. one. of them, down to which support weapons they have? How about being able to determine the bomb load for every. single. squadron. of planes that can carry them? Does the idea of a game where one guide on how to do a divisional attack gets to about page eighty - I'll say that again, page eighty and those aren't Ladybird…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Why yes, I have mental illness, why would you ask?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The most complex game and it's scale is gigantic.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Definitely not a casual strategy game. No game is worth 80.00 if you cant try an in depth demo first. Watching gameplay also does not do it justice. However, If you can pick it up on sale or on the ((Forbidden Website)) I would highly recommend it. If you are looking for that step up for war gaming, this is it. I'm only 300 hours in and in the middle of my first full campaign, and its been an amazing experience so far. Once you sink some time into reading the manual, the surface of the game…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is for serious 'grognards' only - those who delight in researching and recreating the hundreds of battles in WW2. This is needlessly complex to allow the player to squad out generals, set the various plane squadrons to either bombing or air defense, you must maintain chain of supply to headquarter units which gets tedious real fast. I grew up playing the board games this is based off of (Victory Games like Pacific War, 6th Fleet, Avalon Hill's Squad Leader, etc.). I can beat Panzer General…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This in general doesn't mean 'charge less to make more' cause like... look at those train games or Gary Grigsby's War in the East. "over" charging to a smaller audience is sometimes the better play IF that audience exists.
neutral · AI labelView post →I'm in a Facebook group for Gary Grigsby's War in the East 2 and let me tell you, the memes get pretty dank
neutral · AI labelView post →Listen up children, Gary Grigsby is a demi-god of the war gaming universe. He has been making war games for a very long time. I remember playing "Second Front" on my IBM 8086 and later "War in Russia" on a lightning fast 286 computer. Then, there was "Pacific War". Its all about the supplies...Good times. War in the East is yet another great game. Thank you Gary. It has been a pleasure gaming with you (indirectly) for the last thirty years!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is without a doubt the most entertaining wargame I have ever played in the past 40 years. Why? I believe the reason is fairly simple: For all the density and complexity of the game rules package that stretches the envelope for maximum realism, it still allows an extraordinary, probably unmatched, amount of operational freedom on how to conduct Axis or Soviet command for the whole duration of the respective campaigns. The direct consequence is a quite unexpected ability to replay this game…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game is definitely not worth the current $80.00 price tag, but with that being said, War in the East is probably the best WW2 strategy game on the market. Try to get it on sale if you can. If the price isn't an issue for you and these types of games are your thing, you most definitely will not regret it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very in depth and realistic game, but crashes all the time. It is also way to expensive, this game is 10 years old, make it 15$.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Upon it's release 11 years ago, it was truly something special given its complete database of units and weapons on such a grand scale and perhaps, like WITE2, one could justify its cost then, especially to the grognards. This game is great to recreate the conflict but not if you want to try alternatives. What I dislike about this game is the inability to allow some good 'what if' situations/scenarios plus the Editor is absolutely awful. However, I get it - realism. Anyway, it's good for a while…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I hate this game so much that if I had one wish it would be to eradicate Gary himself. I'm coming for you
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For anyone out there is the closest video games have got to SSSI games. This is a gamers; game....not you teenagers spank bank type of game. You will unfortunately need a brain to play, and patience to master all the levels of complexity, but fear not it is understandable and can become ultimately very satisfying to beat your foe. You can play against the AI, or over email against another human (preferably also with grey matter). You can set multiple aspect to the game at the start to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Can only repeat what others have said: if you are looking at this game, you already know that you need it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What can I say ? Probably the most advanced strategy game ever. The attention to details is stunning. Every single vehicle and aircraft is modelled and rated including all division leaders and upwards. The game is easy to play but hard to master. Supply is working properly, raillines are your main routes. Panzers are your friends on open grounds. The enemy A.I is excellent and very hard to lure. The Air war is abstract and somewhat hard to understand. The manual are huge and almost on 300…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is more a neutral review: I played a lot of Gary Grigsby's War Between The States back then and that game still holds up today but i can't understand the "HYPE" of WitE. Yes you have a super detailed front and information of your units but what does it count if nearly every unit has the "same" equipment (example: the Inf. Divs of the Heeresgruppe Mitte or the LW Feld Divs of the Heeresgruppe Nord) and you can´t for example order some tactic attacks or define the unit formation during an…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Massive, kolossal ! Covers in great details the whole German-Soviet war 41-45. WITE is THE eastern front wargame you should have if you like (very) complex and profound games. It's simply the best Eastern Front wargame ever made (waiting for WITE2 soon now ... ). It's getting old but it's always great in 2020 (thanks also to nice map mods developed by the community). Don't hesitate but be aware: it's not arcade game ! For grognards. See you in Moscow for Christmas ! :-)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What a shame this review is thumbs down because I can see the developer has put a lot of work into it. Unfortunately, it just isn’t what I anticipated. I’ll start with what I liked. I think, while the game is complex, as someone who plays a lot of strategy games, the basics of the game were fairly easy to pick up, which is good. That said, there wasn’t a tutorial so if this is your first strategy game I’d stay clear. The map was pleasant enough to look at, although there are some design…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It must be a good game since my dad has been playing it for almost 1000 hours
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →DO NOT purchase until they fix the Runtime Error occurring with Windows 10. Also known for a notorious "memory leak" affecting a lot of players which slows the game down until it is unplayable. With all resources focused on WITE2, there is no desire or incentive by the developers to get both these issues fixed. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I grew up with these games. SSI, AH, all of GG's titles for the computer. My favorite was War in Russia...I bought this one a few years ago and was overwhelmed from the start, 100's of pages of manual and then re-writes of the manual from patches, then multiple patch paths... I'm 55 now, and probably don't have the patience for this but I wish I did..Everything looks awesome!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →THE wargame. Just look at hours played.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →unbelievably detailed and complex game. Great historical accuracy and far from easy to win but nevertheless keep playing it. God knows how Germans got as far as they did in real life. Having said that of course they did loose badly.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For when HOI3 doesn't give you enough headaches. 9 hours in and i'm starting to grasp the basics. Easy enough to get into. You click on cubes and right-click on other cubes to attack. The complicated nature of the game lies within the enormous amount of information you are presented with. Within a scale of the entire eastern front the divisions are simulated to the individual handgrenades and sidearm that is carried. This isn't like HOI, you dont produce anything yourself, you are just given…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game requires "long term" thought processes. Must link local short moves to strategic goals. Must accept losses and setbacks as long as reasonable progress to intermediate objectives is accomplished. Use of terrain to augment shortages in troop strength is critical. I have only won one time in over a hundred attempts. As you learn to manipulate production, refitting of units and supply levels you can influence outcomes. It is a strategic game but you must have knowledge of capabilities of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wait, I've been learning Gary Grigsby's War In the East 2 to meet chicks, have I been doing all of this for nothing?????
neutral · AI labelView post →I was playing M&B and RDR, and I was like "This is fun, I should find more games with good horse/riding systems" so I clicked the "Horses" tag. I've learned the level of horse detail required for a wargame/western is like Risk, but for a horse girl cozy game it's like Gary Grigsby's War in the East.
neutral · AI labelView post →How can I recommend it when I only played one game? It only took 270 hrs to finish it, though. On my first (and only) game I won by Decisive Victory, but maaan... I had some close calls. Like when after taking Moscow and the dreaded mud came, I was almost surrounded in it and to the East of it. It took 4-5 months to fight off the near encirclement (that came from the North). In any case, I won in Aug 1942 after some extremely aggressive moves on my part when I had my Panzers surrounded for a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Can't run the 1941-45 campaign without constant runtime errors, can't save progress or go to turn 2. Saving after moving even just a few units on the map crashes the game too. No fixes I have found online have worked and no fixes I have theorised have worked either. I think its a great game but ensure you can actually go to the next turn before playing too much, otherwise it seems to have some issues.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The BEAST in the EAST! Not for the faint of heart and unequivocally THE definitive simulation/wargame depicting Operation Barbarossa. WITE2 is on the way and I can only imagine it will expound upon to this phenomenal opus. The original (at a discounted price) is a steal, even at full price it represents 1000's of hours of challenging, engrossing game play. Regardless of the upcoming sequel, this one belongs in every all time classic lists of WWII gaming.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →From the outset a potential player needs to be clear about one thing- this is a game for hardcore Eastern Front wargamers and is not a suitable purchase for casual players. The game system is fairly straightforward and not too difficult to get to grips with but the sheer amount of detail involved requires a large investment of time and effort - it is not unusual to take 30-40 minutes to make all your moves for a turn. The game also covers the whole of the war on the Eastern front from 1942-45…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is the definitive WW2 Eastern Front gaming experience. It is a masterclass with unsurpassed depth and realism. For those who are interested in military history this will be right up your alley. Honestly any game where a single turn takes anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour is worth a look. It occupies a niche to be sure but it is the pinnacle of classical hexagonal warfare. Honestly you pass this one up, you are missing an unbridled gem.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"Certainly the most important wargame to come out in the ten past years" -Quarter to Three Could not agree more, and would like to make it the most important in the last 20 years.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The best wargame ever made about the worst war ever fought.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I urge those curious about the style of game to give it a go! It was fairly easy to get enjoyment out of the game and pickup enough of the basics. There is extreme depth and complexity there when you're ready, keeping the strategy interesting as you develop. As someone who has played a lot of the Paradox games and wanted to give a hex style, battle level sim a shot - I cannot recommend it more highly.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have really enjoyed this game.It really gives the player a feel for Divisional and Corp level operations with encirclement and supply using historical units and Leaders.The only downfall of the game is every river is fordable anywhere on the map by just deducting movement points.We all know how important roads and heavy bridges are for moving Armored and motorized units.The game does well at just about everything else though.A revised map with more terrain restrictions would really improve…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was watching an online tutorial on how to understand and play War in the East and I have to say that I agree with the online assessment that the complexity of this game is less inhibiting than it appears. The AI functions are very good in regard to the air campaign for example, while the default settings for the game settings/user preference are excellent. One surprise for me was the number of scenarios- there are a lot and they keep the game interesting.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →10 video games to get to know me!! 💖 Wizardry 1-3 Wizardry 4 Wizardry 8 Hearts of Iron 3: Black Ice Mod Gary Grigsby's War in the East Pool of Radiance Legend of Grimrock 2 Half life 1 Half life 2 Serious Sam I swear I am not old, I just love grognard WW2 simulation games and old school RPGs
neutral · AI labelView post →This is possibly the best detailed wargame I've ever played (and I've been playing computer wargames since the 1980s). From issues of supply to airpower to actual encirclements, Gary Grigsby has pulled off something special here. It's a wargame that doesn't feel like a puzzle that, once you crack it, you've done it. This is a proper wargame. If you don't master supply, you will fail. If you don't master the art of pulling off encirclements, you fill fail. It's brilliant and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you like hundreds of pages of manuals and hundreds of hours of YouTube just to get a basic idea of what the hell you're supposed to do...THIS GAME IS FOR YOU! I absolutely love it; and you will grow to love it as well! Ost Ost Ost
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i would love to give this a up-vote but the fact i payed this much for a game i cant even play or refund kills me i cant access half the in-game screen because the games window wont open wide enough so if i open air operations i have the close the game,they said the game would work on windows 10 and it looks like they didn't test it before they said that. Please add a fullscreen so i can give a positive review
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Avoid this game if you play on a laptop as there is no way to increase the size of the UI or zoom in sufficiently to see the units well enough. The tutorial buttons no longer function so good luck figuring out what the order of battle is or even what the individual units do. I really wanted to enjoy this game as I grew up with tabletop wargames, but this one was just not user friendly and I didn't want to wade through the rulebook. Seems like the developer has simply dropped all support for…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You know, I really like the game. It's fun and complex. However, my main issue with it is that it crashes after almost every single turn. Sometimes the autosave manages to save your moves before it crashes and other times it does not. The game also does not remember your settings so you get blasted by the in game music every time you boot the game up. Steam says this game was released on 12/7/10 - it is a real shame that this game has not managed to get hardly any crashes or bugs fixed in the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is one of my favorite ww2 strategy games I've played. Excited for WitE2
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Disclaimer: This game can be found for less than $80 on multiple sites like GOG.com, or is frequently on sale here. However, the game is worth $80 dollars. Despite the inherent complexity of a game that simulates every rifle on the largest front of all time, the player does not have to interact with the minutiae of these mechanics, and can only move their divisions around. Much more fun with a friend to play with, but the AI is definitely competent
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I mean, I don't think that Steam sells any physical media either. Granted, Steam isn't the only place to buy PC games, but I went looking in an earlier thread that was talking about the PS5 physical disc shutdown. I could think of one retailer, Matrix Games --- they specialize in milsims --- that still sold physical media. It looks like they shut that down last year, had a "last call" for orders for games on physical media.…
neutral · AI labelView post →"I hate playing games." Buckle up for the relationship equivalent of *Gary Grigsby's War in the East 2*.
neutral · AI labelView post →As an avid Eastern Front historian this game gives you a level of detail that is unsurpassed.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am about a month into learning the game, and I am very pleased with it so far. I say learning not because it is difficult to play, but because it is deep, and you can play it as deep as you choose. You can knock out a scenario in a half hour, or you can dwell in it for as many hours as you want. That's the genius of the game: it plays at the level you want to play it. It does have a learning curve to get even the basics down (you will definitely want to get to know the hotkeys) but it is not…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →1000 years ago I played SPI's War in Europe. This is what that game wanted to be, and you don't need an entire basement to play it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →WitE is a complex game without a lot of flashy graphics and animation. People who aren't ardent wargamers won't find this game particularly easy to play. For those who do prefer a game with proper historical perspective and essential elements of WWII warfare - this is the game for you. I wish the game could be expanded to include other WWII theaters of conflict - particularly North Africa.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the best turn based strategy games of any time period.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After all, I decided to not recommend that game. My biggest problem with it - it's not rewarding in gameplay sence. You can spend an hour for one turn. What you get in the end? Same video footage and some statistics. No achievements, no analysis, just 'major axis victory' and this is frustrating. It's also a bit pricey.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This could be an ultimate WW2 - East front war game, but I lost my patience with constant crashes on save/autosave (runtime error). Looking at the official forum (on matrixgames and here on Steam) I'm not alone, and this is an old bug. One of community-suggested workarounds involves renaming (removing) sound folder, but I'm really not interested in playing this game with no sounds. This problem should have been tracked down and fixed. I'm eager to re-review it if/when this bug gets fixed, but…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Love this game, keeps me busy on boring days.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great strategy game. If you have ever played the old SSI and Avalon Hill games, then this is one you must have in your library.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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