The ‘Commander’s Edition’ subtitle makes it clear that this WWII tank shooter is an expanded version of an older game, similar to how complete editions often re-release on newer formats with obligatory upgrades. While playing Panzer Knights’ tutorial, I found myself trying to guess its original release year and platform. The flat, occasionally smudgy textures, sparse environmental effects, and conspicuous pop-up had me pegging it as a PS3 — or possibly PS Vita — curio from around 2013. Imagine my surprise, then, to discover it debuted on PC in 2021.
That may be a damning way to open a review, but the visual shortcomings aren’t merely cosmetic. Enemy tanks on the horizon regularly pop in and out of view, directly affecting moment-to-moment play. I initially wondered whether this was tied to a visibility stat — something that can be improved incrementally for each tank — until bushes and trees started vanishing too. The presentation is further undermined by a cluttered, unintuitive menu screen clearly designed with a mouse in mind. It makes forming a load-out needlessly awkward and does a poor job of highlighting important features, such as upgrading your anime-style crew’s skills.
The tutorial explains the basics well, but still a learning curve remains. The starting tanks are weak, forcing a more cautious approach while you get to grips with cover, formations, ammo types, and crew perks. Those crewmates are represented by anime-style portraits and converse in Japanese, meaning low-ammo warnings and other alerts are easily missed unless you keep one eye on the subtitles or are fluent with the language. An English dub would likely have undermined the ‘dainty anime girls in WWII’ hook the developer was aiming for, so the choice is at least understandable.
For something billed as a tactical tank battler, a little added complexity was to be expected. Less welcome is the early difficulty spike, with one mission tasking you with protecting allied tanks whose survival feels largely out of your hands. By the time you trundle onto the scene, the battle is already underway, leaving plenty of room for things to go wrong before you can intervene and draw away fire. This mission took close to two hours to beat, compared to the 30 minutes most require. There’s also a complete absence of checkpoints, so failing a late objective means returning to square one and repeating every previously completed task.
Mechanically, at least, Panzer Knights fares considerably better. Despite its PC origins, its depth feels well suited to consoles – plenty of explosions and not too technical. There’s a long list of tanks to unlock, each with markedly different stats — one even has a turret that cannot be rotated — while crewmates can improve reload times, turret turning, movement speed, and more. Tanks have exploitable weak points, including turrets, treads, and hulls, and the same rules apply to you: once your treads are destroyed, you’re reduced to ‘sitting duck’ status. Smoke screens buy time to repair and regroup, while heavier enemies require piercing ammo, with a useful indicator showing whether your shot breached the hull. Most enemy units take two or three hits to destroy, with reload times hovering around five seconds. Allied tanks are also capable enough to make a genuine contribution — right up until they explode mid-mission, leaving you to carry the fight alone.
It’s also possible to request artillery support, which is capable of wiping out several enemy tanks at once if they’re clustered together. A helpful top-down map highlights enemy positions, making it easier to scout ahead and find objectives. During the lengthier missions — the last few edge closer to an hour apiece — you may also need to call in an ammo restock, likewise delivered by air support.
Mission objectives, however, rarely stray far from a familiar template. More often than not, you roll across the countryside and into a village to destroy every enemy unit present or capture a zone, before moving on and repeating the process with only minor variations, such as dealing with reinforcements. Escort missions are usually relegated to optional secondary objectives, while defensive missions — preventing enemies from crossing a bridge, for instance — are equally rare. Opposition is limited to tanks and stationary turrets; ground troops are somehow absent entirely. Even with destructible buildings – one of the cooler features – there are no missions built around razing enemy bases, which feels like a missed opportunity.
The later missions are more involving — one has you clearing out more than 30 enemies across a snow-covered countryside — and the absence of checkpoints lends them a reasonable amount of tension. New concepts never come into play, however. Instead, the late game challenges come from larger maps, higher enemy counts, and not much else.
My first couple of hours with Panzer Knights were spent wrestling not only with the menus and the aforementioned difficulty spike, but also contending with pop-up, slowly edging backwards and forwards to coax enemy units into view. Then, just before the halfway point, I used all my medals (read: cold hard cash) to purchase a sturdy tank and fully upgrade all five crew members, before sticking with that load-out for the remaining 4-5 hours. I was able to take enemies head-on and rely on cover far less often, completing most missions on the first attempt. On that note, there are no difficulty settings – if you hit a spike as I did, your only choice is to grind it out.
Panzer Knights: Commander’s Edition is a focused experience that’s never entirely brainless, but at the same time suffers from a lack of variety, sticking to an increasingly predictable formula. As noted in the opening paragraph, it was surprising to learn that this is a five-year-old PC game making its way to PS5 and Xbox Series for the first time, as it feels far older — closer to an HD re-release from the PS3/Xbox 360 era. It is not just behind the curve visually, but limited in scope too, with every countryside set mission revolving around slow, calculated shots that gradually whittle down enemy forces. It will only really satisfy players seeking a slower, more methodical trundle across occupied Europe who are willing to overlook a few rough edges.
Joy Brick’s Panzer Knights: Commander’s Edition is out now on PS5 and Xbox Series. Published by PQube.