The developer of popular war game War Thunder, Gaijin Entertainment, has announced that the first test for naval combat is going live and will last until the end of the weekend. The ships to be added are all from the beginning of the eighteenth century.
This obviously doesn't fit the Second World War War Thunder style, and Gaijin are famous for going above and beyond with their April Fools pranks; these 18th century ships are actually included and are playable now. Currently, there is only one ship in the game, the legendary British 'Royal Hind' galleon, but more ships from the Royal Navy and other nations are apparently to be added later.
"It's been a very interesting and challenging task to recreate historic battles of the most powerful sailing nations. We started working on it last year, adding interactive water, and then a few days ago we added interactive weather conditions, which are very important for realistic sailing conditions," said Gaijin CEO Anton Yudintsev. "The weather can change from complete calm to raging storm."
There are plans for a full naval mode to be added to War Thunder eventually, with Second World War ships no doubt in the works, but fans who are waiting patiently for this to be added can for now satisfied by this fun April fool's mode. You can read more about it over on the War Thunder website here.