Name: 46
Item: 46
Author: Retro Replay

46 gets its kick from taking the familiar WWII flight-sim framework into a strange late-war corner: prototype jets and rocket planes from Germany and the USSR facing off in fictional battles. If you already have the full IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles expansion chain installed, that change of aircraft gives every sortie a different kind of curiosity.

This is a specialist add-on, not a fresh starting point. Seventeen new aircraft, three campaigns spanning 40 missions, and extra solo and cooperative missions make it a worthwhile final stop for committed IL-2 pilots, while the formidable list of required expansions makes it hard to recommend to anyone beginning from scratch.

Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The first few sorties in 46 are compelling because you are not merely flying another familiar WWII type. The focus on early jets and rocket aircraft makes you want to sample the roster, from Soviet experiments such as the Bi-6 and Yak-15 to German machines including the Ar-234B, He-162 variants, Me-262HG-II, and Ta-183. It is an alternate-history detour built for the kind of flight-sim fan who enjoys comparing unusual airframes as much as completing missions.

There is meaningful volume here rather than a handful of novelty flights. Three campaigns contain 40 missions, and the package adds five single-player missions and five cooperative missions on top. That is enough material for the aircraft to feel like the point of an extended tour, not a menu of brief demonstrations. Cooperative missions are a particularly welcome reason to bring another established IL-2 pilot along.

The catch is immediate and severe: 46 is the final expansion for IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles, and it requires that base game along with Ace Expansion Pack, Pacific Fighters, Pe-2 Peshka, and Sturmoviks over Manchuria. If that entire installation is already your hangar, this is an enticing add-on. If it is not, the entry cost and setup burden can easily outweigh the appeal of the new aircraft.

Graphics

The new machines are the clearest visual attraction: the aircraft list ranges from compact rocket-powered Soviet prototypes to the distinctive German jet and reconnaissance designs. The expansion also adds 84 land objects, giving its fictional battle spaces more material on the ground than the older setup alone.

Story

Do not come to 46 expecting a character-driven war story. Its fiction is a scenario framework: Soviet and German pioneer jets and rocket planes are placed into battles that did not happen, letting the campaigns explore a speculative extension of the air war.

That premise is a better fit for aviation-history curiosity than for drama. The pleasure comes from the “what if?” of putting aircraft such as the MiG-9, Do-335V-13, and He-L-IIIB2 into missions, rather than from a claimed historical narrative.

The three campaigns give that alternate-history idea a longer runway. Forty missions can make the material feel more substantial than a one-off fantasy matchup, though its fictional nature means the central draw remains the aircraft and the sorties themselves.

Overall Experience

46 is the kind of expansion that rewards commitment. It takes an established WWII simulator and pushes it into a wonderfully odd experimental-aircraft chapter, where the joy is seeing how much interest can be wrung from designs that sit at the edge of the era.

Its biggest frustration has nothing to do with the missions: this add-on sits atop an exceptionally demanding stack of prior IL-2 releases. That makes it difficult to treat as a casual purchase, and it has little value as anyone’s first contact with the series.

For a veteran who already owns the required games, though, it is a strong final expansion: 17 aircraft, 40 campaign missions, and extra solo and cooperative content give the alternate-history concept enough depth to earn its place. Give it a chance if prototype jets and rocket planes are exactly the rabbit hole you want to fly down.