Korea. IL-2 Series – 对 Daniil Tuseev 的访谈

Korea. IL-2 Series, the latest instalment in the beloved flight simulator series, released in August 2026 to a very positive welcome from the community and critics alike.

Since then, the developers have been hard at work, focusing on the future of the series, but we managed to grab a quick chat with Daniil Tuseev, producer of the IL-2 series, and ask him several questions regarding Korea. IL-2 Series, its approach to narrative and game design, and the studio’s plans going forward.

Gamespace: Hello, we’re happy to have this chat with you! Please introduce yourself and tell us about your role in developing Korea. IL-2 Series.

Daniil Tuseev: Good afternoon, nice to meet you! I’m Daniil Tuseev, producer of the IL-2 series. I’m responsible for the development of technologies, content, and ultimately games in the IL-2 series. Together with the department leads, I come up with ideas for future projects, new technologies and approaches, and then handle the high-level organization of their production.

I have also been quite actively involved in the core game design of our projects and done some hands-on work myself, because a manager who never does any hands-on work themselves and does not understand the context in which their team works is bound to make mistakes when making decisions.

Gamespace: With Korea, the IL-2 series has left the airspace of World War II for the first time. Can you tell us why you decided on the Korean War as the new installment? Did you consider other conflicts?

Daniil Tuseev: Of course, before choosing a subject for development, we considered several options. Some of them were genuinely interesting. In the end, though, we chose Korea. It is a period in history when piston and jet aircraft met and the era of nuclear confrontation began. It was during this period that the military conflict marking the beginning of the Cold War broke out: it is this conflict, rather than the Fulton speech as is often assumed, that should be considered the starting point of the Cold War. The world’s best piston fighters met the first jet combat aircraft in the skies. All of this was complemented by the extensive use of carrier aviation, vast and picturesque landscapes, and a long and eventful history of confrontation. That is why we chose Korea.

Gamespace: The game gives players a chance to witness the collision between late-stage piston aircraft and first-gen jets. Were there any challenges in implementing such contrasting aircraft types?

Daniil Tuseev: Yes, choosing a subject for development is actually a difficult task. There are many differences between jet and piston aircraft, and they affect numerous aspects of the game. Fighting a piston aircraft in a jet and fighting a jet in a piston aircraft are fundamentally different challenges.

Flying jets requires a particular approach to planning the flight altitude profile to and from the target, which became a key factor in combat missions in Korea. Takeoff and landing in jets also differ greatly from takeoff and landing in piston aircraft. And there are many other differences as well.

Aircraft audio systems were upgraded, interaction with airfields was improved, and many other changes were made. All of this was necessary to adapt to the new conditions and requirements of jet aviation.

Gamespace: How did the shift to high jet speeds impact air combat dynamics and map design?

Daniil Tuseev: Air combat in piston fighters takes place at lower speeds than in jets. In piston-aircraft combat, high g-loads occur only intermittently, most often during demanding maneuvers. These fights also tend to take place at low altitude.

Jet fighters engage at significantly higher speeds, which means pilots spend longer periods under high g-loads. A pilot has to not only fly and maneuver the aircraft, but also keep track of their own condition in order to preserve enough stamina for the decisive moment. In jet combat, pilots often find themselves on the verge of losing consciousness after prolonged periods of strain.

Jet aircraft can accelerate to very high speeds in a dive, sometimes approaching the speed of sound. This introduces compressibility effects such as high-speed buffeting, aileron reversal, and loss of rudder effectiveness. All of these factors create additional challenges for pilots.

As for the impact of speed on map design, it is probably minimal. However, we paid particular attention to the implementation of paved airfields in order to achieve the highest possible level of visual and physical realism during the most demanding phases of flight—takeoff and landing.

Gamespace: In Korea. IL-2 Series, for the first time you can leave the cockpit and walk around. How did you come up with this idea?

Daniil Tuseev: The idea came from another concept. We are planning to add a feature that will allow players, after receiving a briefing from their commander in a tent, to get into a jeep and drive to their aircraft at its parking stand. There, they will get out of the jeep, climb into the aircraft, and begin the mission. I hope we will be able to implement this idea someday. This is why we added the ability to get out of and enter the aircraft.

This feature also gave players a new way to look at the game world and see just how much attention we have paid to detail, not only in the aircraft themselves but also in the surrounding landscape. It also helps players better appreciate the scale of their aircraft and perceive it as a real object from the perspective of an outside observer.

Gamespace: Which graphics-related technologies are you most proud of (clouds, destructibility, terrain detail, etc.)?

Daniil Tuseev: The list of graphics technologies used in Korea is impressive, and it is difficult to single out just one. These include: DirectX 12; PBR texturing; ray tracing for atmospheric lighting, reflections, indirect lighting, and rendering underwater objects; OpenXR; DLSS; FSR; TXAA; DLAA; linear lighting; Lux Color grade; shadows cast by mountains and hills; city lighting; new weather effects; a new visual effects system; improved rendering of water surfaces and ship movement, as well as a new system for rendering cities and airfields that takes surface irregularities into account. And this is only part of the list of notable technologies implemented in Korea.

It is important to understand that the beauty of Korea is the result of all these technologies working together, along with a completely new approach to the project’s art direction.

Gamespace: Was it challenging to implement full VR support for such a demanding simulator?

Daniil Tuseev: It is a difficult task, especially now that VR devices have reached 8K resolutions. The main challenge is optimization. New graphics technologies require more computing power, which affects performance. Highly detailed 3D content also places a greater load on the graphics card. In Korea, the graphics and 3D models have reached a new level of quality and complexity. We have already significantly improved VR performance and continue to develop new technologies. With 4K VR devices and a suitable graphics card, we have already achieved good performance, but we are aiming to improve it further.

Gamespace: The game is available now and has received mostly positive reviews from the community and critics alike. Are you happy with the initial impression of the hardcore community and the more casual players alike?

Daniil Tuseev: We have built an excellent relationship with the community. We strive to make our communication effective and two-way by making it easier for players and developers to talk to each other. We carefully collect feedback, answer questions, and try to address people’s concerns.

Overall, our communication with the Korea and IL-2 Great Battles communities has been very positive. We take player opinions into account and respond quickly to reports of problems.

Players also help us with development. For example, we are currently changing our approach to voicing English-language radio communications. Several dozen people have volunteered to take part in the recordings. We are very grateful to everyone who is helping us!

Gamespace: Thank you for your time! Is there anything you’d like to add for our readers?

Daniil Tuseev: We, the IL-2 team, welcome every one of our users and are constantly working to improve the game world. If you have not joined Korea yet, we sincerely recommend giving it a try. You do not need complex flight-control hardware such as a flight stick, throttle, or rudder pedals. All game functions are also available when playing with a gamepad.

We invested a great deal of time and effort into preserving the realism and detail of the physics model while also allowing gamepad users to fully control the game at every stage—from launching it to flying the aircraft. And it really worked—everyone who has tried it has been happy with the outcome.

For a price comparable to the cost of a single aircraft in other games in the genre, you get eight unique aircraft built to the highest standards of quality, along with an extensive and detailed Commander Career mode. All of this is implemented on one of the most advanced game engines in the genre.

Come and give it a try!