Yarnhub’s Brass Rain aims to merge infantry, tanks and bombers — I’m intrigued but cautious

What Brass Rain Actually Changes for Players

A YouTube animation studio building a WWII MMO isn’t the headline I expected today, but Yarnhub’s Brass Rain caught my attention because it’s chasing a specific fantasy a lot of us have asked for: War Thunder’s scale with Hell Let Loose’s boots-on-the-ground grit. The pitch is huge-crew-based infantry at Early Access launch in 2026, then a long-term plan to fuse land, sea, and air into unified battles, with cinematic short films dropping ahead of each major update. That’s catnip for history nerds and milsim fans. It’s also wildly ambitious, and that’s where my excitement meets skepticism.

Key Takeaways

• Brass Rain is a free-to-play WWII FPS MMO entering Steam Early Access in 2026, starting with “crew-based” infantry gameplay.
• Yarnhub brings 35M+ monthly YouTube views and $2.9M in equity crowdfunding-real community backing, but big expectations.
• Cinematic short films will set up each update’s new fronts, heroes, and vehicles, aiming to blend story with tactics.
• Long-term goal: one battlefield spanning infantry, tanks, bombers, and naval teams-a dream setup with serious technical hurdles.

Why This Caught My Eye

Yarnhub isn’t coming out of nowhere. Their 3D military history shorts have built a massive audience by telling stories about unsung crews and the human side of war. Translating that into a live service FPS makes sense if they can channel that same emotional hook into how missions play out. The hook of short films arriving before each update is clever too. Games do cinematics; few make them part of the briefing. If those shorts not only hype new content but also explain doctrine—how an MG team anchors a squad, why naval gunfire matters for a beach assault—it could give Brass Rain the kind of context that most multiplayer shooters fail to communicate.

CEO David Webb says fans asked them for “a game with heart, historical authenticity, global campaigns, and multiplayer combat” across all roles. That’s a lot of boxes to tick, but the intent is clear: this is supposed to be a history-first MMO, not another arcade reskin.

Ambition vs. Reality: Combined Arms at MMO Scale

Let’s talk scope. Unifying infantry, armor, air, and naval into one persistent battle is the holy grail of WWII multiplayer. Plenty have aimed at pieces of it. War Thunder nails vehicles and aviation but leaves infantry out. Hell Let Loose and Post Scriptum deliver tense, squad-led infantry with tanks sprinkled in, but no meaningful air or naval layer. Enlisted tried the F2P route with larger battles and classes, then stumbled on monetization and direction. Heroes & Generals stitched a persistent strategic map onto shooter battles… and ultimately shut down. Even Planetside 2 proved scale is doable, but it’s sci-fi and relies on systems that WWII maps can’t easily replicate.

For Brass Rain to work, it needs rock-solid netcode, smart spawn and logistics systems, suppression and comms that reward teamwork, and a map philosophy that actually justifies combined arms—think coastal assaults where destroyers matter, airfields feeding sorties, armored pushes enabled by infantry clearing AT nests. “Crew-based infantry” is an interesting phrase; if that means fireteams operating heavy weapons, mortar squads coordinating with spotters, and dedicated medics/radiomen with tools that matter, I’m in. If it’s just another class wheel with historical skins, the fantasy falls apart.

Free-to-Play With “Low-Cost” Cosmetics: Great… If It’s Sustainable

Yarnhub says Brass Rain will be free-to-play with some of the lowest-cost cosmetics in gaming, buoyed by YouTube revenue and that $2.9M round. I love the sentiment; I worry about the math. Server bills for an MMO-scale shooter are brutal, and anti-cheat is an endless arms race. If the plan is purely cheap cosmetics and good vibes, expect pressure to creep toward battle passes, convenience boosts, or, worse, progression systems that feel grindy without paying. We’ve seen it across the genre.

There’s also the authenticity problem. Players want immersion, but F2P ecosystems survive on cosmetics. Era-accurate uniforms and unit insignia can sell, but you’ll run out of tasteful olive drab faster than you think. Will Yarnhub resist the siren song of immersion-breaking skins? They say authenticity is a pillar. Hold them to it.

What Gamers Should Watch Before 2026

• Playable tests and scale: Not just small alphas—show a messy, 100+ player combined-arms scrap with stable tick rates and functioning VOIP.
• Anti-cheat and reporting: F2P WWII shooters attract cheaters. What’s the plan beyond “we’ll use EAC”?
• Teamplay incentives: Does the game reward squad leaders, medics, spotters, engineers, and logistics with meaningful XP and tools?
• Map design with purpose: Beaches, airfields, ports—if naval and air are on the roadmap, maps need lanes and objectives that make them essential, not sideshow gimmicks.
• Ballistics and pacing: Authentic weapon handling and suppression without turning it into a campfest. Hell Let Loose’s TTK is punishing; where does Brass Rain land?
• Persistent campaign clarity: If there’s a global war layer, how does it avoid the Heroes & Generals trap of feeling disconnected or easily snowballed?
• Monetization transparency: Spell out cosmetics, progression, and any passes now. “Low-cost” is a vibe, not a plan.
• Film-to-game integration: Those pre-update shorts should teach tactics, not just lore. Show how watching one changes how you play.

The promise is there. Yarnhub has a built-in audience that actually cares about the subject matter, veterans from big studios, and a smart cross-media idea that could make players care about updates beyond patch notes. But we’ve also watched ambitious WWII projects ship half-realized systems and then slowly pivot toward monetization to keep the lights on. Early Access in 2026 gives them time; it also gives us time to demand proof.

TL;DR

Brass Rain wants to be the WWII MMO that finally marries infantry, armor, air, and naval with cinematic storytelling. I’m rooting for it, but I’ll believe it when I see large-scale tests, sensible monetization, and maps that truly need every branch of the war machine. If Yarnhub nails those, this could be the one we’ve been waiting for.