[1] The series covers a number of flyable aircraft of Soviet, German, American, British, Japanese, French, Italian, Romanian, Czechoslovak, Polish and other origins.

In addition to the content from the original game, it added a number of simulated planes and battlefields and introduced the Continuation War theater.

A relevant new feature in Forgotten Battles was the campaign system that for the first time in the IL-2 Sturmovik games started the dynamic mode.

The Forgotten Battles Ace Expansion Pack was released in March 2004, adding 20 new modelled aircraft, 10 of them flyable by the player and with three new maps battlefields (Ardennes, Normandy, Pacific).

Not a standalone game, the Ace Expansion Pack was a payable product which required that Forgotten Battles was previously installed.

[11] In May 2006, the Pe-2 Peshka (domestically known as Истории пикирующего бомбардировщика, "Stories of a dive bomber") add-on was released in Europe and North America.

With this new add-on the player could fly aircraft related to the conflicts that broke out in this region at the end of the Second World War.

Referring to a purely hypothetical continuation of World War II in 1946, the 1946 add-on introduced a few aircraft which in real history never went beyond the design stage (the Heinkel Lerche and the Focke-Wulf Ta 183, for example).

In March 2011, 1C released a sequel to the original IL-2 series (although running its own game engine) under the title IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover.

In November 2017 an improved version of the game with the name of Cliffs of Dover – Blitz was developed by Team Fusion Simulations with permission by 1C Company.

[12] In November 2013 the team released another sequel in the series, titled IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad, this time running the "Digital Nature" game engine (created in 2009 for Rise of Flight).

In November 2017, when announcing the change of name of the game engine, 1C Game Studios also announced that all subsequent products would be a part of the newly named IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles brand,[13] a series of simulations not only dealing with World War II aircraft as it also allows players to purchase a World War I aircraft simulator game (Flying Circus) or an add-on intended to operate World War II tanks (Tank Crew).

[13] In the late 2013 and early 2014, Oleg Maddox, the main creator of the original IL-2 Sturmovik back in 2001, gave permission to Fred "HeinKill" Williams for publishing an interview, which SimHQ did, in four parts: