Book Review - WORLD OF TANKS. Journey Through Art
- The Artbook Collector
- 1 hour ago
- 5 min read
November 18th 2025
After launching its first beta 15 years ago, World of Tanks from developer Wargaming has continued to grow with an increasing arsenal of tanks, epic battles, new game modes, and unique events. No game as successful as this can be made without talented artists and their work is never done. WORLD OF TANKS. Journey Through Art from publisher Cook and Becker is a celebration of their art, showcasing it in a new book that looks back at the fun mix of new content from the last handful of years.
The book finished production in late October and copies have begun arriving for those that placed an order. A Collector’s Edition and Deluxe Edition with added extras were also available, though have quickly sold out. The Standard Edition has also recently run out of stock, however, there is a potential for another print run, so keep an eye out on the Cook and Becker website for that. One of these copies has now arrived here though, so I can give you my thoughts on this new volume of tank-filled artwork.
Build Quality
WORLD OF TANKS. Journey Through Art is larger than I was expecting, coming in at 30.7cm x 25.5cm and thick too, with 256 high quality pages. It comes as a hardcover book that feels well-made and has a simple yet effect cover seen above. I also like the binding because it has a good amount of flexibility that allows the pages to open up easily and lay flat. I’m impressed overall with the physical quality of this book from the publisher.
Content
This book takes a look at the recent years of World of Tanks, from the introduction of the battle royale mode in 2019, to the 2.0 update and its Tier XI tanks and v.4 Garage. This makes the it a continuation of the last artbook from Cook and Becker, The Book of World of Tanks, that covers the previous 10 years. A lot has been added to the game since 2019 and that is reflected in the variety of artwork and designs found here, giving new fans and old a lot to dive into.
I enjoyed the art selection a lot, because while I’m sure it would be easy for them to include pages of single pieces for the tanks themselves, the large amount of concepts for battles and environments gives it a nice variety of content. The talent of the team gets to shine with dynamic scenes of warfare and moments that highlight that concept art is often more than just a look at a design, but also captures the feel for the atmosphere and action too.
As well as this you get a fantastic selection of concept art for tank stages, loading screens and how they differ for the difficulties, screenshots, icons, character art, and more. All of this together makes it intriguing showcase, even highlighting different themes such as realistic environments, sci-fi horror, and pop-culture designs from their collaborations for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Terminator, and Warhammer 40K. I always like a book that gives me a look at all the different aspects of a release, so I’m very happy with what they show here.
The chapters are split into modes and events, including Bootcamp and Stories, Halloween events, Steel Hunter, Return of the Waffenträger, Collaborations, Battle Pass XII, and the 2.0 update. It’s a great way to highlight what they added and get into the details and art for each one too. Through the text you are given details on the work of the developers, in-game mission details, how tanks were created for events, design choices, and more. Reading about things like the role of the historians at Wargaming and the team being in the game, along with quotes from members of the team, is engaging throughout and well written.
A highlight for me was the Halloween chapter, as it gives a lot of art and insights into the Mirium Sequence, the multi-year horror sci-fi event that comes with tank ‘body horror’ concepts. From MIRNY-13 to Babylon Project, the team got to flex their creative muscles with unique tank and location designs that creates a fun section of the book. The new creations and reinvention of existing tanks, alongside concepts of battles and scenes that capture the horror theme, makes this a standout chapter for me personally.
There are many great sections across the book I could continue to write about, like the stunning environment art of Scandinavian locations and the look at loading screen variants, because there is a lot to enjoy. Overall, despite only covering a handful of years, there is a lot to pore over here and I like what Wargaming and Cook and Becker decided to feature.
Credits
Sadly, there are no artist credits in the book, so while there are quotes featured from members of the art team, there’s no way to know who did what. It’s a shame as it’s always good to know who is responsible for what you are seeing.
Use of Space
The design team did a brilliant job in WORLD OF TANKS. Journey Through Art, the pages are full and the layouts display the art and text clearly. The backgrounds include different colours and simple designs as seen in the previews, avoiding being dull, but without being distracting. Page layouts change throughout too, mixing up image sizes to best display them for the reader and giving the art a strong showcase.
Value
As mentioned at the start of this review, the book is currently sold out, but as there is a possibility of a second print run, I’ll give my thoughts on the pricing here. I paid £43.49 (around $55) for the book itself which is a fairly standard price the book and so no complaints there. Shipping was £11.94 to the UK and given how expensive it has recently been for imports, this is a very reasonable price. At just over £55 for an imported book at this quality, I’m very happy with what I paid. For those in other countries this could of course be different. I have been stung hard in the past by imports and sometimes have to pass on buying a book, but Cook and Becker have done a great job with pricing here.
Verdict
WORLD OF TANKS. Journey Through Art is a superb showcase of artwork to celebrate 15 years of the online game, one that players will no doubt appreciate. The chapters that were included make for a fun mix of genres and artwork alongside the interesting insights, all presented in a well-made book. Whether you’ve been rolling onto the battlefield since the very beginning, or new to tank warfare, this book deserves a spot on your shelf.
To keep an eye on the stock for this book, but also to find the previous release The Book of World of Tanks, as well more from Cook and Becker, visit their website here;
