Exosky: In Peak Form
- Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza
- 4 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Considerable updates that have refined this non-traditional flight simulator
Exosky by Elevons LLC has greatly improved since its release on March 7th, 2025. This flight simulator takes players across 8 almost phantasmagoric levels with a majority of its aircraft roster being fictional designs with intriguing backstories of their own. Despite the highly unconventional visuals, this simulator prides itself on its flight model more than interstellar combat or cinematic cutscenes.
There have been a few important major updates to Exosky, though one stands out more than most, let's give them all a "flyby".
Flying a P-51D through a haunted house inside of an ATX power supply.
Heavily Updated Flight Model
Just a few months after launch, Exosky was one of very few indie flight games that had a presence at Flight Sim Expo 2025. Between managing a booth and an onstage presentation on the FS Elite stage, developer Jordan Elevons received a lot of feedback from the show floor about its flight model.
This resulted in a considerable update on July 8th, 2025. The update better utilized the custom calculated inertia tensor. An overhaul of the collision system from a simple mesh collider to a system that voxelizes aircraft geometry and creates multiple box colliders to match the aircraft; this improves collision detection and the tensor calculations. Control surfaces not immediately ceasing rotation which in turn made precision flying in a game based on daring aerobatic a touch harder to fly more precisely.
To clarify, at no point has Exosky had a bad flight model so janky it was hard to play. Players were able to complete flight challenges before this overhaul. With the updated flight model more precise maneuvers are easier to consistently perform, especially at low speeds. Something especially helpful in the type of aerobatics Exosky asks its players to partake in. From my own experience replaying Exosky in its current form, there have been many times where being able to fly on the razor's edge of the flight envelope has let me avoid collisions or rack up points faster than ever. In the past those were situations where I would not commit to those situations or know that if I did it was nearly certain danger.
Taking direct, in-person feedback to heart then improving upon the flight model is a testament to the developer continuing to prioritize the experience and maintaining the quality of the sim they offer to the public.
Extended Peripheral Support
Since its public demo, this simulator has supported various types of USB flight controllers. Players can use any old keyboard and mouse, gamepad or many combinations of flight peripherals. Whether it is an entry level Thrustmaster T Flight, the easier going Yawman Arrow or a full-on Winwing HOTAS with more switches than even the sci-fi drones of Exosky seem to have. For a simulator that focuses on aerobatics and precision flying in close proximity, the only somewhat must- have missing peripheral was head tracking.
As of September 13th, 2025, Exosky secured official Track IR support. There was even an official bundle of Exosky and Track IR.
With the visuals of the game being what they are, maintaining a point of reference while flying can sometimes be a battle of its own. It can get disorienting when spinning through tumbling mirror polished shards of glass in a desert.
Being able to physically look towards where you may fly next before committing to it is immensely useful in... let's call them... "non-traditional environments". It significantly decreases the amount of crashing, that is for sure.
CFIT Rewind
Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) is described as an airworthy aircraft under complete control of a pilot inadvertently flown into terrain or an obstacle resulting in the aircraft being damaged or destroyed. In the real world and traditional flight simulators, flying into a mountain or into a body of water does happen for a variety of reasons. In Exosky, CFIT looks more like running into a swinging chandelier in a haunted house or misjudging wing clearance while flying down a PCIe slot.
Crashing is an inherent part of the aerobatic focus of Exosky which requires players to take big risks for the sake of gaining points or fulfilling level specific challenges. A part of that risk taking is further amplified by the consequence of crashing. Whether it was within a few seconds or after a few minutes of solid, skilled flying, a crash can undo all progress. No points saved, no challenges saved - only a fresh restart from the beginning of the level.
While this is not a deal breaker that makes the game unapproachable, I admit there have been a few times a crash or two has been enough for me to wrap up a short flight session early.
Fortunately, the developer "has the technology" and provided an alternative to starting over from the beginning and mid-level checkpoints. With the Rewind function from the moment of explosion players can reverse their actions to restart from shortly before the crash. No progress is lost upon restart, and players can potentially correct their errors.
Of course, if somehow the players ends up in a situation that is so FUBAR not even a rewind can save them that might be more of a "skill issue" than anything else.
Solid Flying Experience
Putting time into Exosky again, it does feel like the developer significantly improved this simulator without compromising its identity or rebuilding it from the ground up. Its main point of friction was easily the instant loss of progress upon crashing, but with that addressed and the other aforementioned improvements, it is all around an even better experience. Exosky maintains its position as one of the most visually exotic flight games with a respectable flight model even the most hardcore simmer could enjoy.
Connect with Exosky by Elevons
About the Writer
Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers. [Read Profile]
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