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It has been a while since we wrote about another content creator, so we wanted to choose someone that was closer to home. That is when someone came to mind, a creator that has been hanging around the Skyward discord server for a really long time: Tupo. Not only are they a fellow content creator, but also someone that has been putting increasingly amounts of effort on their video creation to bring to light older titles to light, or to showcase how a certain series or aircraft has evolved in digital aviation throughout the years.

What makes their channel unique is not editing or even their flying skills, but the emphasis they put on historical and retro content. Almost every modern flight sim-focused creator I've watched recently only focuses on what's trendy or on the latest sim or module to come out.
One series that exemplifies Tupo's efforts is their "Evolution of X in Combat Simulators", one of their most popular series on Youtube. It has a single focus: grab an aircraft and look back as much as possible to see how the portrayal of that airframe has evolved over the years. Something which I find extremely intriguing and appealing. Tupo's focus is more niche, but at the same time, that is what makes it appealing. To me, as a content creator on this space, I have always held a great level of respect for the titles of years past; those are the titles that shaped the genre of flight within this virtual space of ours, and the ones that molded it into what it is today. Many of these games have been forgotten to time, and most are now behind consoles or software that is difficult to find or borderline impossible to run on a modern machine. They go out of their way not only to acquire old games, but also to document them through their videos so that these games have a bit of legacy behind them; and to expose them to a way bigger audience.

I sinecerely hope that tupo continues on the same path they currently are on, as this would mean that many, many games would get some much deserved spotlight after years of gathering dust at someone's basement.

Thoughts on indie demos from the recent Next Fest Steam Next Fest February 2026 is over. From February 23rd to March 2nd, 2026, we played various demos for upcoming flight games. While we have covered many festivals like this in the past, this year we decided to change things up slightly. Rather than rush through all available demos in just two or three days in the middle of a weeklong event, we took our time to instead promote the games during the festival period both here on the website and on social media . Our thoughts now come a few days after the festival is over. While we are specifically talking about a few of the demos here, be sure to double back to our post announcing the demos at the end of last month to further research what is being developed out there. Wings of Aviora Coming into Wings of Aviora I was not sure what to truly expect. I feel like my mind wanted to compare it to Crimson Skies within the first few minutes I saw it. Mainly because of the focus on propeller driven aircraft and steam punk design cutes. That perception was quickly blown away by two major factors: world setting and aircraft building. The setting of the game is that on the planet Aviora the New Vravice archipelago is under siege by mechanical creatures causing destruction. The concept is that there are no briefings and no maps to guide you in the fight. Players are encouraged to take their aircraft, launch from their home base and take off on a 'sky patrol' as per the Steam page. Players can wander around the islands - some of them floating in the air - to do training challenges, search for enemies, intervene in on going attacks, avoid (or challenge) Leviathans, escort trade ships and more. Further encouraging exploration is finding blueprints for new aircraft parts behind mountains, in the middle of small towns and who knows where else. Aircraft building is a much larger part of this game than expected. Story wise, the player is a test pilot a part of an aviation engineering effort to develop new technology to combat the mechanical invaders. The level of customization previewed in the demo is also higher than I thought it would be. Story wise, the player is a test pilot a part of an aviation engineering effort to develop new technology to combat the mechanical invaders. While the demo provides players with three distinct designs to start with, the aircraft building aspect is detailed enough to let players build entirely new designs from the unlocked parts. Taking these aircraft on flights, completing challenges and successfully retuning to base will get the aircraft's design rated with the gathered data used to unlock even more components. Combat is rather reasonable in the game. While the enemies that appear are not highly maneuverable like a traditional aircraft, this does give players the chance to use evasive maneuvers to evade enemy attacks and counterattack somewhat reliably. The flight model is forgiving enough to allow for arcade flight game style maneuvers and let players build some pretty wild aircraft, but there are factors like overheating/stressing the engine, running out of fuel and of course aircraft hull damage. Overall, this was a pretty solid demo from developer Stormy XP . I came in only knowing the bare minimum and was surprised by the depth provided in the demo. StarFront: Lancers   Looking at the promotional media for StarFront: Lancers , I was primarily drawn in by the concept of a sci-fi flight action shooter with customizable hero traits. This game is set in a deep space conflict with a handful of factions interacting with and battling one another for story related reasons. There is only one story mission in the demo, so rather than focus on the lore details, we should look at the combat and customization system. Using two in-game currencies gained by completing daily tasks, story missions, custom missions and Gauntlet game mode missions, players can purchase and customize many things. Space fighters with 10 or more customization slots can equip upgrades across five categories. Each of these pulling certain amounts of energy to function, making power management important. These parts can be purchased from the in-game shop or salvaged during combat in any game mode. The next layer of customization comes with the characters. There are up to five characters that can be unlocked and leveled up. These characters have baseline stats unique to themselves with certain ship components impacting their stats, but mainly it is their Manifestation (skill tree) that greatly expands their stats and unlocks new character specific special abilities. StarFront: Lancers plays like a classic space-based arcade shooter with game mechanics like hull armor, energy shield strength, booster timers, engine off motion drifting, basic gun aim lead mechanics; everything you would expect of a solid game in this genre. Finding the right mix of components to defeat enemies efficiently while still leaving enough energy for high-speed maneuvering is a nice balance. The default gamepad controls leave a bit to be desired, but that may be more personal preference than anything else. Not a problem since it does have a rather nice option menu for remapping that even includes a handy benchmark stress test to check setting performance before starting a mission. I do not normally play a lot of spaced based games; no matter how arcadey or simulator like they are. I had a great time with the StarFront: Lancers demo within just the first five to ten minutes of playing it. SimplePlanes 2   SimplePlanes 2 by Jundroo Games had multiple timed demos over the past year or so. The third demo that was active during the recent festival added a new area to explore (three areas total), many more base game vehicles, limited vehicle editing and other small features previously seen in the past demos. Recently we had a great multiplayer session with the current demo, but our November 2025 first impression written by Caio D. "Hueman" Baretto is still accurate and goes into immense detail about SimplePlanes 2 from the perspective of someone that put in a lot of time in SimplePlanes 1 and built dozens of vehicles with custom systems. Read that one for our thoughts on the SimplePlanes 2 demos up to now. POCKET FLIGHT   Among the primarily combat focused flight games I tried during Steam Next Fest, Pocket Flight by Just Pocket Games acted as an unexpected pallet cleanser. Claiming itself to be a "cozy flight game" I really was not sure what to expect. There are certainly flight games that are made for non-combat enjoyment, but "cozy" as in comfortable? Eyebrow raising. Though the full game will have a story driven game mode as well, the demo focuses on the sandbox game mode. The game uses procedurally generated terrain to let players fly across endless distances exploring different landscapes. Two landscapes were available in the demo with distinctly different themes. With the one aircraft available in the demo you are flying around without specific objectives beyond a general daily task to give you some minor direction. Within the somewhat nebulous concept at hand, the daily tasks do contribute to the developer's concept of this game being built for casual flying sessions. I can say that while wandering around foothills, hunting for unusual structures and pushing through turbulent weather I actually did feel myself unwind a bit. While wandering the landscapes players can find unexpected landmarks and wildlife while collecting coins scattered across the area. The gathered coins can be used to unlock new landscapes, new aircraft and new parts to modify aircraft. Aircraft modification in Pocket Flight focuses on engines, wings, propellers, rudders and aircraft color. Besides aesthetic changes, flight values for aircraft attributes like speed, roll, turn, pitch, acceleration and deceleration. The aircraft in the demo, the Breeze, is a propeller driven biplane. It is arguably perfect for the scenic type of flying the game is staking its identity on. Its lower maximum airspeed and easy low speed flight characteristics are perfect for taking in the sights and flying in a relaxed manner. It makes me wonder how faster aircraft like the Skyline L (regional jet) and the Skylark (military style fast jet) would fit into the overall feel of this type of game with their significantly higher speeds. I'm sold on the concept and would like to see just what a "cozy" flight game has in store for the genre. Who knows, perhaps we have had "cozy" games within this genre and we have just been viewing them through the wrong lens. About the Writer Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza   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 ]

Something that has always been a staple of VRChat Aviation are its dogfighting tournaments, and for the longest time the only popular on the Western hemisphere ones were the ones hosted by the VRC Black Aces.

There have been other communities that have hosted tournaments but they never really had the same ambiance or punch that the Black Aces had at the time. But now another one of the big players in the VRC Aviation community has started hosting their own tournaments: Dogfight Central.

We have already talked about DFC here in the past, and they are good friends of everyone here at Skyward, so we were excited to not only see them host their own tournament but also to be hosting it with their own in-house aircraft, the F-100 Super Sabre. Additionally, they went all-in with the prizes for the winners:
1st Place: $200, Dogfight Central Coin, Trophy 2nd Place:$150, Dogfight Central Coin 3rd Place: $50, Dogfight Central Coin
THE TOURNEY Matches during the tournament were a mix of very strategic flying and the good-ol’ rate fights that are extremely technical to fly, but a bit boring to watch if you are not technically minded. Since there were three blocks comprised of 56 total participants, only 15 made it to the finals, 5 from each block.
The plane these participants had to fly was the F-100 Super Sabre by Mia. Modeled and tuned in-house, it stands as one of the only aircraft ever featured on a tournament to have been made entirely by the organization responsible for the event. Planes like these take months and months to make, so seeing one featured in such an interesting event is something we are super happy about. We have also done the same thing before with our Colibri, so we are glad to see others put in the effort and make their own models.

This plane flew less like a standard SaccFlight aircraft, and more like the Colibri in terms of how you had to approach its flying. They both are low thrust to weight aircraft that lose energy pretty fast, forcing the pilots to adopt a different flying style than they would have otherwise. It also lacks a HUD and relies on steam gauges and a basic gunsight, always a plus when it comes down to making it more interesting for the pilots.
It made for some interesting matches; but, since it did have an afterburner, it resulted in a lot of prolongued rate fights that are extremely common on dogfights with equally skilled pilots flying the same planes under pseudo-laboratory conditions (known parameters, known terrain, known fuel amount and known merge point). NRG took first place, while Nighthawk and x_womanslayer_x got second and third place respectively. There were some interesting matches, moments of relative boredom for the audience which were usually broken by amazing maneuvers being pulled by the competitors.

I cannot wait to see which tournaments DFC will do in the future! About the Author Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000s, leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities, but only started being active around the mid 2010s. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and the co-founder of Skyward ever since. Twitter  | Discord : Cubeboy

The best prices are available to those who register before March 1. Get tickets at flightsimexpo.com/register . FlightSimExpo is June 12-14, 2026 at the Saint Paul RiverCentre, an 8-mile drive from MSP Airport and 20 minutes from the Mall of America? Get tickets at flightsimexpo.com/register before prices increase on March 1.   “We offer the best prices for those who can make their travel plans early,” says FSA Co-Founder Phil Coyle. “Plus, if you’re an FSA Captain, you’ll save an additional 20% on tickets while getting access to a dedicated entrance lane, priority Addons registration, and more.”   More than 40 Exhibitors are Already Confirmed   FlightSimExpo is excited to welcome new and familiar developers to this year’s event. In all, there are more than 40 exhibitors confirmed so far—with specific names to be revealed later this year.   Courtesy of Diamond+ Sponsor Navigraph, each FlightSimExpo attendee will receive a personalized badge designed to make everyone feel welcome at the show. Navigraph will also be on-site presenting an upcoming release, offering in-person attendees an exclusive first look at new features designed to enhance the flight simulation experience. The team will be at the booth to demo the full Navigraph product, answer questions, and connect directly with the community, as well as discuss Navigraph Academy and SimBrief with visitors who want to learn more.    Grinnelli Designs Presents the FSExpo 2026 Combat Arena   This new high-energy, interactive experience allows attendees to compete, learn, and connect through aviation-inspired contests and events that capture the excitement of flight and the spirit of discovery. The Combat Arena will be available to all FlightSimExpo attendees.   “In partnership with industry leaders who share our passion for aviation and immersive simulation, we’re planning a dynamic lineup of events designed to engage and excite attendees throughout the weekend,” said Joe Grinnelli, CEO of Grinnelli Designs. “Highlights include a head-to-head air combat competition, team operations, airshow-style performances, and more—with great prizes available to be won.”   Airline, Hotel, and Car Rental Discounts   FlightSimExpo attendees save on hotels and airfare. This year’s hotel rates start at just $149/night, plus local taxes. Airfare deals are available from Delta, United, Southwest, and codeshare partners. Make your travel plans early and take advantage of great rates at flightsimexpo.com/travel .   “If you liked the vibe in Providence, you’ll love this year’s venue,” says Co-Founder Evan Reiter, who conducted the initial site inspection in February 2025 and will be returning for a pre-show visit this April. “Located on the banks of the Mississippi River, Saint Paul has a walkable, vibrant, and friendly downtown with great restaurants and easy access to natural places. Since Minnesota Wild games are played at the same complex as our venue, we’re looking forward to an incredible atmosphere—especially if the team makes it to the NHL playoffs again this year.”   Flight Sim Developers: Sponsor and Exhibit at FlightSimExpo 2026   FlightSimExpo welcomes software developers, hardware vendors, communities, and other flight simulation organizations to participate as sponsors, exhibitors, and speakers. Details on getting involved are available at flightsimexpo.com/partner .   “We’ve made it super easy for flight sim devs of all sizes to participate,” says Evan. “The number one reason attendees come to the event is to meet the people behind the projects. Please look at our 2026 Partner Overview , speak to other devs who’ve attended, or reach out to me if you’d like to support the show.”                                                                              ###   About FlightSimExpo. FlightSimExpo is one of the world’s largest flight simulation conventions. The event has welcomed almost 10,000 attendees to events in Las Vegas, Orlando, San Diego, Houston, and Providence since 2018. FlightSimExpo is produced by Flight Simulation Association, a community-driven organization of developers, simmers, and real-world pilots working to make it easier to get started in home simulation. Join the community today—free—at flightsimassociation.com for resources, learning content, webinars, and discounts on top add-ons and simulation hardware.

A week of flying! New flight game demos available now! Steam Next Fest February 2026 is open! From February 23rd to March 2nd, 2026 @ 10:00 AM PST (UTC-8) , hundreds of games from all genres have demos available for download. As always Skyward Flight Media remains focused on the flight games and simulators. To spread the word about these developers and their sky eyed projects, this year we are listing off these games and their developers during the first day of the festival to direct attention to their projects throughout the entire event. Our usual compilation post which gathers our thoughts on specific demos we played will be posted on March 4th, 2026 . We have gathered some basic info and links about flight games featured during this festival. There is a chance we may not have all of them listed below, so be sure to check out the Flight genre tag during the festival for yourself too. Alliance Tales: Battle for the Frontier Developer / Publisher : Urban Logic Games Alliance Tales is a linear, story-driven space combat sim inspired by 90s classics like Wing Commander and Tie Fighter. Take part in fast-paced space battles in a campaign that takes you on the hunt for a missing friend while foiling a plot to take over the Frontier Colonies. Steam Page  - Bluesky  - Mastodon  - Website  - YouTube Combat Pilot: Carrier Qualification Developer : Entropy.Aero Publisher : Combat Pilot LLC Combat Pilot is a hardcore combat flight-simulation set in the Pacific Theater during WWII. Our Carrier Qualification title represents the first step in the product's roadmap, offering basic carrier and land operations for the legendary USN/USMC F4F-4 and IJN A6M2 Mod.21 "Zero" fighter planes. Steam Page - Discord - Facebook - Instagram - Reddit - Website - X.com - YouTube Drone Zone Developer / Publisher : Euphoria Machine Multiplayer team-based tactical shooter in a postapocalyptic world. This is not FPV drones. Future. Technology assists in managing flight and targeting. Fight for resources in a world full of hostile anomalies. Use active skills and get advantage depending on which enemy module you have destroyed. Steam Page - Discord - VK Pocket Flight Developer / Publisher : Just Pocket Games Fly your own way in Pocket Flight - a cozy endless flight adventure! Explore dynamic biomes, face shifting weather, customize your plane, and take on daily challenges. Relaxing skies, infinite horizons. Ready for takeoff? Steam Page - Discord - Facebook - Instagram - TikTok - X.com - YouTube StarFront: Lancers Developer / Publisher : R J L Jones Spaceship combat sim arcade shooter. Rogue-like and other game modes. Character collection. Steam Page - Discord - YouTube Simple Flight Developer / Publisher : Jax Leon The Easiest Carrier Landing Ever！ Simple Flight is an accessible yet challenging 3D flight simulation game. Pilot airplanes, helicopters, and more with realistic physics, experience the freedom of flight, and take on missions and challenges. Steam Page - Bilibili SimplePlanes 2 Developer / Publisher : Jundroo LLC SimplePlanes is back! Build planes, cars, or anything else using powerful procedural parts! Explore detailed environments with friends in multiplayer, cause chaos, or download 1,000,000 community crafts for free. Steam Page - Bilibili - Discord - Website - YouTube The Guardians Developer / Publisher : Neutron Studios LLC The Aegis Carrier Fleet merges human skill with unmatched AI control, IRRA. Control the most advanced aircraft into lethal battle zones, where your squadrons act with precision to secure decisive victories. Steam Page - YouTube Wild Blue Skies Developer : Chuhai Labs, Vitei Backroom Inc. Publisher : Humble Games Wild Blue Skies reimagines the classic on-rail adventures of the '90s. Join Bowie Stray and the Blue Bombers as they soar through the skies on a mission to save the world in this action-packed, nostalgic journey! Steam Page - Bluesky - Discord - Instagram - Website - X.com - YouTube Wings of Aviora Developer \ Publisher : Stormy XP Become an aviator on the planet Aviora in this steampunk flight action-adventure. Build unique aircraft. Test them in combat and refine them to perfection. Help the locals and drive back the mechanical beasts rising from the sea. Steam Page - Website - YouTube Wingsuit: Romsdalen Developer / Publisher : Ninja Whale Studios Feel the rush of Norway’s Romsdalen Valley in this intense action sports game. Pilot a high-performance wingsuit through challenging exits, daring stunts and vast mountain landscapes. Are you ready to hit the slopes? Steam Page  - Website  - X.com  - YouTube

The perfect presentation of large-scale combat with direction and purpose It has almost been 20 years since Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation was released. A much younger me has fond memories and deep opinions about this game. Thanks to a recent video in the ongoing Ace Combat 30th Anniversary memorial movie series, it is forefront on my mind again. To this day, Ace Combat 6 (AC6) does something other games in the Ace Combat series have not completely replicated. From the arcades of 1992 up to the release of AC6 on October 23rd, 2007, the Ace Combat series was defined by linear small-to-mid sized missions that could be completed within a few minutes. There were some uncommon missions that were more of a timed based score attack lasted closer to 20 minutes, but you get the idea. Large-Scale Battles One of the major selling points of Ace Combat 6 was its large-scale battles. Harnessing the power of the Microsoft Xbox 360, a leading seventh generation game console back in the 2000s, there were often more enemies to fight in a single mission of AC6 than two or three missions from the PlayStation installments combined. The average fixed-wing fighter in just about every Ace Combat games has enough ammo to defeat a small air force. That's a known fact. Trying to destroy 80+ enemies per mission is still a bit of a tall order for lone aircraft to accomplish though. Fortunately, there are many types of allied non-player-controlled units to battle the hordes of enemies alongside players. With dozens of enemies and allies moving to achieve their own objectives separate from the player, there is a lot of data to process. This is where the Dynamic Mission System comes in. Dynamic Mission System During the briefing of each mission players see the primary objective of the mission at hand. They are then separated into Operations, also known as sub-objectives. The player chooses one of the available Operations to start the mission and combat begins. As combat continues across the battlespace players can switch between each on going operation to see which allies and enemies are engaged in combat and decided whether or not they want to intervene. This creates situations where a player may choose to start the mission hunting long-range artillery on a western flank, but they could easily switch over to assisting with the capture of a frontline airfield that is getting stalled due to significant enemy action. All within the same mission. During the mission, the player can switch their radar display to show allied and enemy units active in the selected operation. This declutters their radar display and only shows active targets in their Heads Up Display or general game user interface. This is known at the Operation ID device. Operation ID Device display on the player's radar. Sorting from All operations to operation C. The opposing force also reacts to the operations as they are won or lost by directing their forces to different objectives or changing their tactics that results in mid-mission updates or new operations appearing due to enemy action. As each operation is completed the allied units tied to that operation become available as Allied Support assets. This is a different game mechanic, but it is an extension of the Dynamic Mission system in practice. Once the player destroys a certain number of enemies, they are able to trigger a massive, combined arms attack against enemies in front of and around the player's aircraft. Depending on the composition of the allied units that are available, this could result in a swarm of aircraft, naval bombardment or land forces moving into action. The Allied Support attacks are powerful enough to wipe out entire fighter squadrons and armored battalions. Example: San Loma Assault Giving a specific example, Mission 08: San Loma Assault. The primary objective is to recapture Cavallia Air Force Base, a major military facility. The allied forces would use it as a springboard for a large-scale air operation against a flying heavy command cruiser that is singlehandedly harassing the player's friendly forces across the continent. That primary objective is split into three operations:
[A] Supporting a tank battalion approaching the primary objective from the east. [B] Providing escort for a strategic bomber squadron destroying hardened defensive positions on the southern coast of the primary objective. [C] Support a friendly fleet as they approach the primary objective by sinking an enemy fleet that stands in their way. When two of these operations are completed, the opposing forces falls back to the air force base for its final stand. Once the enemy is routed the primary objective is complete and the mission is over. Full mission example. Since 2007 there have been a few other Ace Combat games with varying degrees of large-scale battles. A primary example of this being the long-gone Ace Combat Infinity inherently had to have a massive amount of non-player-controlled units to fight as the game specialized in 4 vs 4 multiplayer competitive co-op missions. Having enough targets for eight players to fight over is a considerable amount action happening in the same area. Honestly the airspace was absolutely chaotic. The Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation Dynamic Mission System is not something that is vital to the flight arcade genre as a whole, but in retrospect it is a fine tool to help players manage their situational awareness and better inform their decisions in combat. About the Writer Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza   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 ]

Recently I have lamented that there has been something of a lack of an intermediate in the flight game zeitgeist. A discussion with my fellow writer, Caio, a couple weeks ago had us bring up the value of what amounts to “simcade” style strategy and management in an otherwise simplistic flight model. These types of games, best remember by myself as Novalogic’s F-16/MiG-29 or F-22 series, used to be prevalent. What made these types of games so important to personal growth within the realm of combat aviation is how it gave you a way to grasp advanced concepts of air combat strategy and logistics without forcing a brutal flight model or promoting style over substance. Well, what a coincidence that development has recently completed on one of those old games to bring it into the 21 st  century. Digital Image Design's F-22: Air Dominance Fighter is back, now published by MicroProse, and it’s been updated with a significant set of quality-of-life features to give it a new lease in the modern day.

We received a pre-relase copy of this game, so we would like to thank Digital Image Design (DID) for this opportunity! Oh, COME on… Look, I’ve been burned enough by a lot of modern day ports and rereleases on Steam to immediately appreciate that there’s no janky startup issues here. But you know what sort of weirds me out? Initialization of the game. It takes an oddly long time to start up. I thought it might have just been a fluke, but after trying it on three different computers, the result is the same. Subsequent startups are far faster, but it made me joke about whether this was a design decision to emulate how long this would have taken to power up on a Pentium II. The decision to start the game with a windowed menu is appreciated, It’s nostalgically straightforward. Entering a mission is just as pleasant. The game just starts. I just… love it. It might sound silly to focus on, but in a world of instant gratification, consider these simple gestures gratifying instantly. This will dump you right into the cockpit however. Before taking the plunge, hit up options first to tune your controls. These resolutions almost feel like a joke with this interface… Temper your graphical expectations. Why shouldn’t you? This is for all intents and purposes the original game. But it acts as an interesting demonstration of what a resolution bump can provide to ease the eyes and up playability. Additionally, I recommend the same expectations for sound and music design. These are the original effects, and as a result I couldn’t help but feel like I was flying along to music from Sim City for a good portion of the time. Maybe this is why music is disabled by default in options… F-22 in flight. But I want to get into the meat and potatoes of what’s been retained and what’s been added here. Besides just the resolution bump, the biggest upgrade touted is the implementation of head tracking. This feels… anachronistic. It absolutely works, and works well. Just as well as you would want it to. It’s smooth and capable, but it feels almost foreign when using a basic flight stick (A Thrustmaster T16000.M). In fact, it feels like it took me longer to figure out how to get the joystick to work. The Settings menu fails to mark the joystick setting, only hinting at it with a “Calibrate” button.

I had to restart the game to get this to appear correctly. I thought I was losing my mind… That said, I feel like I’m missing something here. For the life of me I couldn’t get my throttle slider to bind to anything. I confirmed it’s working in Windows, but I was forced to use the keyboard for a significant amount of control. I confess I never got a chance to play this game during it’s original release. I suspect this is a holdover from that. In my attempts to troubleshoot, I found a number of reviews that were lamenting the lack of support for modern HOTAS. That confirmed my suspicions.  In the spirit of simplicity and control I decided to put the stick aside and revert to keyboard control. It’s odd to say, but this is actually where the game seems to shine. Though you have to make sure you’re using a full size or 90% board, as the numpad is extremely important for systems navigation.

Testing in Quick Combat, I found myself more than capable of engaging and maneuvering against anything I came across. Within the 10 minute window I walked away with eight kills, including five against attacking MiG-21’s. I don’t think I’ve been this successful with keyboard control in a flight game since… ever. However to become this successful you should familiarize yourself with the help section often. It’s a boon that it can be brought up during live gameplay and is easy to position around the screen. Without it, I would have failed. SPLASH! Bandit down! But the gameplay loop is something that I want to emphasize. Using your MFD’s and a host of hotkeys for flight control, you’re forced to deal with your limited armament and system management much like you would in a real fighter, albeit with a number of QoL improvements on how to select from those MFD’s, as they act more as “touchscreens” to keep you from having to use buttons to navigate. They are highly simplified, but force you into introductory skills for weapons management and radar control. You have to select your targets from radar to lock, for example, much like you would be expected to do in a real fighter (HOTAS notwithstanding). Example of gameplay (Tupo's Aviation Channel) To anyone that’s played DCS, this seems almost infantile, but it comes back around to what I feel is a missing step from arcade flight shooter to full simulator. It’s the stepping stone to understanding true combat control, and this is what I ended up reminiscing about most during the play through. There is a fairly large selection of missions for your campaign ranging from basic training to a full tour of duty across the Middle East where you take control not only of the namesake fighter, but also of an E-3. Yes, you get to be AWACS in this game, and quite often too. Unfortunately for the life of me I just could not get control to function right. I tried to perform the correct actions to vector the fighters under my control towards intrusions across the border, but I couldn’t get the commands to function right. I really don’t know if this is just me. I need more time with it, but if it is a larger problem, it will create an issue for campaign completion. Regardless I love the concept. Going back to the idea of beginner logistical understanding, this is a great introduction to the importance of real-time air battle management. But do I LIKE it? Do I think it’s worth $24.99? Hmm… Here’s the thing. I think that in this genre, with the realization that we’re still stuck with older games to provide this intermediate flight simcade experience that I find has a lot of value as a stepping stone, the somewhat newer Novalogic F-22 Lightning III is a better choice. BUT— Try starting that game up from download and it just doesn’t work right. Remember how I said that it’s so satisfying that the game just starts up? Yeah, that has a quality all of it’s own. I don’t like the idea of a game that doesn’t work out of the box discouraging a budding flight simmer from growing into the genre. That’s what I give to F-22 ADF right now. I really need them to support HOTAS control to really make this work. People WANT to play this game, and I think it deserves a look beyond a historical curiosity.

I think it’s release provides the ability to get people thinking about these types of games again, and that we deserve them just as much today as we did back then. Despite the modern day updates, I really need a better control patch enabled first before I can recommend it at full price. It deserves to be more than that curiosity, and if the implementation of head-tracking is any indication, the devs think so too. I’ll be watching to see if there’s more to this. We deserve development of these sorts of flight games in the present day, and I think it has potential as an important stepping stone.

About the Writer T.J. "Millie" Archer T.J. "Millie" Archer is Life-long realist and aviation enthusiast. Once the co-founding Administrator of the Electrosphere.info English Ace Combat Database. In the present day he is freelance, roving the internet in search of the latest aviation news and entertainment. [ Read Staff Profile ]

After being in development for quite a while, Tinker Pilot has finally come out in Early Access on Steam! This small indie title is one that we had kept our eye on for quite a while, because it offered something that we found extremely appealing: Total VR cockpit customization.
Usually in VR games you are stuck with having your flight controls placed wherever the developer puts them, which most of the time is for good reason since you will be flying a simulated version of a real aircraft. In the case of space flight sims, that doesn't have to apply since 5-3 designers make up whatever they want! Tinker Pilot takes this concept and let's YOU, the player, design your own cockpit layout. It is the entire point of this game, hence the Tinker in Tinker Pilot. BUILD YOUR OWN COCKPIT While unintuitive at first, and a bit overwhelming, the cockpit editor proved to be by far the most polished aspect of this title. You can build your own layout using 3D models of your own IRL hardware and place it in the virtual cockpit in the same position that it is IRL. From throttles, to sticks and pedals, the game lets you decide how close to your real life set up you will get. In my case, there was no Winwing Ursa Minor stick or Thrustmaster pedals, so I made do with what was available. Fret not, that if you want, you can also import your own 3D models that represent your hardware! I spent around 45 minutes making my virtual cockpit, adding arm rests made from supports and placing screens around to better suit my workflow, including some virtual buttons wherever they fit in a logical manner. Once I was done binding my controls, it took no effort at all to get flying straight away. The tutorial is very straightforward and dummy-proof, and you will find yourself navigating space in glorious 6DoF in no time at all. EARLY ACCESS CONTENT VACUUM Content-wise, the game is a bit lacking as of the writing of this video. I was done with most of the content the game had to offer, which are three separate scenarios including two trials and a recovery mission, in around 35 to 45 minutes. I am sure this can be a problem for some people, hence why we are discussing it here. Once the game has more content, I can guarantee that it will be a blast to go through it all in your customized cockpit for your space fighter!

Keep an eye out for this title and its upcoming updates, because I will be doing that for sure. About the Author Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos Longtime aviation fanatic with particular preference towards military aviation and its history. Said interests date back to the early 2000s, leading into his livelong dive into civil and combat flight simulators. He has been involved in a few communities, but only started being active around the mid 2010s. Joined as a Spanish to English translator in 2017, he has been active as a writer and the co-founder of Skyward ever since. Twitter  | Discord : Cubeboy

Atmospheric Open World Minimalist Bush Flying Atop a wind battered mountain with snow flurries flying everywhere I set throttle to maximum and sent the aircraft down the runway. It would be hours before the sun would rise, but my now ladened bush plane side slipped and soared skyward into the inky sky. Using the flight instrument "Six Pack" and a basic GPS/GLONASS I narrowly avoided getting spatial disorientation flying in the pure darkness dotted by pockets of snow whipping by. Flood lights in the wings of the aircraft were the final tool needed to dodge trees and hills while I descended to the delivery destination. This is a common experience in Bush 1022 . Bush 1022 release trailer. Bush flight games and bush flying related add-ons seem to be on a bit of a rise lately. Though none of them have the same artistic direction and flight experience that Bush 1022 does. Between the varying weather and minimal player direction in an open world setting, even from the first few minutes of playing it I felt something like a low-grade wanderlust; I wanted to know what was behind every hill, what was on the other side of every lake and what the name of each location on the map could be hiding from me.  An article about this game will be coming to Skyward Flight Media in the future for sure. As I continue to play, my feelings about the game compelled me to reach out to the developer of Bush 1022 for an interview. Finding an airport with its lights on is a wonderful feeling during night flights. Thanks for accepting my rather sudden interview request. I was swept up by my feelings about Bush 1022 and had questions I just had to ask! Please introduce yourself. Hi, my name is Dimitar Stoyanov. I was born 1998 in Sofia, Bulgaria. My dad is a big Isaac Asimov fan, so even when we had little food to eat, there were always computers in the house, and I was strongly encouraged to use them. I spent most of my childhood playing PC games, some of my favorites being: NFS from HP2 to MW;  BF 1942, 2 and BC2; Colin McRae Rally 2 to 5; Call of Duty 1 to 6; And my favorite of all time: GTA SA. I feel very lucky to have grow up during, what feels like, the golden age of modern games. I've read that you are a software engineer. How did you become interested in indie game development?  Though I love software engineering, it mainly served to pay my bills. I was interested in game development since I was a kid. The first code I ever wrote was in the form of scripts for Arma 2 missions when I was 14, trying to make a Call of Duty-like campaign there :D What pushed me into taking indie game development more seriously was the pandering to shareholders and lack of care for customers from larger studios. Having all the technical knowledge to open my own studio and seeing the pain of my fellow gamers, it feels like my duty to provide something better for the community. I believe indie games are the future. Big investors are very far away from actual gamers and they mostly hire leadership with no vision to make fundamentally good games. How has your experience with game development been so far? I made my first small game in Unity back in 2019. Since then I've made many little, unpublished projects that got nowhere. In 2025 I felt like just making stuff has no true value, so it became my goal to publish whatever I make. I shifted to Godot and made "N-body Problem" to learn the fundamentals. My first game jam entry was "Bush 522" a bit after. I then made "Bush 1022" to learn the Steam deployment pipeline and see how I can set up a business around it. I wanted my first Steam game to be something I love, so even if it would have very few fans, I'd always be around to support them. It breaks my heart when I see an abandoned game. While doing some basic research about you, I came across your dev blog. I have seen a mix of posts about personal interests and snippets of code. What are you planning to do with your blog in the future?  I'm currently shifting my blog towards things I have fun discussing with my friends. My latest post on AI is a topic we often argue about. Since I also get a lot of books as gifts, the next posts are likely to be literature essays. I also want to document the techniques behind my FOSS way of making music, showing alternatives to Apple and Microsoft's ecosystems, but I still have problems with live looping. At some point I'll probably shift to a platform that allows people to write comments on my posts. I originally chose Hugo because I love writing very technical content in markdown. Completing a hard delivery and gaining multiple achievements at once. I first saw Bush 1022 on Itch.io  and Steam  a short time ago. Though I also see Bush 522 as the prototype to Bush 1022. What did you learn from your time developing Bush 522?  I learned about the importance vision. In my past failed projects, I would always start by planning the specific contents of the game first. Anything I could think of, I'd add to a long list of features, with the idea that I can remove it later if not needed. I'd always get completely swamped after development starts. In the game jam for Bush 522, I had 14 days to start and finish the project, so I had to change my approach to be on time. Instead of throwing random ideas at the wall, hoping for something to stick, I spent the first 2 days of the game jam away from my computer. I would get comfortable, close my eyes and just imagine how the final game looks like, how it plays, how it feels. I'd make drawings of the visuals and write down some of the perceived experiences. I realized that this is the game's core vision. I deeply understood the final game before making the first asset or writing the first line of code. The development process felt like a natural straight line, I knew exactly what I had to do at all times, what to focus on, what to ignore. I was finished with the game 3 days before the deadline. Basically, excluding the concept phase, Bush 522 was made in about a single week, and it was better than projects I had spent months on, simply because I focused on deeply understanding its core rather than the shell of attributes that make it up. This is a great point of view. Indie developers are usually solo devs or small teams of people. Time and resource management is especially important for them. Would you suggest that other aspiring developers join a Game Jam or challenge themselves to a short development period to see if their core idea is a viable concept for a game? Absolutely! I believe that for any potential long-term project, it's best to get as much feedback, as early as possible. Had I done this for my previous dragged-out projects, I'd probably be able to see my lack of vision early and either adapt or cancel them before spending too much time on something that's fundamentally flawed. As a solo developer with aspirations to expand and start my own studio, every minute of work counts a lot  and I am super precise with how I spend the very little time I have. The feedback of a game jam can quickly give an answer if the time spent is wise. The atmosphere of Bush 1022 is quite interesting for a simcade. Even during the day time it feels subdued and mysterious. Why did you choose to go for this theme rather than something more "traditional" for games similar to this?  I wanted to build an aesthetic that would really capture the feeling of solitude in the remote wilderness. I did a bunch of drawings to get a feel of the colors and atmosphere for that. I didn't research any other games, so I wasn't influenced by the common patterns in the genre when it comes to the overall theme. Despite its very small file size of roughly 100MB, the feel of the game is massive. At the start of each new playthrough a new world is procedurally generated. What is the maximum world size? It could theoretically go on for millions of kilometers, the terrain loads in chunks, so there would be no resource overhead. I've made the world borders at 30km in each direction from the start, because the physics and graphics in vanilla Godot are calculated with 32-bit floats, and that's about the limit before small glitches can be noticed. Float is a data type that becomes more inaccurate as the difference of magnitude between the values it does arithmetic with increases. Basically, the small change of the aircraft's position between each frame becomes more imprecise as the aircraft's global coordinate values grow. You can observe this in many other games if you go way outside the playable area. There are, of course, ways to fix this, but it would take a lot of development time, and I feel like it won't bring any value to just have a larger game world for the sake of having a larger game world. From the player's point of view, I think that a procedurally generated map is beneficial for replay ability. As it is a different experience each time the player starts a new playthrough. From the developer's point of view, is maintaining procedural generation in the long-term a challenge at all? The purely technical part is not a challenge for me. However, when it comes to how the game feels, a huge challenge for future content is to design the generation patterns in a way that doesn't feel repetitive. Replayability becomes truly valuable only when each playthrough feels unique in a way. I feel like I'm not there yet, but it's what I'm aiming for. I have not completed a full playthrough of my first seed yet, but on average how many checkpoints and airports are there in each seed? There are 100 checkpoints, 5 of which are airports. Landing on 40 unique checkpoints is enough when completing a regular playthrough, only the "Master" goal section requires landing on every single one. The last tab of the travel list shows specifics about how many of the checkpoints are hidden or are water platforms, should be about 50 each. A section of the world map for the current playthrough. Why did you prefer an open world game instead of a more linear style game?  I love the freedom of open world games and my technical background gives me an advantage when it comes to world-building algorithms. I feel like good linear games are made of all the things I'm bad at making, and until I grow my studio, aren't the best use of my very limited resources. I appreciate that the delivery system gives players some structure for their gameplay, but is not too complicated. What are your thoughts on it? Do you have any plans to make changes to deliveries?  10A. I don't like the lack of control in the current system. You could end up in an area where you only have very long and difficult deliveries to do. I'm currently thinking of overhauling it in a way where the player can have much more specific options on the types of deliveries to do. I want to still keep it simple, though. Delivery menu as seen at any checkpoint. The combination of the terrain players must land in, the simplified flight model and the weather sometimes makes me wonder if a more advanced flight model would be beneficial. What are your thoughts on this?  Not sure if more advanced, but I think it could make the game more fun for the flight model to be affected more by temperature and precipitation. Ground effect is also something that has been requested. So yeah, I'm thinking of expanding the flight model, but only for increasing the game's depth and fun, not for chasing realism. How has feedback from the community around Bush 1022 been?  The feedback so far has been mostly positive. There are some very thorough player stories, and there are a lot of requests for new features. I feel like people are seeing this game a bit like a foundation for something bigger. I love that, and it's a big motivation for me to grow it further. You have mentioned a general roadmap for this game in 2026, but also that this year you have a new project that will be your main focus. What do you think is the ideal final version of Bush 1022?  I don't see an ideal final version. For me it's an iterative process of always adding something new and improving the player experience. I want to tailor the game to what the community wants. Broadly, I feel like the right direction is to grow the game's depth, give more soul to the remote world you're flying in, and give the players more things to do. Once all of that is covered, I'm sure the community will come up with more requests. This may be a little bit early to ask, but is there anything we can learn about your new project right now?  I planned to make prototypes for a kit-car builder rally game and an architecture simulator, but Bush 1022 has been performing well recently and is back to being my main focus at the moment. When the timing feels right, I'll join a cool game jam and release a small version of what I've planned, like I did with Bush 522 -> Bush 1022. I want to get user feedback on my ideas as early as possible into the development process. Thank you for your time and effort with Bush 1022. Playing it has been a good experience so far. I look forward to seeing it develop some more. I appreciate you taking time to talk to me about a few things.  These were some awesome questions, I gained some extra insight myself while answering! I'm glad that you're enjoying my game, I wasn't prepared for many people to play it, let alone being interviewed about it. I really appreciate the support, I love the positive community that's starting to build up. Thank you! Connect with Bush 1022 by Dimitar Stoyanov Itch.io Steam Website About the Writer Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza 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 Staff Profile .

A Distinctive Way of Unlocking Aircraft Variety of aircraft is often a core element of flight games. The larger the catalog of aircraft the more appealing a title is. Whether it is a dozen decent representations of fighter jets or a small selection of almost perfectly modeled wide body airliners, the big question is always: how does someone get access to all those aircraft? Is it expansive tech trees like in War Thunder or using in-game credits to purchase aircraft after they're unlocked during campaign progress like in Project Wingman? No matter the quantity or quality of the aircraft, if the method of gaining access to them is not done well, unlocking them all may be a short-term headache but a long-lasting detraction against the game's identity (looking at you, Ace Combat 5). Having put in a lot of time with these types of games, the aircraft unlock system in the demo for Blue Sky Aces  by Curious Dog games continues to stand out in my mind. I enjoy the concept behind it and wanted to go into detail. Though, I had a bit of difficulty trying to double check some things as I had already cleared the demo long ago and wiping save data to start over again is a bit of a complicated process. So instead, I reached out to developer Brent with Curious Dog games to double check the details. Blue Sky Aces uses a mix of point-based progression and time-based progression to unlock aircraft. Each aircraft from The Great War uses the historical date they entered service as the date they become available in game. This technological limit is in place for all countries the players can fly with: Austria-Hungary, Britain, France, Germany and Russia. The score for each mission is calculated at the end of the mission. Victories in a mission give more points, but losses still contribute points towards moving time forward as well. As the in-game date moves forward aircraft are unlocked as they became available during the actual war. The developer mentioned that in the full game there are ideas on how to adjust this progression system for the single player experience: "I can see the campaign and career game modes working a bit like this too, which would allow you to reset back to the beginning of the war, or start from whatever date and time you wanted to. I think the thing about a single player game is that people are going to play it for different reasons, and that's okay as they're not impacting other players. If someone wants to fly a Fokker DVII against a Airco DH2 then we should let them, but we should also cater for those that want a more authentic experience." -Brent, Curious Dog Games, February 3rd, 2026 In the demo the starting year is 1915. There are a handful of game modes that players fly short missions in. The time progression system is accelerated for the sake of demonstrating the game's concepts, but it still sets the framework for scenarios where the player can find themselves at a technological advantage or disadvantage for certain periods of time. The same way the real pilots of World War I had to fly and fight no matter how advanced or aged their aircraft were. While this can be experienced in the demo, the prospect of it being shown in a full campaign potentially for each country is rather appealing. While not ideal in a real war, perhaps frequently flying less capable aircraft against more capable enemies would be a refreshing type of challenge. An early war dogfight between Airco DH2s, Morane Saulnier Bullets and Fokker EIII. In the demo each aircraft does have a limited set of upgrades that can be unlocked with frequent use of an aircraft. Like engine upgrades or machine gun upgrades. While helpful in extending the usefulness of an aircraft, it does not replace the value of getting an all-around better built aircraft. Extending how long it takes for a new aircraft to be unlocked also makes obtaining new, more capable aircraft much more impactful. A stark contrast to the common patterns in flight action games where something like unlocking a F-15C in one mission then unlocking a Eurofighter Typhoon just one mission later happens frequently. Normally in flight action games like these the aircraft and weapon capabilities of players and their computer enemies and allies are somewhat balanced. Except for any big story driven battles, of course. Normally it is in flight simulators where the impact of technology is more tangible. Having this experience in a game like Blue Sky Aces is somewhat refreshing. My thanks to Brent with Curious Dog games for answering my quick question and for continuing work on the game. Connect with 'Blue Sky Aces' Discord Steam YouTube About the Writer Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza   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 ]

Appreciating the message of a returning developer Can you believe it has been three years since Flashpoint Studios published a substantial update for Aggressor ? After years of public facing inactivity in development, across social media and other places I eventually left the Discord sever as well. I never uninstalled Aggressor, but it certainly slipped from my mind over time. So, from my point of view, seeing a Steam update and a new post on January 9th, 2026, felt like having a lightning bolt strike somewhere near my house. Memories Back in 2021 and 2022, Skyward Flight Media provided coverage  about Aggressor and had an interview with the lead developer. Aggressor was not a project that entered early access so early it made you question if it was a half working alpha test. Before development halted, Aggressor was a working game. The game had tutorials, faction specific campaign missions, a credit system to purchase aircraft and weaponry and a few instant action game modes. Some of these game modes being so robust players could partake in 60 vs 60 aircraft battles with ease (depending on PC specs, of course). Something even in the year 2026 I struggle to think of similar flight games being capable of. My last vivid memory of it was during the one-year anniversary in 2022. I was having a great time with the game back then. So, the sudden stop in development was rather confusing. During the 1-year anniversary air-to-air missiles carried firework warheads. Explanation of Ambition Upon the return in 2026, Aggressor has new content and even a bit of an updated look. That is something I will be more than happy to get into now that Aggressor is back up and soaring again. However, I feel like what should be highlighted first is the explanation as to why things happened the way they did. In 2023 work on a new game mode in private began. To be known as 'Frontlines' it would be a game mode that emulated a full-scale, theatre wide war. Players would even be able to construct and manage their own air bases as the conflict unfolded. The locations this war would take place in would be dynamic using procedural generation for the world's terrain. Hearing this makes the massive battles in real time strategy games come to mind. The developer expresses that completing 'Frontlines' was the driving force for development at the time. However, the motivation to develop and the hurdles of development are a constant see-saw. Where progress was being made in certain areas more complex concepts did not have as much-expected progress. The airport construction and management game mechanic is mentioned specifically. Full time development of Aggressor while running into difficult roadblocks eventually caused the developer to take a step back and realize that inspiration had left them. A new project was started to clear their head, Aggressor was reevaluated, the game was shelved and life moved on. In March 2025 the developer regained momentum by "shifting gears" in development after they had a realization about Aggressor as a whole. Value in Transparency I believe there is real value in the message Flashpoint Studios has given. On its face it is a direct and somewhat vulnerable explanation to supporters that purchased Aggressor years ago and have been waiting for news about it. But in my opinion, there is a genuine value in the message to any established or aspiring indie developer. My biggest takeaway from the statement is that the ambition to make the identity of Aggressor something definitively unique amongst its peers ultimately led to the developer overextending beyond the game's original scope. This then led to severe burn out that halted all development of future content and in turn halted support of the game in the short-term. "Feature creep" may come to mind, but I believe this is a bit different. This wasn't a case of a developer spending months adding a dozen small features while ignoring the core of the product. This seems to be a case of a developer seeing success within their original focus but pushing far beyond the original scope, maintaining focus on the new initiative despite the seemingly insurmountable technical hurdles they came up against despite the effort harming the most valuable assets of any developer: determination and interest. Let's quote an important part of the statement from the developer: "If I could do it all again, I would not have strayed so far from the game's original vision. The initial plan for it was to just be a fun quick-action air combat experience. No mission builder, no procedural airports, no first person view even. Perhaps the game would be in a better place now had these original guidelines been respected. Unfortunately, what's done is done and all the time lost serves as a stark reminder of the consequences. This is not the only reason Aggressor has taken so long, but it has been the key issue. This ends now. I believe the right thing to do at this point is to move on and ensure the mistakes that were made are not repeated." - Flashpoint Studios Developer Statement, January 9th, 2026. Ultimately any project is a "passion" project. This is especially true for indie developers who challenge themselves to learn new skill sets to create the flight games all of us enjoy. They do this alongside their day jobs and daily lives more often than not. The motivation to use personal free time to pursue their projects is a quite a choice. When a developer loses the drive to work on even something they were initially passionate about, it is no wonder that so many projects suddenly halt or gradually taper off over time. I hope other developers out there - no matter if they are already hard at work or beginning to draft their first ideas - take note of this story. I would like to send a firm welcome back to Flashpoint Studios and their work on Aggressor . Next time I talk about this game it will be about what is new, how it plays and experience with the newer, complicated bits. Connect with 'Aggressor' Discord Steam X.com YouTube About the Writer Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza   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 ]

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 Press Kit Steam Website About the Writer Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza   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 ]