Are there any good flight smulators *besides* MS Flight Simulator?

The Game Room
1

Short intro: I got a new desktop this summer. I have winter weekends coming up. I hate subscriptions, I’m not a fan of MicroSoft, and I understand MSFS went subscription. Gawd, that’s like the shortest intro I’ve ever done!

Are there any other flight simulators worth checking out?

Tripler
I gotta break up my BattleTech time with something else. . .

2

I like X-plane. Graphics aren’t as good as MSFS, but aerodynamics is as good. Also it lets you build your own planes, so I can put my actual airplane in it as well as my fantasy napkin sketch designs.

3

Also, if you don’t mind combat:

You might be able to find some of the old Microprose / Jane’s games on abandonware sites too.

And there are a ton of space combat sims.

4

Also, I don’t think this is true. You can play it on Gamepass, true, but you can also buy the standalone copy on Steam or elsewhere. And the older editions are still around too and have a ton of add-ons.

I do think 2024 is harder to play offline because it streams terrain from the internet. Maybe that’s what you heard?

5

If you’re open to completely different genres, RoadCraft on Steam gives you a ton of heavy machinery to twirl your stick at. Dozers, cranes, dump trucks, logging trucks, and more. A lot of fun to control them with an analog stick.

And there are several stick-compatible Mechwarrior games now, if you wanna continue the Battletech from a first/third-person angle.

6

Another vote for X-Plane, I prefer it to MSFS although to be fair, I haven’t used MS’s product since circa Y2k.

Use it with the rudders and yoke for better authenticity…