Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 finally adds the progression modes fans have been asking for

Playing Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is one of the most unique experiences I’ve encountered in quite some time. It teeters between deep sim and a more traditional game. The 40-year-old franchise has dedicated itself to giving simmers (and players) the tools to feel like they can authentically pilot a plane in the sky. However, developer Team Asobo felt as though they had more to address when it came to community feedback.

While not straying away from its flight simulator roots, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 gameifies the progression loop in a way I’ve not experienced before. Granted my exposure to the franchise is minimal, I had been blown away by the technical advancements and ambition of 2020’s Microsoft Flight Simulator. While genuinely feeling as though I was sitting in the cockpit of a Cessna 208 B Grand Caravan, I found myself craving meaningful progression––something I could work towards and feel rewarded for. Turns out, I wasn’t alone.

Since bringing Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 to Xbox Series X/S and most impressively, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Team Asobo has been working towards this next technical leap. The developers have been focusing their efforts on improving stability, futureproofing the architecture, and adding interactivity within the world. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is said to have “more complex aviation operations than any other flight sim.” Speaking with Jorg Neumann, Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator, it was clear this next entry is positioned to be a big deal for its fan base.

Making Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 a technological leap is no easy feat

Team Asobo has made huge strides in optimization and expanding

If you haven’t played Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 on a PC or console, let me catch you up. It’s without a shadow of a doubt one of the most meticulous and technologically impressive experiences I’ve witnessed. The simulator allows players to fly 70 aircrafts from 150 upgraded airports around the globe. Featuring true-to-life weather, architecture, and wildlife, all are 3D rendered using photogrammetry. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 aims to improve the stability of its game by making core updates to the sim experience. This includes reduced installation and load times, which if you’re playing on a console is a relief as its predecessor can reach upwards of 200GBs. By loading on demand, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 can reduce the storage and bandwidth demands from players by only downloading what’s needed at the time.

“We basically said, we need to do this differently,” Neumann says. “We need to stream it from the cloud. When you fly towards an airport in 2020, it loads in everything. Every character, every little cart, everything. You don’t even see it, it’s sub-pixel. It’s not even there. But you load in memory. It’s the least optimal way to do it. Now we changed that. We literally only load on demand. By putting it in the cloud, we can now get tons more stuff [in the game].”

With a reduction in installation and memory loading, Team Asobo is now able to concentrate on improving the sim experience and making this “digital twin” more realistic. This includes adding ground and water collisions, making the landing feel more real. There is interactive physics, where having cargo or a banner attached to your aircraft can affect the takeoff. Realism is also a major focal point, as always with Microsoft Flight Simulator. This new entry is adding to its ray tracing with enhanced shadows on the buttons within the cockpit and bricks on the exterior of airports. There’s even new wear and tear, where glass will build scratches throughout a flight.

While these small details may go unnoticed by general players, it makes no difference for Team Asobo. It’s about creating a virtual world that can be as immersive as possible. Replicating weather patterns, adding as many finite details to an aircraft, and generating global cities, airports, etc. It’s all the name of the game for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. Neumann and his team even went out of their way to take animal assets from Zoo Tycoon in order to accurately inhabit the world with animals––strictly to build out the World Photography mode. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will also continue leveraging the community to fill its marketplace with new assets, designs, and potentially new modes in the future.

“Cities, at some point or another, were the strongest point in Flight Simulator 2020. They might become the weakest point. People will find Central Park in the helicopter. Next thing [they’ll] say is, ‘Why are there no people and where the cars and why can’t I see the license plates?’ I know [that’s] going to come. You can get infinitesimally small. I think it’s cool, and I think this digital twin has lots of potential applications for other stuff. If somebody would say ‘I want to make a golf game. I want to shoot golf balls from the Grand Canyon’. I don’t want to make a golf game. But it doesn’t mean somebody else shouldn’t be able to. And I think that’s neat, like, because we have the software. There are 400 or 500 companies that make stuff for Flight Sim. I’ve already met people that make ships and they want to make racetracks for cars, motorcycles and sailboats. It’ll show up in the marketplace. People can play it and use Planet Earth for whatever.”

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 should speak to more casual players with new progression systems

For those who aren’t invested in flight sims, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 leans into traditional gameplay modes

Microsoft/Team Asobo

Although I dabbled in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 for 10 hours or so, it never kept its hook in me. That’s largely because I never left like I was working towards anything more than being the best pilot on this side of the virtual Mississippi. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 incorporates a bunch of new systems to make meaningful changes to player ownership and progression. Rather than adding traditional missions to the sim, Team Asobo incorporates objectives such as a full-fledged Career, Challenge League, Specializations, and World Photographer modes. On top of that, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 adds character customization and the ability to walk around your plane and interact with it before taking off.

During my hands-on demo, I made a beeline to the Career mode. As I craved to discover a way to properly be onboarded as a novice player, the Career mode served as the best option. Here, I made my pilot, customizing the appearance, and facial structure––all of which accommodate diverse pilots appropriate to locations around the world. Career mode had me undergoing training through a progression tree in the hope of passing my certification. Being a Toronto resident, I selected Downsview Airport as my training ground. I was promptly taught the step-by-step method of how to get a little two-seater aircraft off the ground. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 can be as complex as flying an actual plane at times. With simmers using flight rigs worth over $2,000 in some cases. On the controller, it can seem overwhelming at times. Career mode did a fantastic job of walking me through the basic controls while peppering in some more advanced techniques along the way.

There are also specializations. Creating more objective-based activities for players to take part in, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 lets players step into the cockpit of a cargo transport craft or charter flight plane. With objectives given to players, they’re given a score based on mission performance as well as aviator performance. The faster you complete a challenge, the better your score. Make fewer mistakes during your flight, and that will also reflect on your final grade. It’s a nice incentive to focus on accurate flight paths, smooth landings, and ensuring the objective is completed swiftly. During a Rally race, I was tasked with piloting a jet in a race against an AI. Of course, as the amateur I am, my piloting prowess wasn’t quite cutting it. It can be a little frustrating and daunting at first, but with a clear-cut objective and race markers on the map, I find an objective-based activity like the Rally races to be a refreshing addition to the gameplay loop. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is also introducing a weekly Challenge League, where simmers and players can take on challenges to place on the leaderboard. Over 10 weeks, players can compete to increase their standings on the ladder.

Microsoft/Team Asobo

Outside of challenges and competitive targets, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 also added its World Photographer mode. I’m already a die-hard in-game photography enthusiast, so this immediately struck a chord with me. This mode tasks players with flying around the globe, snapping photos under specific permutations. For instance, you can be asked to take a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge as you fly over it. However, you’ll get additional points if you take a photo of San Fransisco’s Financial District in the background at night with the moon in the frame. Utilizing the assets from Zoo Tycoon, players will also have the chance to snap a photo of some wildlife. For a title that’s supposed to be this incredibly rich and deep flight sim, it’s shocking to me how good a supplemental experience like World Photographer is.

Team Asobo has a way of exciting its audience in many ways

Microsoft/Team Asobo

Microsoft Flight Simulator has a dedicated and engaged audience. Fostering goodwill with simmers for over 40 years, fans around the world have been giving their feedback to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. This has helped pave a path forward for the development team. Part of the way Microsoft Flight Simulator generates excitement is by incorporating crossovers with properties that make sense. This has led to folding in aircrafts from Halo, Top Gun, and even Dune. “I was a little [worried] am I going to piss off the simmers,” Neumann remarked. “It was even worse when we did the Pelican from Halo. If you went to Flight Sim that day when it came out over New York, it looked like aliens had invaded Earth. There were 10s of thousands of Pelicans flying…Nobody ever said you’re breaking realism.”

It seems as though nothing is off the table as long as Team Asobo can wrap their minds around the design and work with the team responsible for said property. “We’ll do things like that in the future,” Neumann confirms. Without outright confirming what sort of crossovers may be on the horizon, Neumann acknowledges a Top 10 anticipated fictional aircrafts list circulating the web. “There’s stuff like Air Wolf, Blue Thunder, the Thunderbirds. There’s all these cool jets and stuff. And I think people want us to do those.”

There’s a genuine passion from the team when it comes to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. As someone who feels like an outsider to the property and community, I was surprised by how welcoming the in-game experience is. With this in mind, I think Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is shaping up to be a delight for life-long fans as well as an accessible entry point for admirers who may have felt nervous about taking their first flight.