Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024

Written by Sean Cahill on 1/24/2025 for PC  

“I love flight sims.”

This was how I opened my review of Microsoft Flight Simulator just over four years ago, and nothing has changed. I still love flight sims and I’ve expanded the gear I have in order to make it easier to play them. I have a couple of HOTAS options, rudder controls, and an Octavi Navigation Unit that helps me with long-haul flights. Needless to say, I was prepared for the launch of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and after putting in a lot of time and effort, I can say that I’m equal parts satisfied and perplexed. Why, you ask? Well….

Let’s do some comparisons, shall we?

In my FS2020 review, I made no qualms about how blown away I was with the graphics. The jump in quality was nothing short of spectacular, and while there’s a noticeable jump between FS2020 and FS2024, it’s not as stark. This was expected, though the more I played it, the more the differences stuck out to me. It isn’t in the big things like cloud textures or high-rises, honestly. It’s the little details. Flying over the suburbs of a city in FS2020, it was easier to tell that some things just weren’t textured all that well. In the latest iteration, it’s far more difficult to tell this. It’s a credit to the developers in testing their limits and pushing back that there wasn’t much they could improve upon. Also, a huge shout to making this installation a lot less painful with a smaller amount of local data needed. So long as the servers aren’t overloaded with users, like the first couple of days post-launch, you’ll be fine.

The game modes have some similarities, though the standout in FS2024 is the career mode, though it’s not all for good reasons. I love the idea of starting off as a person who has never stepped foot in a cockpit and learning how to fly. It’s honestly a huge reason to pick this up. Licensing exams are there to test your knowledge of what to do, how to fly, etc. Yes, you’re going to screw up. I couldn’t tell you how many times I botched a landing or misjudged how fast my plane could turn, only to barrel roll into some trees or buildings. That’s part of the challenge: You’re not just flying to do high-speed flybys of areas. You’re actually learning how to pilot properly.

But herein lies the problem: There is so much that has to be done going from step to step that career mode becomes an absurd grind to climb the levels. Each activity and step up requires certain requirements satisfied, and while I understand that to an extent, I feel like there’s just too much there. That being said, an easy palette cleanser is to take a break from career mode and go do some free flights or landing challenges. It’s all there and it’s very easy to jump into a flight, just like it was in FS2020.

One of my biggest issues with this game was not having an easy way to transfer flight settings from the last game to this one. Setting up controllers from scratch was tedious, and honestly I struggled the first week or so before I got comfortable….only for the game to erase my profile and force me to set it up again. Utilizing the Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog and Turtle Beach Velocity One, each one took almost an hour to set up. You can probably picture my frustration and colorful language when I logged in and found my controls were gone.

Also, there’s no getting around it: This game is not going to be for everyone because the amount of controls you have to remember is still pretty crazy. Remember, this isn’t like loading up Ace Combat 7 and just picking up a controller and blowing up 300 targets in the simplest possible way. Everything requires knowing what controls to hit and when, or you find yourself crashing in a hurry because you didn’t understand how your flaps work. 

The Flight Plan might be the best part of this game.

While I’ve learned some of the tips and tricks of flying in this game, I’m certainly not ready for a cross-country or intercontinental flight just yet. That being said, the Flight Plan tool is an incredible addition to the Flight Simulator series, even if it feels wildly extra and over the top. Technically speaking, this is not part of the game but rather a browser-based tool that lets you fully map out a flight plan as if you were a real pilot. Players select everything: Their airplane of choice, the route, IFR or VFR, how much fuel to carry, everything that goes into the planning of a standard flight. Now, it is a bit annoying to load that flight plan into the game but it’s so worth it to get the full feel.

I would strongly recommend that progressing in career mode be the main goal and getting deep into it before learning how to use the Flight Plan, but I cannot stress just how cool it is. Also, there’s no registration other than just logging into your Xbox account on your browser to get to it. One sign-in and you’re into the tool. Poke around in it, see if you can figure it out, but you can also default to Youtube videos for some assistance.

There are so many aircraft to choose from for different activities.

It’s not just about flying regular airplanes now. Yes, all of the familiar types of aircraft are there from FS2020, including some new options. I have my favorites, such as the Cirrus SR22 and the Vision Jet SF50. Flying the smaller private craft is what really interests me the most, though the game does a great job of training you to learn how to fly the large passenger jets like the Airbus A321. In this game, though, there is far more than just flying jets. Helicopters, crop dusters, rally racers, gliders, and even hot air balloons are all available in FS2024. Full disclosure: I am god awful at flying helicopters in this game. My longest “successful” flight in one was roughly five minutes, but it’s also on me to learn how to actually fly it. Personally, I love sticking with the planes and crop dusting is weirdly fun.

Overall, you’ll have access to 70 aircraft in the standard edition, an extra ten in the deluxe edition, and a further 15 in the premium deluxe edition. Included in the premium deluxe is the Airbus Helicopter H225, the Beechcraft King Air (an old staple of the private airline industry), and several Boeing aircraft including the Dreamliners and Supertanker. 

All of those little things I mentioned before add up to a great experience when flying.

Of all the things I’ve mentioned, one of the most noticeable changes in-game is the weather. While it still isn’t perfect, the clouds are a huge improvement from FS2020. They actually cast shadows properly and form actual formations. I’ve noticed that there’s a bit of a lag when storms are going through an area and when a city actually gets that live weather. Again, not perfect, but if you really want to find the worst weather pattern out there like a hurricane or a line of severe weather, it’s easy enough to do.

A nice improvement is communication with air traffic controllers. In FS2020, I couldn’t tell you how many times I heard an angry controller asking, begging, or demanding me giving them an update for my flight plan and I didn’t respond because I was still learning and had no idea how to do it, or simply didn’t care because I was just flying around for the fun of it. Hearing the words “Flight assistance cancelled. GOOD DAY!” was a pretty common occurrence for me early on in FS2020. In this game, though? A lot of it is automated. The game will handle communication just to get you out of the currently flight area and there’s no angry response from the tower as you blast through a city in an F-18. I greatly appreciate that.

All of that being said, there’s a huge elephant in the room.

If you’ve read this far, you’ve probably been waiting for the other shoe to drop. It’s kind of a staple of my reviews and, admittedly, I try to mix in some constructive criticism with all of my praise. There hasn’t been much this time around, but that’s because I needed to save the big thing for its own section:

As fun as this game is and all of the improvements, I cannot help but feel like this game could have been an update to 2020 and not its own game. That might be unfair, but a robust career mode? That probably could have been patched into the original game. The updates to flight planning? Absolutely could have been added. New aircraft, points of interest, challenges? Yep, all could be patched in.

Look, I’m grateful for all of the upgrades and I love career mode even though it’s an absolute mess at times. I get that this game isn’t just for PC and new versions should be released because hardware has improved, but on the PC side? I really don’t like that this was its own game. I know this sounds weird after all the praise I’ve heaped on it, but that feeling has hung over me since just a couple hours into the game. I still love it and I will continue to play it. I’m still grateful that the installation doesn’t take up a gigantic portion of my SSD, but yeah. I needed to get that out there.

So….is it worth picking up or no?

That is a complicated question to answer. First off, let’s get the basics out of the way:

The Standard version will run you $69.99. The Deluxe edition currently goes for $99.99. The Premium Deluxe edition will cost you $129.99. The top level edition, called the Aviator edition, will run you $199.99 and includes an extra thirty planes that were released between 2021-2024.

If this is your first foray into the Microsoft Flight Simulator world, then I’d say it’s a good time to pick it up. It’s the most robust version in the series and if you have a powerful system, flying never looked so good. You will not regret grabbing it even with no prior experience.

If you already own FS2020, there is an argument to be made that waiting for a sale is the way to go, especially with career mode still feeling like a grindy mess. I hope that Microsoft has some plans to alleviate the pain of grinding away but I’m not sure there’s an easy way to do it. Early on I was bouncing between the two games to see the major differences, and while graphically it’s a noticeable difference, FS2020 is still worth playing while you wait for a price drop. 

Again, I know this sounds a bit crazy given I gushed about the game and what’s in it, but outside of the career mode, a lot of the modes are quite similar. It truly depends on just how much you’re itching for a new experience and how much time you put into FS2020.

Let’s wrap it up and take to the skies.

I really wish I didn’t have the feeing that this game should have been an update because I’d slap a higher score on it than what I’m giving it. Even then, FS2024 is still a pretty great game that is deep with features. There are countless hours of gameplay to enjoy and for the true enthusiasts of the series, this is just another way to extend the addiction. For newcomers to the series, it’s no question that this is the best entry to come into. I’d probably recommend just grabbing the Standard edition for now if you’re a newcomer, and if you have Xbox PC Game Pass, it’s available on there to try out with your subscription.