I already dove pretty deeply into the beta a few weeks ago, but Microsoft provided me with an early review copy of the final release of the premium version, so it’s worth taking a second look at what you’ll get.īut since Microsoft and Asobo Studios decided to almost build a digital twin of our planet in Flight Simulator - and because the only way to do that is to use machine learning instead of placing every object by hand - you’ll still find plenty of oddness in the world, too. The cheapest way to give the game a spin is to subscribe to the Xbox Game Pass for a month, because the standard edition is now part of Microsoft’s subscription program, and if you’re a new subscriber, the first month only costs $1. Rest assured, though, especially if this is your first outing in Flight Simulator, with the base version you can still land at the same 36,000 airports as the others, and there are more than enough planes to keep you occupied - you’ll just miss out on a few extras (and if you really want to, you can buy upgrades to the more premium versions later). You can find the details of which airports and planes are included in each version here. If you want access to more planes and hand-crafted airports, you will need to buy either the $89.99 deluxe version or, for even more of those, the $119.99 premium version. Pricing starts at $59.99 for the standard version of Flight Simulator on both the Microsoft Store and Steam. The good news is, the new Microsoft Flight Simulator was worth the wait and, starting August 18, you’ll be able to see for yourself. When the company announced it would re-launch the franchise just over a year ago, using a new graphics engine and satellite data from Bing Maps, it sure created a lot of hype among both old fans and those who had never played the older version but were drawn to the next-gen graphics the company showed off in its trailer. It’s been 14 years since the launch of Flight Simulator X, which long seemed like it would be the final release in the long-running series.

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