DCS World Steam Edition

Played this game for almost 3 years now, very much recommend. If you're looking for the most realistic combat flight sim out there, this is it. It has many full fidelity favorites from different eras such as A-10, F-16C, F-14, F-18C, F-4E, AJS-37, MiG-15, MiG-21, MiG-29, Mirage F1, and a variety of helicopters(though mainly $60-80), and lower fidelity modules like the Su-27/33, MiG-29, F-15C (FC2024 bundle). I recommend buying on sales, which happen somewhat often, usually 30-50% off. Additionally, there are many free mods for this game that are very high quality, like F-22, Su-30, Su-35, and A-4. (Su-30/35 and A-4 are standalone, meaning you can fly them for free.) I started with just keyboard and mouse, but I highly, highly recommend using a joystick for this game. It has a very steep learning curve. Don't spend an hour downloading and expect to be in the air in 10 minutes, and kicking ass in an hour. It took like 3 weeks to learn how to actually be effective in my first full fidelity module, the F-16C, but the FC planes can be learned pretty quick, maybe a day or two to be able to fight some AI and some players. Using the mission editor, I've spent most of time creating missions of various realistic and unrealistic scenarios and playing them, or in multiplayer servers constantly dying. But when it all goes right, there is not a more rewarding feeling.

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its a great game indeed. i can learn how to steal an f16 from a cold start to launching cluster bombs (which are prohibited by the geneva conventioan btw) And i can also learn how to vaporize iraqi children with the A10 C II's machine gun. Its an awsome game if you have money, VR, Hotas, patience, and a lot and a whole lot of being able to hold your rage in. I can recommend it to anyone who actually wants to get a plane during a sale like the summer sale since all things are 50% off

Eagle Dynamics has a long history of treating their 3rd party flight model teams extremely poorly, outright not paying them like with the F-15E team. Now they want to release a $50 updated F-14 model. You already own the $80 older model? Tough ♥♥♥♥, buy more, spend more, more money. It's all they stand for and I am not longer going to be a paying customer. There is no telling the next product I buy from them will be completely stripped off the store. Eagle Dynamics is a team of con artists, using the talent of other people. I'm good.

Became my go-to game after a while of exploring and getting tired of most fan-favourite 3A titles I've never touched onto flight sims before and therefore tried out MSFS and DCS MSFS was great, for an airliner, where I flew with a basic joystick across the globe and visited my house irl... it's a great game and only game that does it well out there. However aside from that, all the planes are just a little dull and too sim-like. I wanted something with greater detail, better immersion, something fun. I loved the f/a-18 super hornet in MSFS so I watched a few yt vids and found DCS. Oh boy do I regret it. I've since spent around 600 bucks, on 2 better joysticks, 6 planes, a map and still going strong. I've heard from people who have spent 2000 on a single vr and built a whole cockpit. And man am I amazed. Within the first hundred hours, I learned two planes. Not even into detail but only the controls, flight dynamics and surface-level systems. There is NO game that's taken me over 50 hours to complete, so far. This one's different. You'd have to remember things, jot down notes and pray that you don't forget how to fly the last plane you just learned. Flying the f18, sure, was easy once I got the hang of how the systems work, why they are set up that way, all the controls and necessary info from around a dozen tutorials and sometimes text guides. But the sheer possibilities still amaze me. Every day I can learn something new, from the forums. I can't stress about the fact that all full-fidelity modules are almost if not all FULLY FUNCTIONAL and a 1:1 to real-life. It's almost corny to say that but this is the only game that fully simulates it, perhaps apart from BMS which only really focused on the f16. All the weapons, air to ground, air to air... have different operating modes like ccip ccrp, tracking... You can learn history from this game, which I've briefly touched upon but the countless planes each have so much depth to them it takes over the time of finishing a 3A game to fully master, most times even more. The replayability's insane. You can always plan out something different, strike a sam site, bomb an enemy hangar, escort a friendly, launch off a fleet of ships, fly in formation. I'm in love with this thing, the community's also perhaps one of the most unique. There's real pilots, people who plan on becoming a pilot, retired aviation fans, everyone seems to be older than me, at least an adult. There's rarely any toxicity, playing around. You could ask a question in their discord and 5 different people could answer with passion, with people who have been playing playing from 5-20 years. I still feels so new, almost as if I would never become a 1000 hour veteran when in reality there's hundreds or even thousands who play this game seriously. I do not regret a single purchase or a single hour spent on this game, the knowledge will stay with me, although I doubt I'll ever become a pilot, this fulfilled my dream of managing a plane, whether it's a helicopter, fighter jet or WWII plane. I love pushing all the buttons to start a plane, or quite frankly, dogfighting someone with an action-filled 4th gen fighter jet. Maybe I'll come back to review this one day, in 5 years or even 10, hopefully this game sustains it's playerbase and continues the amazing development. I love all the publishers and ED. (bring back the F-15E!!!)

I really like DCS, however there is a flaw that eagle dynamics clearly does not want to address. Apparently they have a huge problem with antivirus software flagging their product. I found what I believe is a false positive and reported it to my antivirus vendor, however when going to www.digitalcombatsimulator.com to file a report there you are met with a very large notice that they will not accept virus reports and to simply whitelist the dcs folder. This is a copout and puts their user's computers at risk. They feel so strongly on this that you need to check off a button saying you read that they do not care about virus reports. I will happily remove this if ED gets serious with their product and finds the root cause of the issue.

DCS World is one of those rare games that I genuinely love, even though I have a few complaints. The level of detail in the aircraft is incredible. Every switch, system, and weapon feels like it was built with care, and that's what makes DCS stand out from every other combat flight simulator. I also love the flight models, the aircraft mechanics, and the steep learning curve. Learning to fly and operate a new aircraft is challenging, but that's exactly what makes it so rewarding. The modding community is another huge positive. There are some amazing mods that add even more variety to the game. Even playing on my admittedly not-so-great laptop in VR, I've had an incredible experience. My biggest complaint is how difficult it is for new players who don't have the money to buy additional modules. Without using mods, you're essentially limited to the free aircraft unless you're willing to spend around $80 on a full-fidelity module. While mods are a great part of the DCS community, many of the most popular ones require paid modules to function. For example, the F-22 mod requires the F-15C, and the Su-30SM mod requires both the free Su-25 and the paid Su-33. That means even free mods can still have a financial barrier. I'd love to see Eagle Dynamics introduce a progression system where players could unlock a few aircraft through gameplay. Maybe players could earn a basic jet fighter, an attack helicopter, and a propeller aircraft by completing a series of increasingly difficult missions. Then, after finishing an even more demanding set of challenges, they could unlock one full-fidelity aircraft, such as the F-16C, F/A-18C, or A-10C II. I think that would make DCS much more approachable for new players while still preserving the value of paid modules. My last complaint is a simple one: where's the Su-30SM? I'd buy that module the day it released. Even with those complaints, DCS World remains one of the best combat flight simulators available. If you're willing to put in the time to learn, it's an incredibly rewarding experience.

Wanted to fly some nice planes and jets instead i was trying to find cockpit lighting switch for 1 hour to get over tutorial 10/10 will forget to eject my ass again