Flight Of Nova

The physics simulation is simply unmatched. If you want to play around with orbital mechanics and enjoy the greatest flight model ever perceived, then this is the game for you.

(Quick edit: After browsing forums, I have learned that there is a custom waypoint system, but it is not available in 'Map Operations' mode, which is nonetheless a truly bizarre choice.) Honestly the toughest thing about this game isn't even so much the physics or controls. I don't have any HOTAS or other such peripherals that would make that much easier, but I fare decently enough with keyboard, you just have to have the right setup. The real toughest thing is the lack of basic accessibility and options for ease of use. Take for example how throttling works; Most likely, you're expected to use your own throttle peripheral. But for anybody who doesn't have that luxury, if you're not going full force, you have to contend with finnicky timed key presses (in my case) in order to maintain things like VTOL flight at a semi-stable altitude. This goes against already established common grounds between "realistic" spaceflight games. It's not perfect, but games like Elite: Dangerous, Kerbal Space Program, and more recently, Void Cargo, usually have some sort of virtual throttle that you can adjust through keyboard presses to take off some of the focusing strain. As well in those games, there's also stability assist features. So in a game with a universe where technology has reached the interstellar level, you would expect there wouldn't be so much heavy lifting on the pilot's end to maintain most flight systems. I wouldn't say the 'jank' of having to counteract forces is unwelcome, but not being able to press a button to level out relative to the gravity of a surface or the horizon, certainly is. Now in the case of accessibility; The tutorials are lackluster. They teach you the basics well enough, and you can definitely make do with them to play the game. [b]But[/b] they leave out a lot of details. There is no explanation for a lot of crucial info, especially if you don't take on a mission (No custom waypoint system?? Hello???). Maybe flight enthusiasts understand it better, but I can't make heads or tails of things like the map in order to better gauge where my trajectory in a sub-orbital flight when crossing thousands of kilometres (This could be compensated with experience, but it's still very annoying.) The way the camera works is also interruptive; Trying to bind it to mouse movements doesn't do anything and it does some glitchy non-sense with the menus, and since the mouse cursor isn't locked to the center of the window while outside stations, right-click dragging can be interrupted by hitting against the border of your screen without being able to tell. All of those lengthy complaints asides, the game holds a lot of potential. I don't hold out hope any of the issues I address here would be taken care of through updates, seeing as the game has gone on for 4 years and the only notable updates recently have been bugfixes, hotfixes and the incredibly occasional content drop; But at least the developer(s?) clearly haven't abandoned the development, which is more than I can say for most independent titles of this nature. This could overall make for an interesting payload delivery sim with enough time. If you got hours to kill away, this wouldn't be the worst thing to add to your library. Although maybe get it on a sale, $30 is a lot for what feels like a downgraded modern space game. 6.5/10