Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Overview: All New Content Compared to MFS 2020

We're in 2024, and there's absolutely no shortage of long-lived game franchises by now. Yet, one of them stands above most others. You've guessed it, it's Microsoft Flight Simulator. Having originally launched back on MS-DOS a ridiculous 41 years ago, the simple truth is that MFS has never been stronger. The 2020 build, in particular, delivered an unthinkably detailed rendition of the real world. The 2024 build, though, aims to one-up it still!

For those of us that have spent a lot of time playing Flight Simulator 2020, it may seem downright ridiculous to think of upgrades to the game. Yet, if you look closely enough, the 2020 build can fall apart at the seams. That's where Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 comes into the picture, aiming to upgrade our flight experience to unprecedented levels.

What could possibly be added to the formula at this point in time, you're asking? Well, we've got the full list right here.

READ MORE: Is Black Ops 6 Vault Edition Worth the Price?

Everything New and Notable in Flight Sim 2024: A Full List

The broadest possible gist of 2024's improvements upon 2020 is that Microsoft Flight Simulator aims to up the ante in every single aspect of the simulation. From generating an honest-to-goodness "digital twin" of Earth to giving us a proper Career Mode, there's so much to talk about here that it gets you downright dizzy.

To help keep track of the really important bits, we've separated them into three different gameplay categories we'll discuss in greater detail below:

Between running your very own airtravel and logistic companies, and the sheer scope of explorable terrain available in Flight Sim 2024, there's much for us to be looking forward to. Let's get into the nitty-gritty before we celebrate, though!

The Best Flight Simulation Ever Made

Naturally, actually flying the planes is the single most important aspect of Flight Simulator 2024, but there's so much more to the game than "just" flight this time around. We'll get into the gist of the simulation fidelity a bit later on, but the crucial thing to keep in mind here is that the 2024 build of the game has more detail and interaction than anything that's come before it.

For starters, you now have an honest-to-goodness human avatar in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 that can both explore the interior of the planes and leave them to explore the surrounding area. Can you walk the entire continent willy-nilly if you choose to do so? Yeah, probably, judging by what we've seen of the game so far!

However, this is also crucial for the game's all-new pre-flight activity focus, which was previously relegated to menu drudgery at best. No more! Now you get to get your hands dirty. As for the vehicles themselves - because we are no longer limited to just planes, remember - we've got much to share on that front.

All Flyable Planes in Flight Simulator 2024

As is usually the case, some of the vehicles available in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will be locked behind higher-end versions of the game. The good news, in our book, is that the base version comes with all the genuinely exciting vehicles by default. See for yourself!

Base Edition Vehicles

Deluxe Edition Vehicles

Premium Deluxe Edition Vehicles

Career Mode

Career Mode is, for most people, likely going to be the real meat of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. Designed from the ground-up to teach even the most inexperienced of newbies how to fly actual airplanes, Career Mode "cleverly mimics the experience of how real-world pilots start their aviation careers," as per the developer Asobo's own claims.

It doesn't take long for this to become really interesting, if we're being honest. For starters, you can choose any real-world airport as the starting spot of your career. That means literally any airport, mind, as MFS 2024 simulates every single one of them. Even the one closest to where you live, wherever that might be! As per Asobo Studios' CCO David Dedeine, players will "start as a rookie pilot and meet a mentor who will explain to you how the career works and guide you through the very first steps in the career." An excellent onboarding system, in our book.

It gets better, though. As you progress through your Career (starting with pre-flight checkups, flightpath logging, and so on), you will end up unlocking various unique certification types allowing you to take on exciting new mission types. This includes, but is not limited to Search & Rescue, Firefighting, Commercial Flights, and loads more.

Career Mode seems like the sort of comprehensive gameplay revamp we had always hoped to in Flight Sim, and we cannot wait to put our paws on its rudders.

Better Representation of the Real World

The sheer scope of improvements to the simulation of Earth on show in Flight Sim 2024 is hard to parse, honestly. You don't need to look much further than the screenshots themselves, of course, which sit in stark contrast compared to the 2020 build of the game. And the 2020 build, keep in mind, already had the potential of being beautiful. It's just that the 2024 build is hundreds of times more detailed and realistic than before.

For example, the ground rendering has been upped a fair bit compared to the older title's simple groundmap setup. Now, it features rocks, gravel, grass, and other assorted clutter modeled in full 3D. "This ground detail impacts your aircraft’s wheels as they interact with the various surfaces affecting take-offs and landings," says Asobo! "We can basically get every rock on Earth now; it’s unbelievable," the blog continues. "We updated the aerial imagery for the entire world, and we set up a team of specialists that gather digital elevation maps from across the planet. The result of these last four years of work is that we now have an unprecedented level of ground detail. Nobody else has anything like this."

This is our chance to explore the world, literally.

And the buck doesn't stop at the inanimate stuff, mind. Flight Simulator 2024's flora and fauna will be as close to the real-world as humanly possible, using the Global Biodiversity Information Facility's data to set up proper animal populations wherever possible. The civilization, too, is getting a massive upgrade via real-time ship tracking and airliner passengers now finally being visible.

Flight Sim has never felt this alive before.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is the game to keep an eye out for

Set and primed to hit the stores on November 19, 2024, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 promises nothing short of a dream come true. The most detailed simulation of the real-world Earth we've ever seen, bar none, this is a comprehensive selection of improvements we only could've hoped to see. Now, the only thing left to check is whether Asobo and Microsoft's efforts will pay out in the end, and we only have to wait until mid-ish November for that.

Stay tuned for lots more on MFS 2024, right here at 2Game.

CHECK OUT: Why is Indiana Jones and the Great Circle an FPS?

We’re in 2024, and there’s absolutely no shortage of long-lived game franchises by now. Yet, one of them stands above most others. You’ve guessed it, it’s Microsoft Flight Simulator. Having originally launched back on MS-DOS a ridiculous 41 years ago, the simple truth is that MFS has never been stronger. The 2020 build, in particular, […]