Stunning graphics and whole-Earth world
Mentioned in ~1 in 3 positive reviews
“Microsoft did magic with this game. The whole planet waits here in 1:1.... Masterpiece. 10/10”
Steam review · 156.6 h played ↗
Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) 40th Anniversary Edition
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Mostly Positive · 79%Mostly Positive · 79%Asobo Studio2026Flight · Simulation · Adventure
The verdict
A stunning, realistic whole-Earth flight sim, but the external 130+ GB installer, forced Microsoft login and crashes make getting in a gamble. Skip it if you want simple install-and-play.
Great for
Aviation fans with a strong PC and flight controls who want realistic world-scale flying, VATSIM and add-ons
Main risk
Installer, Microsoft login or crashes block you from playing, and the install eats your refund window
What players love
Realistic and educational for pilots
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 positive reviews
“This game taught me how to fly. Currently working on a PPL and wouldn't have moved along so quickly if I didn't have MSFS to practice manoeuvres in.”
Steam review · 113.5 h played ↗
Wide aircraft variety and strong add-on scene
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 positive reviews
“Beautiful Graphics, Decent Flight model and a large library of free and paid add-ons make this game absolutely worth it.”
Steam review · 359.9 h played ↗
Runs well and works offline vs 2024
Mentioned in ~1 in 13 positive reviews
“It runs almost twice as fast as the 2024 version on my 5700x3D (32gb ram) + RX 6700”
Steam review · 7.9 h played ↗
Great VR and VATSIM experience
Mentioned in ~1 in 17 positive reviews
“The VR mode is amazing! and the physics of flying are very realistic”
Steam review · 54.4 h played ↗
What players complain about
Broken, endless or slow downloads and updates
Mentioned in ~1 in 3 negative reviews
“The installation manager will get to about 5gb and stop then the download starts over again but the progress goes back to zero and the file name never changes.”
Steam review · 186.2 h played ↗
Separate launcher download kills refund window
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“You'll likely pass the 2 hour refund window before you even get a chance to know if you like the product.”
Steam review · 0.9 h played ↗
Microsoft/Xbox login failures and account blocks
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“I created a Microsoft account only to play this game, I never used that account for anything else and in less than 24h the account was blocked”
Steam review · 6.6 h played ↗
Crashes and won't launch
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“Crashes all the time at the loading/shader screen on multiple systems.”
Steam review · 17.4 h played ↗
Poor keyboard and control setup
Mentioned in ~1 in 11 negative reviews
“The controls are non intuitive for keyboard - you either have to manually reassign everything or just forget about it”
Steam review · 10.3 h played ↗
Uninstall leaves 100+ GB behind
Mentioned in ~1 in 21 negative reviews
“after uninstalling it left 167gb of files behind that I had to go find a clean up by hand.”
Steam review · 16.4 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: PlayableController support150 GB
Minimum
OSWindows 10
ProcessorIntel i5-4460 | AMD Ryzen 3 1200
Memory8 GB RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA GTX 770 | AMD Radeon RX 570
Storage150 GB available space
Recommended
OSWindows 10
ProcessorIntel i5-8400 | AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
Memory16 GB RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA GTX 970 | AMD Radeon RX 590
Storage150 GB available space
OSWindows 10
ProcessorIntel i5-4460 | AMD Ryzen 3 1200
Memory8 GB RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA GTX 770 | AMD Radeon RX 570
Storage150 GB available space
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