This year’s entry in the Microsoft Flight Simulator series, which launched earlier this month, has been lauded for its attention to detail, and how it manages to accurately translate the experience of flying a plane. It’s so realistic that players can find their real-world houses in-game. One thing it doesn’t accurately capture, however, is the in-flight experience most people will be familiar with: riding in coach for an excruciatingly long time.
That’s something just begging to be recreated in game form, and the upcoming first-person sim Airplane Mode intends to deliver just that. Announced last year, the first video game to be published by TV network AMC bills itself as “the only flight simulation game where players can experience the intense excitement of being an economy class passenger on a long-haul flight.”
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Like Microsoft Flight Simulator, that flight will move at a realistic speed, taking around six hours from take-off to landing. During that time, players will be challenged to find ways to pass the time from the comfort of their window seat, all while dealing with a variety of randomized true-to-life events. If that sounds like too long, though, it was recently announced that Airplane Mode will also include a shorter flight that clocks in at a breezy two-and-a-half hours.
According to the game’s Steam page, a few of the features players can look forward include:
- Taxi, take-off, and landing.
- Fairly accurate satellite imagery of your flight path.
- Snacks, premium beverages, and meal service (incl. fish option).
- Carry-on bag with a book, headphones, pen, and charging cable.
- Overhead reading light and complimentary aircraft information card.
- Inflight safety video produced by IFC’s in-house team of expert air hosts.
- Randomized events on every playthrough, such as turbulence, bad wifi, and delays.
- Authentic ambient noise—whose baby is that???* (*Crying baby not guaranteed on every flight.)
- Inflight entertainment system featuring a flight tracker and hit movies of the 1930s.
- Our award-winning magazine, Stratospheres, filled with articles, crosswords, and Sudoku.
It’s clear that the game is being designed as a joke, as AMC and developer Bacronym has admitted that it was inspired by Desert Bus, a minigame from the mid-1990s where players had to drive a bus down a straight road for eight hours. And if it wasn’t clear enough that this is a game made to troll its players, it will also feature Bennett Foddy of Getting Over It infamy as the voice of the captain.
“Airplane Mode‘s gameplay explores the airline travel experience down to every last detail—from the design of your seat and the seatback in front of you, to the contents of your carry-on bag and smartphone hard drive, to the behaviors of cabin crew and other passengers,” reads the Steam page’s description. “The circumstances of your flight will change every time you play. Simply put, Airplane Mode is the most realistic flight simulation ever created. Sit back, relax, and enjoy.”
Airplane Mode launches for PC later this year.
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