MicroProse's next game is flight simulator Legendary Pilots

[Alfonso Maruccia]

The big picture: MicroProse was revived in 2018 when Australian software entrepreneur David Lagettie acquired the company's rights from Cybergun Group. Lagettie is known for developing TitanIM, an open-world engine designed to simulate complex military scenarios. However, MicroProse's next product has nothing to do with such simulations or with software intended for military use.

After bringing the classic Grand Prix series back to digital stores, MicroProse has now announced its next game, set to be released by the end of the month. Legendary Pilots is a modern indie flight simulator designed to deliver a complete yet accessible management experience. This time, the simulation elements won't require players to read hundreds of pages just to understand how to get a barely airworthy aircraft off the ground.

Legendary Pilots is being developed by Berkbox, a two-person team formed to create unique entertainment products. Part management sim and part flight simulator, the new game focuses on regional aviation and a selection of aircraft designed to offer a distinct flying experience. Players will manage both a pilot's career and an aviation company fighting for relevance in a "dynamic" airline economy.

The management side of the game encompasses the company's full operations, including logistics, staffing, and passenger needs. Players will also compete with AI-controlled airline ventures, carefully planning aircraft routes to improve efficiency and increase profit margins.

MicroProse said that the flight simulation component of its new game will be both accessible and rewarding, featuring simplified navigation instruments such as a radio compass. The company is known for developing and publishing some of the most complex combat flight simulators of the 90s, including F-15 Strike Eagle and the Gunship series.

While classic MicroProse titles aimed to achieve graphical realism in an era lacking 3D hardware accelerators and meaningful computing power, Legendary Pilots takes a completely different approach.

The new game uses a blend of pixel-art aesthetics and stylized 3D graphics, a style Berkbox has used in previous projects. This is likely a smart choice, as it avoids direct comparisons with modern, hyper-realistic titles such as Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.

Legendary Pilots is expected to launch on Steam on April 21, 2026. Unlike the aforementioned AAA flight simulator, playing this indie title won't require a GPU upgrade or a costly investment in additional RAM.

Permalink to story:

MicroProse's next game is flight simulator Legendary Pilots

 

[Anton Longshot]

Hmmm...interesting.

However I'd be more interested in a Stealth Fighter remake but hey, old gamer nostalgia

That said...remakes aren't always the improvement they should be

 

[NumberNine]

Nice of them to make performance concessions with the art style, but considering the current price of components, they should have returned to the entire cockpit being a 2D texture.

 

[Alfonso Maruccia]

Nice of them to make performance concessions with the art style, but considering the current price of components, they should have returned to the entire cockpit being a 2D texture.

Game's requirements on Steam include a "Nvidia GT 710" GPU, so I think they kind of did already :-D

 

[cfenton]

Just to temper expectations, this is a mobile game they are bringing to Steam. Maybe they'll do a good job rebalancing it for PC, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

 

[abactuon]

I remember F19. I rose to the rank of colonel.

 

[airbornex]

Honestly, the management angle might be the hook here. Flight sims have been chasing realism for decades, but running a scrappy airline in a cutthroat economy feels like a fresher kind of stress than lining up another perfect landing in photorealistic clouds.

 

[Alpine7995]

Also funny how the pitch quietly acknowledges the elephant in the room. Not trying to compete with Microsoft Flight Simulator at all, just sidestepping it entirely with style and scope. Sometimes the smartest move isn’t better graphics, it’s a different game.

 

[amghwk]

Microprose was THE go to software developer for realistic combat flight sims those days.

Microprose is the sole reason made me buy CH Products' F-16 Combat Stick, CH Pro Throttle and CH Pedal combo system, after I started working.

Microprose sims were the thing back then, while I was still in high school, and all I had was a humble Quickshot 2-button joystick.

Nowadays, those Microprose's sims can't compare to ultra modern MS FS and XPlanes and Jane's series with almost exact replica of the instrumentation panels, but Microprose produced the best realistic sims with what tech it had at that time.