Roguelite flight sims

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I want a flight simulator like DCS, IL-2, War Thunder, or even Microsoft Flight Simulator to have a Rogue-lite game mode.

Rogue-lites are a subgenre of roguelikes with most of the the same game design philosophies and progression elements that persist after failure, so players feels they are progressing despite setbacks.

Flight sims take a lot of time which many who love flight sims don’t have. I for one would be delighted to jump in the cockpit and play for a quick session, say, 30 minutes to an hour, with progress tracked so I can see how many parts of my airplane are missing after I land.

A rogue-lite game mode in a flight sim could be to take off with a basic airplane, fly to a random waypoint on a map, and land to deliver a letter, while arbitrary enemies try to stop you.

Progress and statistics would be tracked, such as consecutive (randomized) mission runs without dying, amount of letters delivered, enemy aircraft and ground targets destroyed, weapons and tech tree upgrades, cosmetics like nose-art unlocked, and so on. Video games like Dead Cells and Noita have good examples of these gameplay mechanics.

Satisfying sound effects and a 3D “kill cam” on the top of the screen like in War Thunder would be fun, and a fast loading speed of the 2D or 3D world would be important. And speaking of War Thunder, it is the closest to a rogue-lite sim, but I wish I could play against AI for progress unlocks, and not always against players.

I think DCS, IL-2, and KitHack Model Club may already have most of the elements required for a rogue-lite game mode though I am not too familiar with their mission editors.

How easy is it to create randomness in them, like random waypoints and enemies between yourself and the objective?

Is it possible to track progress and tie the progress to a system of unlocking more planes and weapons?

Do you know of a rogue-lite flight simulator that already exists? Let us know!

I hope at least one of the flight sim studios or members of their community make this real one day. I’d love to play it!


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