If you don't know, Balsa is a species of wood, but none of your airplanes in this game will be made of wood. Balsa Model Flight Simulator is a brand new flight simulation from the developer Floating Origin Studios - led by the former lead dev of the intriguing space sim Kerbal Space Program.
As I've mentioned, this game will not only fulfill your dream of getting your own remote airplanes, but you can also build them from scratch and take them to a test flight as a pilot as well. Even though the airplanes will not likely to fly back to you after battles with other aircraft, that's how toys are fun.
Below is the trailer of the game, announcing its launch for Steam Early Access. Feel free to have a look to see what can you do with your self-built aircraft model:
Quick review of Balsa Model Flight Simulator
Starting from a sandbox building sim, Balsa Model Flight Simulator has developed into a much more interactive game with other game modes like Challenges, Races, and Career. It's such a good change, since its give players more inspiration and challenges to build their own aircraft rather than just build them for no reason at all.
Basically, it's a powerful building simulation with a function-rich editor that allows you to design your planes' shapes and sizes, as well as add your wanted parts and give it a try. Calling the game Balsa for short, the developer promised that it will bring a new level of experience to the flight simulation game.
To be more specific, with the building, you can customize almost everything that will be included in your planes. From deciding how long your aircraft is, how wide will its wings will be, and whether it will have weapons or seats (or both), it all depends on your taste. Last but not least, you can choose your own color to make your plane standing out on the sky - open up the capabilities of making a huge pink plane with heavy-weapon equipped.
A simulator that allows you to fly as a pilot
And what's the point of making your plane without being able to give it a test flight? That's where the Balsa separates itself from other flight simulations that only lets you control how the plane will start. With this one, you can step in the shoes of a virtual pilot yourself, controlling your plane and do all of the cool tricks that you see on TV.
They include a sharp turn, a 360-flip, and even crashing its to pieces by hitting its to a platform. The flying experience of Balsa is physics-based and helps ensure that your plane will be able to fly for real. That doesn't count as a realistic reference for real-life plane building, but at least it gives you a hint on the steps in real life.
And not stopping from that, the game does feature combat as well, in which you can give your weaponry a test in real aerial battles. Fighting against other models in paintball warfare, you'll be able to enjoy how your paint gun is functioning, as well as learn how hard it is to both control your plane and aiming at the same time. This mode allows up to 16 players to the same battle - the reasonable number for a not-too-tight match.
Release date and supported platforms
Balsa Model Flight Simulator will come to PC via Steam Early Access in mid-2020.
The publisher The Irregular Corporation aims to let its stay there for at least a year to gather feedback before releasing the full game to players.