Microsoft Flight Simulator

Few games in this library produce reviews as consistently awestruck as Microsoft Flight Simulator's best ones — and few have a purchase process this consistently criticized for six straight years. Both things are true at once, and reading widely through the review history explains exactly why.

An honest technical marvel

When reviewers describe the simulation itself, the language barely varies across six years: a genuine, real-time recreation of the entire Earth, detailed enough that flying over a childhood home becomes a real emotional moment for many. One of the most-upvoted reviews in the game's history, posted this year, comes from an 87-year-old player who describes it as a meaningful tool for keeping their mind sharp — a genuinely moving use case for a piece of consumer software. That range, from casual sightseeing to hardcore procedural simulation for dedicated aviation enthusiasts, is not in serious dispute anywhere in this review sample.

The problem that's been documented since launch day

Here's what's actually driving a large and specific share of negative reviews, and it isn't the simulation — it's how the game is sold and delivered on Steam. One of the very first reviews the game ever received, posted on release day in 2020 with 3,562 votes, warns buyers about exactly this before anyone else had experienced it: purchasing the game triggers a mandatory download through a separate launcher, running to 100GB or more, that counts as active Steam playtime while it downloads. Because Steam's refund policy caps eligibility at two hours of playtime, reviewers describe this download alone reliably exceeding that window before a buyer has meaningfully played anything. "SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM. Microsoft made the decision to have the actual game install while you are technically 'playing the game'... meaning your 2 hours of time for refunds get used up entirely," reads one of dozens of reviews making this exact, specific accusation. What makes this worth taking seriously as more than an isolated frustration is its consistency: nearly identical complaints appear in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and with growing frequency in 2025 and 2026 — 25 of the 100 most-upvoted negative reviews are dated 2025 alone, suggesting the problem has not been resolved and may be drawing more attention rather than less as time passes.

Newer account-related friction

Layered on top of the download issue, several 2025-2026 reviews describe new Xbox account login requirements causing real access problems — one reviewer reports their Microsoft account, created solely to play this game, was suspended within 24 hours for unclear "Services Agreement" violations, locking them out entirely. Others describe login failures following account requirement changes that left long-standing installations with hundreds of hours of playtime suddenly unable to launch.

Reading the completion data

With 43 tracked achievements, the completion curve shows real engagement with core flight milestones sitting between 30% and 63%. The rarest achievements, tied to specific advanced procedures and rare aircraft challenges, fall under 0.5%, reflecting how much of this simulation's deepest content is reserved for genuinely dedicated aviation simmers rather than casual sightseers.

6.5 out of 10. Microsoft Flight Simulator's underlying achievement is not in question — this is a genuine, staggering technical marvel that reviewers across six years describe with real emotional weight. The score reflects a specific, well-documented, and apparently unresolved problem with how the game is actually delivered on Steam: a mandatory external download that reviewers have consistently reported consuming the platform's entire refund window since the day it launched. If you buy it, start downloading immediately and plan around that reality rather than being caught by it.