Air Conflicts - Secret Wars

Air Conflicts: Secret Wars is an arcade flight game from Games Farm covering both World War I and World War II eras. The word 'simulation' in the genre tag is doing heavy lifting here - this is firmly on the arcade end of the spectrum, closer to a console dogfighter than anything DCS players would recognise. You pick a plane, you shoot things down, and you move on. The cockpit depth is minimal by design, which is not necessarily a flaw if you know what you are buying. The campaign structure is the core offering. You fly through a series of missions tied loosely to historical theatres, swapping between different aircraft as the eras progress. The plane roster covers biplanes from the First World War through to more recognisable Second World War fighters and bombers. Each handles slightly differently, though the gap between aircraft types is narrower than a sim enthusiast would want. Mission variety is adequate - escort runs, interception sorties, ground attack passes - but the objectives repeat their patterns quickly enough that the back half of the campaign feels familiar before it should. Where the game earns some goodwill is accessibility. The flight model is forgiving. New players can get airborne, line up a gun run, and feel competent within the first hour without reading a manual or watching tutorial videos. For someone who bounced off IL-2 Sturmovik or finds even War Thunder's sim battles overwhelming, this is a low-friction entry point into the genre. The controls map cleanly to a gamepad, and the third-person camera option makes spatial awareness simple. That accessibility is a genuine feature, not a compromise to apologise for. The problems surface around the midpoint and compound toward the end. Enemy AI is predictable once you identify its patterns, which happens fast. There is no meaningful progression system tying mission to mission - no upgrades, no persistent pilot stats, nothing that makes each sortie feel like it matters beyond clearing the objective. The visuals were modest at release and have not aged gracefully. There is no mod ecosystem to speak of, so what you install is what you get, unchanged. The Mixed Steam rating at roughly 70 percent positive from a modest review count reflects a split audience: casual players who wanted something light got it, enthusiasts who expected more depth did not. If your benchmark is an afternoon of low-commitment air combat with some historical flavour and no steep learning curve, Air Conflicts: Secret Wars delivers that without asking much of you. If you want AI opponents that adapt, a progression loop that rewards long sessions, or flight physics that reward study, you will run out of reasons to stay before the credits roll. Diego, Scout Team