(CNN) – What do you miss most about traveling? If your answer is, “get stuck on a plane with crying dolls while playing Sudoku,” then this is the game for you.
A press release issued by AMC Games, the game’s publisher, counts it as “the only fast-paced simulation game where players can experience the intense excitement of an economy-class passenger on a long-haul flight.”
In this uneventful simulation game, players experience a flight in real time and search for things to keep them busy.
There will be no dramas or heroic side missions, with the exception of the occasional crying baby over whom you have no control over the plane. (Much like a real flight.)
“We launched AMC Games to give developers a platform to realize their unique vision,” Clayton Neuman, vice president of AMC Games, told CNN Travel in an email.
“‘Airplane Mode’ immediately struck us as something else – a complete deadpan, 90% serious and serious simulation that beckons 10% to the player.”
The designer, Hosoji Auji, tells CNN Travel that by developing the game he discovered that everyone seems to have a “strong opinion about flying.” And while there have been 30-plus years of fast-paced simulation games, the passenger experience has never really taken off. the account. “
At a time when longevity is a rarity, the game can be a good reminder of what we fear about flying – and make us miss those marathon flights a little less.
The player watches an inflight movie as the pilot disrupts the show with a lengthy announcement about the PA system. Then passengers experience random accidents, ranging from turbulence and delay to poor Wi-Fi.
The good news? “Crying baby not guaranteed on every flight.”
The game designer has also carefully recreated other inflight details.
For example, players will find an Aircraft Information Card and Magazine “Insert with Travel Articles, Crosswords and Sudoku” in the back pocket (see the screenshot at the top of this page).
In addition to a range of hit movies from the 1930s, players can also watch an inflight security video – produced by IFC, a sister company of AMC known for its offbeat comedies – and a flight tracker on its inflight entertainment system.
Other ways to kill time are enclosed by your handbag, where you can find some exciting personal belongings such as a book, a pen and – wait for it – headphones.
Worst case scenario, you can always open the window screen and look at the “fairly secure satellite images of your flight path.”
There are also meal services.
“A large part of the commercial flight experience is largely predictable,” says Auji. “Our goal was to design this standardized flight and then layer it with lusts, annoyances and idiosyncrasies that the frequent flyer will find truly relatable.”
While the timing couldn’t have been better, considering how many of us missed flying, the game has been in operation for several years.
“‘Airplane mode’ has been in development since 2017,” says Neuman. “Our intention is to give players a unique gaming experience, and the flights in this game are meant to be timeless and nostalgic. Our hope is that players will see this as a gaming experience unlike any other that evokes fond memories of travel. “
Says Auji, “When I first started working on the game I was not really sure how people would react to it. Since then, some people have found it calming and cathartic, others called the term ‘torture’. That was when I thought, maybe we have something here. “
There are two flights available, a six-hour flight from New York’s JFK Airport to Reykjavik and a shorter 2.5-hour flight from New York to Halifax, the capital of Canada’s Nova Scotia province. .
No price has been announced yet, but the game will be available on PC and Mac computers, according to the developer.
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