'Top Gun: Maverick' free expansion to Microsoft Flight Simulator is now out

In July last year, Microsoft and Paramount Pictures revealed a partnership that would bring jet elements from movie Top Gun: Maverick to Microsoft Flight Simulator that November. Unfortunately, with the movie's delay to May 2022, the game content was also pushed back, though the F/A-18 Super Hornet was made available later. Now, the highly-anticipated update has finally landed right as the movie hits theaters.

Despite sporting the word "expansion", the Top Gun: Maverick expansion is a completely free update to the game, offering players ways to develop their piloting skills and fly just like real Top Gun pilots in authentic locations.

Three missions for training radical flight drills, "unrestricted take-offs, split S maneuvers, and low altitude, high-speed maneuvering through complex terrain" as well as five high-speed challenges that has players skirting mountain tops and diving through canyons are here with the update. There is also a challenge involving landing on a carrier deck, which is deemed a really challenging operation.

Moreover, the development team is teasing a "never-before-unveiled hypersonic aircraft" that is included in the free expansion. There is a small glimpse of it in the trailer above. While players will need to find it in-game for themselves, the unnamed aircraft is touted to reach speeds of up to Mach 10 and fly 150,000 feet above the sea level. It seems there is a mission attached to this mysterious aircraft too, which has its pilots reaching the stratosphere.

Tom Cruise isn't here to lead fans through the new challenges, but a special livery for the F/A-18E Super Hornet is available celebrating his role in the movie.

Microsoft Flight Simulator's new Top Gun: Maverick free expansion is now available across PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Cloud Gaming, as well as Xbox and PC Game Pass subscribers.

'Top Gun: Maverick' free expansion to Microsoft Flight Simulator is now out