Thunder Helix

A loving tribute to a specific era of DOS gaming that is absolutely authentic in both obvious and subtle ways, but knows where and when to make acceptable breaks for modern conveniences. It's not a 1:1 clone of any specific game, and easily stands on its own legs. I played with mouse and keyboard controls, after about 5 minutes in free flight I got the hang of it. The winching is hilariously fun and satisfying when you're able to do them really quickly. There's [i]so many[/i] little things this game gets right if you're familiar with these kinds of games and how they looked. If you saw the screenshots and went "Oh this game reminds me of [GAME]!" then this is 100% for you, because it so effortlessly recreates those games and feelings that in my opinion it's just a matter of if you're into these kinds of games or not. It is as good as it looks. On launch, this has only 2 missions, a free flight and a single campaign mission, but with 3 flyable helicopters that all fly and fight prett...

I'd read reviews before deciding to pull the trigger on this. So, Thunder Helix is a toy. Not in a bad way - this is a piece of nostalgia, something out of our childhoods and young adulthoods. It is not a direct one-to-one recreation of what we had back then, but it's made with a brief period of PC gaming in mind. It mimics the feelings, and it mimics them well. But this isn't a 'serious' game, fully featured in every way. It's not even designed in a way that lends itself to accessibility - it is the equivalent of a collectable action-figure from a thirty year old television show. Back then, the merch we could get had flaws. Big, ugly seamlines. Things were designed for injection moulds that were crude, even the plastics weren't that pure. Now? We have 3d printing and can make parts tinier than anything that could've been dreamed of back then. To do it like this, to make a game that resembles low-rez systems of yore... it's a choice designed to be playful. It's recreating something...

Good stuff. Brings me back to the games of 30/35 years ago. Instantly playable without all the hassle. Runs great on the SteamDeck.

I've been following Dave's work on this for years, and cannot fully convey how excited I am to be able to finally play it. This is the real deal; I grew up on the classic combat flight sims of the 80s & 90s, and there's no higher accolade I can bestow on this game than to say I played it the same way: 1) Considered reading the manual 2) Loaded the game 3) Flew around blowing everything up, figuring out the controls as I went 4) Considered reading the manual 5) Ran out of fuel enroute to land on the ship, crashing into the sea mere metres from the deck 6) Read the manual 10/10, will play again and again.

It's Desert Strike crossed with Gunship 2000, it handles well once you get used to it. Currently there's 1 campaign mission (it's Desert Strike-style so there's multiple objectives with different types of targets all over the place), a free-flight practice scenario (have a go at this first to learn the controls and learn how to winch things up), 3 helicopters, so there's a decent taste of what's to come, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing this one develop (really hoping for an F-19/F-117A-style random mission generator). Additionally it's worth mentioning 2 things, first, there's a PDF with the controls in the install folder, and second, you can turn off the missile-following camera in the options (it's on by default).

I’m relatively younger, so this game doesn’t really remind me of past games I’ve never played, like Gunship 2000. That being said, this game is very nice. I love the aesthetic, the first campaign shows what this game is about super well, the camels are hilarious. I wish there was a little bit more information on gameplay, i spent 30 mins trying to figure out how to rearm/refuel because I thought the ammo crates/fuel barrels were enemy targets…. Would recommend, will absolutely follow into the future

I've been following this game for a while, excited for it to finally be in early access Controls feel great. I went back and forth between keyboard controls and a Dualshock and enjoyed using both. The demo mission has some good variety to it, with tanks, SAMs, an enemy helicopter, and moving targets in a convoy. The winch is a little tricky to get used to but a lot of fun once you do. There's only the one mission right now, but all this makes me feel good about the potential depth of the finished game Presentation is super slick too. Really nails the retro aesthetic and style

Truly a masterpiece of a time machine. Jump back into 1990 and kick some ass.

I know the guy that made this. It's been in the works for 25+ years. Well done mate! Nothing like a Night in Wimpey tho!

This is a really good and simple game that takes anyone who grew up on a 8 and 16bit console. The game totally reminds me of LHX on Sega genesis meets Desert or Jungle strike. This game really succeeds on transporting you back to early 1990's gaming and the fun and simplicity of it. It proves that a game just has to be fun to deliver. It doesn't always need the latest and greatest graphics to achieve this. Big thumbs up.