This is the fifteenth entry in the Scratching That Itch series, wherein I randomly select and write about one of the 1704 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,175,279.81 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Next up in our random perusal of the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality is Aerocraft, by Dorian Beaugendre and rackover. Its tagline in the bundle reads:

Free flight in an infinite space

Let’s get infinite.

Aerocraft is really more of a tech demo than a game. This isn’t surprising, given its game page states that it was made in just a few hours. It runs at a fixed, very low non-widescreen resolution. There is no music or sound. There is no menu of any kind, it just starts when launched, and I had to use the generic Windows ALT+F4 command to close it. The controls are not listed anywhere, but Aerocraft seems to be controlled entirely with keyboard inputs, possibly just the arrow keys (although these seem to be mirrored in some mystifying way on some of the letter keys). The skybox is very clearly a visible box. There’s no collision on its chunky polygonal landscape, so players can fly straight through the ground into a weird under-sky. That’s actually very easy to do while trying to figure out the controls.

But that landscape can be quite pretty if you stay above it. The lighting is nice, reflecting off of the wings of the aerocraft as it banks and turns, and casting a cool shadow over the landscape as the aerocraft passes over. Fire up some appropriate music and it could be a nice relaxing experience.

There’s very little to it, though. I’d seen what it had to offer in about a minute, so continued enjoyment depends entirely on how much players value a no-stress, zen-like flying experience. There are some other well-regarded games in that vein, but they all have some different things going on: Superflight can be meditative, but it also encourages risky flying with the danger of crashes; Aer has peaceful flying but has a story and puzzles rather than being entirely goal-free. Fugl is perhaps the closest to Aerocraft in its emphasis on simply flying around and relaxing, and it appears to provide a lot more of that than Aerocraft does. Still, those looking for something to zone out and relax with might want to give Aerocraft a look. Given its simplicity, I was surprised to find it’s not available for free but rather sold for a minimum price of $2, but that very simplicity might be what makes it interesting to some.

That’s 15 down, and 1689 1726 to go.