The Flight Simulator series will return later this week, though not from Microsoft.

Train Simulator publisher Dovetail Games signed a licensing agreement with Microsoft earlier this year for Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition, a new version of the 2006 game that will launch through Steam on December 18. Pricing was not announced.

The game promises to deliver an "authentically accurate aerial experience." Flight Simulator X offers players more than twenty different aircraft, including commercial jetliners, fighter jets, and even single-engine private planes and helicopters. There's around 80 missions to complete, including races and rescues, and over 24,000 airports, according to a recent press release.

Flight Simulator X will also offer multiplayer support and it works with Windows 8.1. Looking beyond the game's release next week, Dovetail says it plans to release a "range of add-ons" for the game starting in 2015. These were not named outright, but you can imagine more aircraft and locations.

Dovetail and Microsoft announced their Microsoft Flight licensing arrangement back in July. Per the terms of that deal, Dovetail gets to release Flight Simulator X on Steam, and also create new, original titles based on Microsoft's proprietary flight technology. These games have not been announced yet.

Fans of the Microsoft Flight Simulator series were dealt a blow earlier this year when the company shut down free-to-play simulator Microsoft Flight.

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