ROTORBOUND

Flying the helicopter is hard. The game around isn't.

ROTORBOUND is a small, hand-tuned helicopter game about learning to fly – and then earning a living doing it. No startup checklists, no auto-level: just you, the controls and a landing pad that's smaller than you'd like.

Status: in development. I'm still tuning the handling, adding content and fixing rough edges based on your feedback. A Steam release is planned for 2027.

The rotor spools up, the skids go light, and from there the flying is yours. Learn to hover, manage momentum, brake back into a hover and put the helicopter down exactly where you meant to.

Learn to fly

Flight School takes place on your own training airfield: 13 short lessons, from your first lift-off and hover to airfield circuits, braking, precision landings and a final graduation flight.

Every lesson can earn up to three rotors – Bronze, Silver and Gold. Ratings never block your progress, and a short debrief tells you what you need for the next rotor.

Once the basics are down, 15 skill drills let you practise hovering, braking and landing until they become second nature.

Then fly for a living

Take paid contracts from the dispatch board and put those skills to work across an open valley of farmland, river, ridgelines, a city and a sea bay with an offshore platform.

• Carry fragile instruments up to a ridge.
• Fly a crew change out to the offshore helideck.
• Set executives down on a city rooftop.
• Bring a patient from a mountain ridge to the hospital roof.
• Show tourists the valley, or fly the country doctor on her rounds.

Passengers reward smooth flying. Cargo rewards speed without damage.

Earn money, build your reputation and work your way up to more demanding contract types – while the clock runs from dawn to night.

Master the helicopter

Eight Challenges test precision and speed: gate runs, hover boxes, brake tests, a low-level river run, an offshore deck landing, a hospital rooftop approach and a three-pad touch-and-go.

Earn Bronze, Silver, Gold or Expert, then race the translucent ghost of your own personal best.

The helicopter expects you to fly it. Nothing levels it out for you. Land hard and you'll feel it; push too fast and the rotor reminds you of its limits.

Fly your way

Fly from a third-person chase camera or a simple cockpit view with working gauges.

Keyboard and gamepad are ready to fly out of the box. HOTAS pilots can combine stick, throttle and pedals and set up every axis with guided learn-by-move binding, including deadzones, curves and inversion.

Create your own pilot – look, outfit colours, height and call sign – and find them waiting at the airfield between flights.

A small airfield that feels alive

Ground crew work around you: a marshaller signals you in, a refueller runs the fuel truck, a fire guard stands by.

And then there's Skye, the airfield dog – smart enough to keep clear of a turning rotor, curious enough to come back once it stops.

Fly through changing light and weather: clear skies, overcast, fog, rain and storms.

Features

• Demanding helicopter handling without cockpit procedures
• Flight School: 13 lessons with Bronze, Silver and Gold rotor ratings
• 15 skill drills
• 13 career contracts across an open valley – air ambulance, offshore, cargo, passenger, survey and more
• Passenger comfort and cargo integrity scoring with a clear debrief
• Money, reputation and rank progression
• 8 Challenges with Bronze-to-Expert medals and personal-best ghosts
• Third-person chase camera and cockpit view with working gauges
• Create your own pilot
• Day/night cycle and changing weather
• Keyboard, gamepad and HOTAS support with per-axis setup
• In-game achievements
• Single-player, fully offline

Community

Questions, feedback or a bug to report? Come say hi on Discord – I read everything.

A note from the developer: ROTORBOUND started as a personal side project – I wanted a simple way to enjoy flying a helicopter with my own HOTAS setup, without diving into a full study simulator. AI-assisted tools were used extensively during development, mainly for programming and fast iteration, and some 3D models and store texts were created with their help. The game also uses commercially licensed game assets where appropriate. Everything in the game is selected, integrated, tested and adjusted by me, with one goal: making ROTORBOUND a helicopter game that's genuinely fun to fly. No AI-generated content is created live while you play.