First, this is not hate.
I finally tried version 26 of Infinite Flight and overall, the experience is excellent. The realism of the sky (at day), the dynamic aircraft shadows, the maps, and the improvements to flight planning are all very well done and noticeable.
However, there is one aspect I am not happy with at all: the nighttime lighting.
In previous versions, when there was a moon—especially during full moon nights—the terrain was visible thanks to a subtle bluish glow. It may not have been physically accurate or realistic, but it worked very well visually. It allowed you to enjoy the scenery while still feeling like you were flying at night. Personally, I would even adjust the date to match lunar phases just to take advantage of that effect during my flights.
In the current version, even with the moon present, the terrain is practically invisible. Everything looks excessively dark, to the point where almost all visual reference of the environment is gone.
I understand that this change likely comes from a push for greater realism. In real life, nighttime—even with a full moon—is much darker than many people expect. However, I believe this level of realism is not well adapted to the medium.
At the end of the day, this is a video game on a mobile device, not a real flight environment. On a small screen, removing almost all terrain visibility at night significantly reduces the visual appeal of flights. There used to be a balance between realism and experience, and that balance has now been lost.
In my case, this completely changes how I used the game. I mostly used it at night, which is when I get home, and specifically because I could still enjoy the scenery even during sunset to night flights. Now, nighttime flights have completely lost their appeal for me—they are reduced to looking at the cockpit and a dark screen for hours.
For that reason, I currently lose interest in using the game. It does not make sense for me to pay a subscription just to spend one or two hours looking at nothing but darkness and the cockpit. I understand the goal of realism, but at the end of the day, this is still a video game, not a real flight environment, and the experience should remain enjoyable.
I believe a better solution would have been to offer options: a more realistic mode and another with slightly enhanced nighttime lighting for visual purposes, allowing each user to choose their preferred experience.
