Cleared Hot is everything you could want in a modern twin-stick helicopter shooter

Cleared Hot just entered Early Access from developer Not Knowing Corporation and MicroProse Software, and it's simply pure joy to blast through it. Note: a key was provided to GamingOnLinux.

The game is not yet finished, so any true review will have to wait until later. But clearly they're onto something great here. Especially great for me, since I grew up playing the likes of Desert Strike, Jungle Strike and other in the series. This definitely feels like a much more modernised version, bringing twin-stick helicopter action to everyone who loves a good action game like this. With the addition of the physics system, there's some pretty funny things you can do in it too.

I was already impressed by the demo they previously released, and now thanks to the Early Access release there's just a whole lot more of it to play. Right now there's the desert area, but they have plans to expand the game's campaign into multiple other biomes including a jungle, artic and urban environments will will be interesting to see how the gameplay changes and evolves across each.

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The physics system is the true highlight though, and one I hope they keep expanding as the game progresses during development. Being able to hook all sorts of random objects big and small, and throw them around to watch the chaos is just pure joy. Things get pretty messy in Cleared Hot, and it's the absurdity that the physics system brings that really makes it quite special and different to a few other attempts to modernise the classic helicopter combat games.

However, the physics system is a bit of a tease. Only certain types of objects can be picked up, I hope they adjust that to have more available. That, and the destruction system is great too, seeing towers and buildings crumble as you fire is great - but it needs more of that too as some don't at all.

Minor gripes aside, the atmosphere is fantastic. The audio is great, the voice over is fun and it all comes together quite nicely to really get you in the mood for flying.

Game Highlights:

• Physics-Driven Mayhem - Everything moves, flies, and explodes with glorious realism - or at least plausible deniability.
• Upgradeable Helicopters - Customize and upgrade your chopper to match your playstyle, from stealthy strikes to full-metal overkill.
• Rope & Magnet Gameplay - Pick up (almost) anything - vehicles, enemies, barrels, even your dignity - and weaponize the environment.
• Tactical Squad Support - Deploy your troops, capture objectives, and provide covering fire - just try not to “accidentally” drop them.
• Day & Night Missions - Adapt to shifting light conditions using night vision or thermal optics to keep the advantage.
• Creative Destruction - Physics means freedom - clear obstacles, sling debris, and improvise your way through every mission.

A few things are currently missing from it like cloud saves but they're working on it. That, and they have plans soonish to get it bumped up to Steam Deck Verified too as it's currently only listed as Playable, which is mainly due to some small text sizing.

Unfortunately, there is one issue on Linux with Valve's official Proton. Some little video clips will give you a test screen instead of the video which is the same issue I saw recently with Sektori. A common codec issue that the developer will need to solve, but until then you can use GE-Proton to get the game working fully. I've given feedback to the developer on this. Apart from that, all fine with Proton.

It only arrived on November 20th and already has an Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam. Awesome.