Slated to come out today, January 30, the trailer was apparently still seeing edits right at the last minute which delayed the release. So, for some of you, it’ll be tomorrow when you get a chance to look at it. Delay aside, Eagle Dynamics has once again delivered a slickly presented trailer offering an aspirational look at what DCS World is now and plans to be into the future. As has become something of a tradition with these presentations, there’s a new module revealed officially at the end too. Let’s have a look!
The trailer itself and a general breakdown
At 6 minutes, 9 seconds, the latest cinematic masterpiece showcasing DCS World in all of its glory comes in at roughly average length for the series of trailers released over the years.
Music featured includes Out of My Head by Puddle of Mudd, Prevail by Audiomachine and an unidentifiable cover of La Marseillaise.
Generally speaking the trailer has four segments with a modern focus at the beginning, a segment focused mostly on their WWII Pacific ambitions and assets, a gradual transition back into a mix of modern and historic content, and then the reveal of the new module at the end. Ready for the breakdown? Let’s go!
The breakdown!
As always, we start with the Eagle Dynamics logo. No surprises so far!
Our next couple of shots are focused on new assets. The new C-17 asset (so far as we know, this is still an AI asset and not a new module announcement), new soldier models and new APC asset.
Our next shot takes us over to Heatblur and the F-14B(U) which we’ve been talking about recently. Its a great shot because you can see the F-14B model through the HUD while also seeing the new HUD right there in the foreground.
After that, more ground vehicles and soldier assets. The frequency of them appearing here seems deliberate. We have heard rumblings about more ground warfare and more attention paid to DCS: Combined Arms so there may be some movement on that in 2026 (and beyond of course).
Next two shots go by quickly with blink and you’ll miss it appearances from the DCS: Tornado. It gets shown a few times here with the external model looking nicely textured and in the sim. I’ve learned not to get too excited about that, we’ve seen other models and modules in for years and its not necessarily been indicative of a near release status. Still, terrific to see the work on display.
The other model that gets an initial blink and you’ll miss it is the DCS: Bo 105 (funny that we were just talking about that). This project has been in development for about as long as I’ve been writing Stormbirds or perhaps longer. Its suffered many difficulties and setbacks but it is a single person operation (with some support over the years) and the author is dedicated to bringing it to light. Its appearance here in this presentation suggests maybe that it is finally starting to take shape towards release. Excitement and expectations tempered of course!
Next up! Two cold war jets! The cockpit of Aerges DCS: F-104 Starfighter gets a quick shot and then we transition to a breakaway from Grinnelli Designs DCS: F-100 Super Sabre before jumping back again to the F-104. Early Cold War jets well on their way clearly!
We’ve got some more F-14 Tomcat action in the next shots with some absolutely beautiful moments there.
A couple more quick shots come into view with the F-104 again and the first shot of the Typhoon in the trailer. More on that one in a bit!
Next up, dynamic campaign. A clear message sent with this display that there is progress as we get a beautiful pull back from the ground level up to altitude before switching to an overlaid battle map with unit icons and a newly revealed UI for the whole system. The UI gives me a bit of hope that this project is finally coming together! They clearly show a couple of different maps in this display as well helping to address rumours (that Matt Wagner has dispelled in various Q&A’s) that it was only something that would work on the Caucasus map.
A few more quick shots coming right up. Afghanistan map (I think), the Tornado, and the F-104 showing off some great wingflex effects in a tight turn really impress.
The next shot pair has me a bit more excited about Heatblur’s Typhoon project as well. We’ve seen external shots for a while but cockpit shots with working avionics? That’s new!
Here comes the transition to WWII Pacific for a bit. This is something that we’ve seen for years now and has taken a long time to materialize, but it does appear to be coming along nicely.
Our first shots are naval asset focused. If you’re going to do the Pacific, you better have a good collection of warships and there are quite a few. I’m not an expert on WWII Pacific naval ship types so some of you will be better at identifying the types, but the visuals are quite strong and fit the part.
We quickly get a reminder about the DCS: La-7 as well with a couple of quick shots panning up as a T-34-85 (recently revealed in a new asset release) trundles along underneath.
The next couple of shots appear to be from OnReTech’s Balkans map project, though for a little while I was convinced that we may be looking at a rebuild of DCS: Caucasus with new technology. Balkans seems more likely but I’m interested to hear thoughts on that.
We’ve got another shot, that lingers for a bit, on the Bo 105!
I haven’t featured it yet but there have been several Mirage F1 shots throughout the trailer. Its difficult to see the features specific to the modernized version on the exterior but the cockpit is much more obvious. Love to see Aerges vision for that module reaching its full conclusion.
We get some more C-47 shots too. Great details of course!
And another La-7 shot.
Then a cut to the SB2C Helldiver. Our first look at that asset. So far as we know, its not a flyable project at this point but its great to see it as one of many critical assets.
Rapid fire here… more soldiers.
Another Bo 105 shot…
And more Typhoon avionics shots (this is a good sign)!
Another 104 shot.
And more SB2C… They’ve got the dive brakes and the weapons working so those are good signs too!
A blink and you’ll miss it shot of the Hellcat. I expected to see more the F6F this year and we really haven’t seen much of it.
Another Typhoon shot followed by a working HUD shot showing the system locking up a Su-27 and then perhaps dropping the lock. I’m not too familiar with the symbology here but stuff is generally working.
Then we have THE cinematic shot of the presentation with this A6M Zero group flying between battleships. Very Michael Bay Pear Habour-esq in style and extremely well executed.
Tornado again!
Another Mirage F1 shot.
New soldier animations on display with a soldier tossing a grenade.
We get the briefest glimpse of the B6N “Jill” torpedo bomber as well. Again, blink and you’ll miss it!
A Tornado rounds out this section into the end titles and the usual thank you message that we’ve seen year on year. I know for many it has fallen flat in recent years with so many disputes and disappointments, still, it is there, and for better or worse DCS continues to look to future content as we’ve seen throughout this trailer.
Finally, we have the reveal of the Dassault Rafale. This section is, as we’ve seen in past years, a silhouette reveal with some nice colour and lighting effects. The Rafael is in good company with past reveals including the F-35, F-15C, AH-64, and F-16. Some of those have clearly not arrived yet but one more is in the pipeline.
Finally, we have a few bits of confirmation on how this module is being done. Its not really a big surprise as we’ve known through a couple of official “leaks” that the Rafale was likely to be done for DCS World. The module is being officially licensed by Dassault which means this is probably going to be about as real as it can be for public consumption. Rafale is considerably more modern than some of what we have, however, depending on the variant we have, there’s a lot of crossover with current modules in time period. More interesting is that the module is being done with Heatblur, JFEXP and Fly and Fight. The latter two I have little knowledge of except that JFEXP is involved with AzurPoly’s Rafale for Microsoft Flight Simulator. Curious to see how much crossover there is.
What did you see?
That’s all for now! DCS World 2026 and Beyond trailer is here. It’s a good trailer and though I know many are a bit down on the sim right now, there are some good projects on the go here and some interesting things coming in the future. Will we see many of these in 2026? A few likely but a lot will be coming much later on down the line. We can be realistic that a lot will hinge on the “beyond” part of the title while still being excited about future possibilities.
What did you see? Did I miss something? Let me know in the comments!
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