Alliance Peacefighter has finally launched onto Steam, having been pulled from its original June 4 release at the eleventh hour and given two extra weeks in development space dock.

The reason given was a simple one: persistent issues with Valve Index controllers. Fair enough you might think, but another developer might well have proceeded with the non-VR version and deployed a fix a few days later. The fact that Alliance Peacefighter didn’t tells us something, I think; that the game’s VR mode is not merely an afterthought. Indeed, that may be what sets it apart.

Inspired by 90s genre classics Wing Commander and X-Wing, Alliance Peacefighter has you climbing aboard the titular vessel to blast a path through a series of missions, so the galaxy might once again enjoy the kind of peace that currently eludes our corner of it. Dogfighting is the order of the day, with you and your alien wing buddies taking on dozens of fighters, bombers, and the odd capital ship in single player with your trusty space lasers and missiles.

Superficially it all looks very simple and for the most part, it is. However, it’s also smooth and fast like few VR dogfighters are, with enemies that are more likely to overwhelm you by sheer weight of numbers rather than displaying any great intelligence - which is no bad thing in this case.

Elite Dangerous is the premier VR space game and Alliance Peacefighter is unlikely to pose any threat to its decade-long dominance, but it does things just a little differently. As well as managing power levels between shields, engines, and weapons - which Elite simplifies with its “pip” system - you have to manage four shield facings, where Elite only has the one. Given the numbers of ships zipping about the screen, there’s a lot to keep an eye on.

What you don’t get, of course, is the entire Milky Way to play about in, or the myriad game systems to interact with it. That said, if you just want to skim asteroids and space stations and blast anything that gets in the way of you completing your mission, Alliance Peacefighter reliably has your six.

A quick word about the controls: You can opt for your standard-issue VR controllers, where you grab the virtual stick and throttle and pretend to be holding the real things. It works well enough, but if you have one of those fancy HOTAS set-ups beloved by flight sim fans, be assured that Alliance Peacefighter supports it. I found it very handy to set up the joystick and throttle as separate controllers, although it would’ve been useful to know if a function was already mapped to one while setting up the other.

I also had to do it outside of VR due to a slight conflict with my Quest 3 controllers, but I’m assured that’s not an issue with the version of the game that’s just gone on sale. In short, setting up HOTAS binds is relatively painless and works well once you have everything to your liking. I didn’t try dual joysticks, but given how close the control options are to the aforementioned Elite, even down to lateral and horizontal thrust axes, I suspect flight assist-off snobs will be content with their options. Not least because Alliance Peacefighter has its own drift mechanic.

I implied earlier that Alliance Peacefighter was a better game in VR than on a regular screen. That’s not perhaps as glowing an endorsement as it might seem, as I’m inclined to say the same about pretty much any VR game that can be played sans HMD. But what illustrates the point best is the cockpit.

In screenshots, it looks a little flat and spartan. Boring, even. In VR however, it’s perfect for what the game demands of you, with everything you need superimposed on the glass and only a cursory look down at the monitors necessary in rare quieter moments. What you only really notice in VR is that the cockpit is more cramped than a WWII fighter (which, for the record, I have never occupied), which only increases the urgency and manic manoeuvrability of the action wheeling about you.

Alliance Peacefighter doesn’t do anything innovative, but its simple aesthetic belies the fact that there is some depth beneath the surface with the controls, fast-paced combat, and flight model. The sound is perhaps the most underwhelming feature - your ship’s lasers sounding more like a malfunctioning garden sprinkler than a source of searing heat death. More ship variety and ways to meaningfully outfit them would’ve been welcome. Still, the dogfighting is so approachable and frantic that you can almost feel the wind tugging at your sheepskin lapels as you wheel around for another strafing run.