Test machine specs: MSI X670E, AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX, 48gb RAM
MSFS add-ons: FSLTL, GSX Pro, REX AccuSeason (which may misrepresent some colours in certain light conditions)
FS2024-specific differences: none
I had seen a few months ago that Lisium Design were tackling EVRA; it piqued my interest because it completes the Baltic trio (Tallinn, Vilnius, Riga) in the sim, and it’s within an hour’s flight time of most of Scandinavia. At the time I wasn’t familiar with Lisium but I had seen their Palanga, which looked quite nice. It’s not a particularly cheap airport but the marketing images — plus some from a friend — convinced me to give it a shot.
DETAIL
TL;DR: it’s a bit of a mixed bag but overwhelmingly positive.
Upon my initial landing I was a little disappointed by some of the ground textures/markings. Right off the bat, I have to say, they’re not as sharp as they perhaps could be, and many curved taxi centrelines appear a little jagged. That’s not to say they’re bad — they’re just slightly below average for a premium product in 2025. There are also areas adjacent to the runway that are actually blurry (see image 4 below).
Moving onto the ramp, things look better, with ground markings meeting my expectations. Everything is faithful to the real-world airport here, which is the main thing. I’d still say there’s room for improvement but that is probably nit-picking.
The terminal is impressive. Just the right amount of weathering and the night-lighting is some of the most convincing I’ve seen — it certainly gives the impression, from the outside, of tinted glass subtly diffusing the interior light. There’s a lot of fine exterior detail, and the aprons are alive with various pieces of GSE, including custom static/animated vehicles. It all looks rather splendid!
As we move landside, the detail doesn’t abate. Custom roadways and ramps all over the place, plus plenty of clutter (people, signage, barriers, bollards, billboards, railings, kerbs, etc.). I have just two minor complaints: the custom trees are those 2D examples that lack real volume (see final image below); and the static cars are default Asobo assets, which do look quite ugly.
Moving inside the terminal is where things get really interesting. We are presented with a full interior: the check-in concourse, security and customs, baggage reclaim, gate areas, shops, lounges… you name it, it’s here. The detail really is right up there with the very best the likes of Pyreegue and Drzewiecki can offer — and to round it off nicely, we get ambient interior sound. Visually, internal modelling simply doesn’t get any better than this. I’ve only included two images to illustrate this area of the scenery, because I feel any more would ruin the surprise!
As we explore the more peripheral areas of the airport’s landside, the standard of texturing definitely drops. Some areas in which they’re chosen lesser-quality textures do seem a bit random but, overall, it works. Yes, I’d like to see things a bit sharper in some places but, for all intents and purposes, it’s quite immaterial. You’re not going to notice it during normal airliner operations.
Lisium have included a few bits and pieces a fair distance from the airport, including a mall and several warehouses. Again, these areas mostly feature lower-res textures but you will randomly spot a few sharper examples, which will leave you wondering why they didn’t trade these for higher quality elsewhere.
I’ve already touched on the terminal’s interior lighting after sundown but the scenery is very strong in the night lighting department generally. Nothing to fault here — it all looks spot-on. Crucially, there are no annoying Asobo ‘globes’ floating around anywhere!
One final thing I’d like to highlight is the quality of the airfield perimeter fencing — it’s one of the best custom models I’ve seen and features a variety of gates, access points and signs. It really is the icing on a pretty delicious cake!
PERFORMANCE
Whenever I see what I perceive to be randomly-placed textures of low resolution, I always wonder whether this is a deliberate effort to bolster performance. This appears to be the case with Riga, because it runs flawlessly, even with heavy FSLTL traffic. It runs so well, in fact, that I’m convinced the majority of those lower-res textures could be upgraded without any significant performance hit.
VERDICT
EVRA is a stunning airport, from a lesser-known developer. It has a few flaws that are perhaps a little careless but these shouldn’t take anything away from what Lisium Design has achieved here. The other two major Baltic airports are by renowned devs (Drzewiecki and M’M Sims) so were always going to be hard acts to follow (particularly Tallinn); but Lisium have done it — and done it exceptionally well.
I’m usually reluctant to bump an airport up to five stars if it has clumsy flaws but, in this case, I think it would be unfair to award anything less. In reality, the flaws are just enough to drop it to about a 4.7-4.9 but giving it a straight four would be an injustice. Look past a couple of cons and you have yourself a beautifully-crafted airport that looks particularly stunning at night. It’s not the cheapest airport out there, relative to its size, but I have no beef with the price, given the level of craftmanship on display. Is it Pyreegue? Not quite… but it ain’t far off at all! By the way, if you own JustSim’s Riga, it’s probably time to trade…
The dev has stated that they’re open to criticism and suggestions so I expect some of the minor flaws will soon be addressed. Looks like we might also get a few additional details. Supporting these small, independent devs is crucial in maintaining a steady stream of smaller and/or more obscure airports, especially when they’re capable of pushing out quality like this. I’m now looking forward to whatever they create next.
