Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is an arcade-style flight shooter built around dogfights, ground attacks and superweapon battles. It runs on Unreal Engine 5 and comes to PC through Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. The game is split in two: a single-player campaign with a story, and Ace Combat Online, a multiplayer mode.
Top 3 Reasons to Play Ace Combat 8
A campaign told in first person. Story scenes are shown through the pilot’s eyes, which the franchise has never done before. Between sorties you spend time with your squadmates, and how you fly, along with a few smaller story decisions, affects who makes it through and what role they end up playing. The main plot doesn’t budge.
Weather that carries information. Bandai Namco’s Cloudly technology drives the skies, and contrails and enemy engine smoke are meant to be read as tactical signals. Director Kazutoki Kono also says the maps are significantly bigger and that real-world objects are no longer scaled down: everything modelled on the real thing appears at true 1:1.
An online lobby to hang around in. Ace Combat Online is the first in the series to have one: an air base where you explore as a custom avatar before queuing for team missions.
Story and Lore
The setting is Strangereal, the series’ alternate Earth with its own countries, geography and history. The Republic of Sotoa starts the war with a blitzkrieg invasion of the Federation of Central Usea (FCU), overrunning the country and wrecking most of its military. The navy is what’s left, and it keeps fighting from the water.
The FCU’s best-known pilot is Jan “Rex” Cope, a naval aviator whose exploits as the “Wings of Theve” have been embellished on social media and used as wartime propaganda to lift morale. You play his silent weapon systems officer. When Cope is killed in action, you’re ordered to take over the Wings of Theve role and lead the squadron. Sunao Katabuchi is credited as the writer.
Gameplay and Mechanics
You choose an aircraft and loadout before every sortie, and the aircraft come in four categories with different strengths and weaknesses. Missions cover dogfights, ground attacks, anti-ship work and superweapon fights. Annihilation battles are back: you can wipe out ammunition depots, power plants and naval bases in whatever order you like, and supply routes let you rearm mid-mission.
Hits now count anywhere on an enemy aircraft, so there are no weak points to aim for, and a destroyed plane can damage other targets around it. Wingmen respond to orders too: you tell them which enemies to attack and when to use special weapons, much like in Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War.
Newcomers get a full tutorial and several training modes. There is no VR support.
Ace Combat Online
Online play keeps its own save data and progression, and you join as a mercenary pilot with a customizable avatar. The modes:
- Co-Op Assault: two teams of four compete for the highest score in PvE missions with mixed enemies and objectives.
- Co-Op Warfare: PvPvE, with two teams of four fighting each other while AI units operate on land, sea and in the air.
- Emergency Sortie: eight pilots against giant weapons from the series, some of them revisiting boss fights fans remember.
- PvP events: limited-time 4v4 team matches and 8-player deathmatch.
Online progress counts toward the Ace Pass, which has free and premium reward tracks and runs in two-month seasons. Aircraft DLC that comes with a Premium Ace Pass is sold separately after its season ends.
Characters and Factions
Your base between missions is the FCU carrier Endurance, and you lead Cope’s old squadron, Joker Flight. Its other members are William “Noise” Coster, Tasha Severskaya and Ellington “Professor” Baxter.
Two factions matter: the Federation of Central Usea, whose surviving navy you fly for, and the Republic of Sotoa, which started the war.
Editions
The Standard Edition is the base game, campaign and online mode included. The Deluxe Edition adds a customizable cosmetic set, a Premium Ace Pass Plus voucher and three days of early access.
The voucher activates the Premium Ace Pass for one season after launch. Besides an instant jump of 30 Ace Pass levels, that pass has a season-long reward track with aircraft skins, avatar costumes and the playable ADFX-02 MORGAN – PIXY.