Bandai Namco‘s long-running aerial combat series is back: Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve launches October 1 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, and the reviews are already in — seven years after Ace Combat 7 took to the skies. The verdict so far: this may be the most ambitious Ace Combat ever, and critics love the story as much as the dogfighting.
From “Best the Series Has Ever Felt” to a 92
PC Gamer scored it 92/100, calling it “an eye-watering, fist-pumping marriage of arcade action and cinematic flourish, and one of the best games I’ve played in years.” Push Square went nearly as far: “Wings of Theve might be the best Ace Combat has ever felt. It’s honed the action to a fine edge; it feels wonderfully smooth to play,” with a 30-mission campaign the reviewer “never once got tired of.” The Guardian admitted to being “oddly moved” by “the series’ trademark soaring music and a story that actually sticks the landing.”
Joker Flight and First-Person Storytelling
The big swing this time is narrative. Instead of leaving the story to static cutscenes, Project Aces built interactive first-person sequences that put you in the room with Joker Flight, the game’s central squadron of pilots. You play as Rex, and per the PlayStation Blog, your minor interactions “do a bit to shape Rex as a person,” with squadmates responding to how you lead — including whether to let Coster leave formation to protect his heroes in an allied rock band. “There’s far, far more cutscenes than previous entries in the series,” writes Respec, “and you really get to know Tasha, Coster, Daxter and more as you progress through the story — and, of course, it makes all of the key story moments with them land all the stronger.”
The Clouds Are the Star
Technically, reviewers keep landing on the same detail: the sky itself. Bandai Namco Aces built a proprietary cloud engine — Cloudly — to replace the third-party tool behind Ace Combat 7’s skies, stacking clouds in layers that look and behave differently depending on altitude. “Dive into a cloud bank with a missile on your tail, and there’s a good chance you’ll shake it,” explains But Why Tho, “while an enemy hiding inside one shrinks your lock-on range and can break your lock entirely.” PC Gamer’s reviewer found themselves “trailing the serpentine contrails like the guiding lines of a racing game” during blind, mach-three, nose-down cloud chases — dogfights that ditch the High-G Turn spam that characterized Ace Combat 6 and 7’s campaigns.
30 Aircraft, Some Rough Air
Scale-wise, Shacknews counts around 30 aircraft serving distinct roles across “a vast sandbox of skies, seas, and various terrain.” The criticisms are real but mild: PlayStation Universe flags the early cutscene pacing and “trite” QTE prompts, and Day One found the plot twists lose some impact by the credits — while calling the flight and combat side “an even more fantastic time.” On PC, there’s no FOV slider (the game plays best from the cockpit view) and one minor input-ghosting bug. Expect to pay $80 when it lands October 1.