Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve review for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X

Every game company has a series that you may not hear a lot of people talk about but will blow you away every single time, no matter what the contents of each entry are. Bandai Namco’s Ace Combat series is exactly that. From all the way back with Air Combat to Ace Combat Zero to Ace Combat 7, every game in this series has something that makes it special in a way that’s hard to put into words. This most recent release of Ace Combat 8 is no exception by any definition.

Ace Combat 8 differs from 7 in a good bunch of ways, but the one that struck me most was a more streamlined story experience that doesn’t seem to super rely on previous knowledge. It still follows the typical countries like Sotoa, all of USEA, and more, but it feels more like a standalone story than another part of a longer overarching plotline.

Not only do I think the story’s a bit easier to follow if this is your first entry into the series, but I think the characters are all really enjoyable. Everyone feels unique compared to one another. Tasha’s a civilian stunt pilot, Coster’s in a band and a little bit of a fanboy of another band, and Baxter’s the “professor” of the group helping keep everyone under wraps and serving as a mentor for Joker squadron. As you play you’ll learn to love each member of your crew through their individual developments. Tasha especially has a really strong arc she’ll go through during your time with Ace Combat 8’s main campaign. Your crewmates feel like incredibly well written characters, furthering the enjoyment.

Outside of being excellent characters in the story, your crew will aid you in each mission you’re playing through various means. Each one seemingly specializes in certain maneuvers, such as Tasha being more of a distraction than a squadmate that focuses on taking down enemies. You can direct them to certain actions, including using SP weapons, covering your rear, focusing attack on your target, and fanning out to attack at will. Making use of these controls can be pretty impactful in high execution missions with narrower fail conditions. There’s a few missions that I struggled with until I started making proper use of teammate SP weapons and targeted strikes.

From a controls perspective, if you’ve played Ace Combat 7, you’ll feel right at home with 8. If you’re a new player, it’s very easy to get the basics down with plenty of room for skill expression and fancy maneuvers for high octane takedowns. Getting the hang of flying and turning is the easy part but learning to master your aircraft for more agile tricks is where your time with the game really starts to shine. You’ll still be making use of Pitch, Yaw, and more to most effectively pilot your fighter.

I suppose that bouncing off how the game plays leads pretty well into the multiplayer component of Ace Combat 8. The multiplayer mode is called “Ace Combat Online” and features a separate progression path from the main story. You’ll be engaging in battles generally with up to 4 people on a team but this can change depending on the mode. There’s even the inclusion of some 8 player “raid boss” style encounters you’ll be periodically jumping into.

I had the opportunity to participate in a pre-release multiplayer test session and it was a really fun time. Playing with other people in the industry and Bandai staff was a great time and really helped me get a feel for how the multiplayer progression and gameplay loop goes. Having not played the multiplayer mode(s) in Ace Combat 7, this was a brand new experience.

Part of the multiplayer is getting your player level up and acquiring new parts/upgrades for various planes as you use them. The more you use a plane, the more you’ll raise its level and unlock more weapons, flight upgrades, etc. You’ll eventually hit a “threshold” and need to acquire more upgrade parts to further increase a plane’s level cap, so that’s something you’ll wanna make sure you have on hand once you get ahold of a fighter you intend to continue to use. Upgrading yourself is gonna be the key to air dominance and surviving long enough to become your team’s Ace pilot.

Additionally, there is a seasonal system featuring a battle pass called the Ace Pass. You’ll get some extra materials and cosmetics as you progress through this with a premium track and a free track. The Deluxe Edition of the game comes with a redeemable Premium Ace Pass that you can seemingly use on whatever season you want, so you don’t have to feel pressured to spend it on this initial pass. Progression doesn’t feel super slow or anything so it’s a nice and smooth experience as you play more and more.

Some last points worth touching on are things like the writing, visuals, and soundtrack. The writing in Ace Combat 8 makes you feel like you’re playing through an Air Force war movie every step of the way and never stops being enjoyable. Every character you meet is fun in their own way, the narrative beats always keep you engaged and eager to see the next, and the emotional moments are exemplary. This writing quality is further driven home with one of the most incredible soundtracks ever released in a video game. There is one particular song titled “My Blue Sky Home” that hits in all the right ways, including straight to your heart. Every song you hear serves to produce a certain emotion and every single track is woven excellently into the game.

Visually, I don’t think Ace Combat 8 is a significant step up from 7, but it does still look gorgeous. The clouds look about as realistic as I’ve ever seen, the planes are highly detailed, and all the effects on explosions and smoke trails continue to look just as pretty as the previous entry. There appears to be some sporadic performance issues according to reports, but I personally did not run into any. I played Ace Combat 8 on an AMD 9070XT, Ryzen 7 7800x3D, and 32GB of DDR5 memory clocked at 6000MHz. I also played the game installed to an M.2 SSD, so that might also play a part in how assets are loaded in. I feel that this was worth mentioning for anybody that plays the game and runs into problems with their performance. For this experience personally, optimization was smooth and fluid the entire time.

Also, as an added bonus, for those that preordered Ace Combat 8, you got some goodies for your early adoption. You’ll be able to get an F-14A fighter, but that’s not the biggest benefit. If you’re an existing fan or a brand new fan eager to check out one of the greatest previous entries of Ace Combat, Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War comes with your purchase of AC8. Be aware that this game is not standalone and requires Ace Combat 8 to be installed to play. A bit disappointing, so hopefully Bandai Namco will do something about separating the two titles in the future.

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is genuinely a phenomenal game that has had such an insane grip on me. 2026 has been an absolutely jam packed year full of amazing games, but you are seriously doing yourself a disservice by not experiencing Ace Combat 8. Bandai Namco and Project Aces have completely outdone themselves with this game and singing its praises just isn’t enough. The team behind this game have shown exactly what happens when you get a bunch of people with passion and drive and give them the budget to make what feels like a dream game for everyone involved. I sincerely believe that Ace Combat 8 is 2026’s Game of the Year.

Note: Bandai Namco provided us with a Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve code for review purposes.

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