Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve Will Launch With a Welcome Surprise

Bandai Namco announced that Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, their latest entry to the acclaimed Ace Combat flight action series, will launch on October 2.

The game will continue its dramatic tales of war and political conflict in the Strangereal world. Set several years after the Lighthouse War depicted in Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, the aftermath sees the Federation of Central Usea absorb most of the countries in the Usean continent. Unfortunately, the FCU has proven to be incapable of managing post-war recovery efforts, which caused an economic crisis.

Meanwhile, across the ocean to the east of FCU, the Republic of Sotoa suffered a severe drought and water shortage due to changing climate. Yet despite that, Sotoa decided to invade FCU for an unknown motive.

Players will take on the role of a weapons system officer for an FCU pilot named Jan “Rex” Cope. Rex is nicknamed “Wings of Theve” after the capital of the FCU for his documented feat in battle, exaggerated by the social media into legendary status.

During the Sotoa attack, Rex’s aircraft were shot down. Rex failed to escape in time, while the player is able to save Rex’s dogtag. After being saved by the crew of the aircraft carrier Endurance, the player inherited the callsign Rex to help manage the morale of the FCU army and keep the legend of Wings of Theve alive.

Ace Combat 8 improves on Ace Combat 7’s system with added gameplay mechanics and some quality-of-life updates. The basics are still the same: you complete missions to earn MRP, which can be used to buy aircraft and their upgrades.

Aircraft can be fitted with various enhancement modules, as well as up to two SP munitions. Customizations are important to suit the mission requirements.

Aside from radar, enemies can now be spotted through visual cues, such as contrails and cockpit glints. Visual identification will become an important aspect as radars can become jammed.

Combat against massive military vehicles becomes more engaging than ever. In this game, you will face an Arsenal Bird-like aircraft called Podarge, as well as a brand-new Land Battleship equipped with high-powered railguns.

You can now attack these gargantuan superweapons head-on, even inflicting damage on non-targeted sections of their bodies. Even more so, you can now also trigger a chain reaction on downed enemies to inflict area damage on other enemies in the vicinity.

From time to time, ace pilots from the enemy side will join the combat and make your time harder. Fret not because now you can issue commands to your wingmen, ranging from frontal assault to covering your back.

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is available to preorder. As well as gaining early access 3 days earlier, players will also receive an in-game aircraft, the F-14 A, and a next-gen port of Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War video game, free of charge.