Ace Combat 8 Hands-On Preview: Made For Veterans, Approachable For Newcomers

Published Sep 9, 2026, 7:15 PM EDT Yuliya Geikhman has been writing professionally for over 17 years. She started out in the MMO scene with Pando Media Booster and now dives into everything gaming at Screen Rant. She's a lifelong gamer, a relentless industry sleuth, and a passionate follower of everything happening in the games industry. I have never played an Ace Combat game. I am such a complete newbie that when I went to try it at a hands-on event for Bandai Namco's upcoming Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, I managed to fail the first tutorial mission on the lowest difficulty. But by the end of our play session, I had successfully completed a full sortie. That's a testament to how intuitive and approachable the upcoming title is, something that the developers were very conscious of. I had a chance to play through the first tutorial and the fourth—and the first non-tutorial—missions. There to walk me through my baby steps into the flight combat sim and answer questions were series Brand Director Kazutoki Kono and Producer Manabu Shimomoto. Ace Combat 8 Is For Newcomers And Veterans Alike Ace Combat 8 is the first mainline game in the franchise since 2019, and the latest in the 30+ year old series. In this installment, you enter the shoes of a legendary ace pilot known as the Wings of Theve, to tell a brand-new story from the Ace Combat universe. You and your squadron take to the skies and fight to free your homeland from the invading nation that's taken over it. Although this is the eighth numbered game in the series, Kono and Shimomoto note that Ace Combat 8 is extremely approachable for newcomers to the title and genre. I proved this to be quite true when I had not quite mastered, but at least managed to survive the first proper mission within about an hour of play time. The game caters to beginners by being simple enough to pick up quickly. But it also gives its dedicated community a wealth of information and options, including several difficulty levels, detailed stats on your performance, a visualizer of your squadron's positions throughout the sortie, and customization options for your aircrafts. At the end of each mission, you can view a playback of the action, switching between camera angles for different perspectives. (Though there is no way, at this point, to share this video directly from the game.) Missions are also as in-depth or simple as you choose. You can simply complete the main objective to finish the sortie, or you can go for optional additional targets to earn more points to spend on upgrades and new planes. If you play at the difficulty level that's right for you... the solo campaign has over 25 hours of content. Regardless of how you decide to tackle it, there's plenty to do in the single-player story mode. If you play at the difficulty level that's right for you (rather than taking it easy or opting for a challenge), the solo campaign has over 25 hours of content. When Ace Combat 7 sold over seven million copies, the developers realized that they were filling a unique niche in the gaming space. A community had sprouted around the franchise, and the devs wanted to create a place for fans to meet and interact with each other. That's where multiplayer comes into the picture. Although I didn't get a chance to experience it, Ace Combat 8 has the most robust multiplayer out of any game in the series so far. There are multiple modes, including emergency sorties and even some tutorials, many of which emphasize teamwork. The mode has its own dedicated hub: an airbase that can host up to 100 players from around the world. It's a place where friends can meet and hang out, customize their characters, strike a pose, or even play classic Bandai Namco games at the arcade. The multiplayer has its own separate progression and save data, and will include cross-play on launch. Kono and Shimomoto confirm that yes, you can technically jump into the multiplayer without playing through the solo campaign, though they really don't recommend it. Devs Promise That Microtransactions Will Not Be Pay-To-Win The robust multiplayer mode comes with a feature many fans are understandably apprehensive about: season passes. The Ace Pass will take players through themed two-month seasons full of rewards, while the $9.99 Premium Ace Pass will unlock a new tier, featuring exclusive skins and additional rewards. ...there will be no loot boxes or pay-to-win practices. That said, I was assured that rewards will be almost entirely cosmetic, and there will be no loot boxes or pay-to-win practices. More than that, every exclusive season pass item will be available to purchase separately through the store after it runs its two-month course. In other words, players can rest easy, knowing that they'll be able to choose how much they engage with the seasons without fear of missing out on anything. Soar Through The Skies In Ace Combat 8 Even as a newbie to flight sims, I thoroughly enjoyed my brief experience with Ace Combat 8. Once I got the hang of the controls, it became extremely satisfying to take down enemy planes and ships—made even better by the impressed gasps from my audience when I managed to pull up at the last second and avoid unceremoniously flying my plane into the ocean. (To clarify: entirely my fault and not the game's.) But more than that, it's worth noting just how stunning the game is. The team took a lot of care in getting every detail right, from the ripples in the water below to the tiny parachuting pilot leaping from one of the enemy planes I'd just wrecked. When the light hit at just the right angle, it caused a reflected rainbow to appear in my view. When I flew through a cloud, the screen filled with condensation and the controller vibrated as though experiencing turbulence. The devs even spoke with actual fighter jet pilots to make sure they got everything right, down to the "feel" of flying. The team clearly put a lot of love and thought into the project. Through the brief preview I got to try, the game presents itself as both a great entry point for newcomers and a fantastic followup for fans of the franchise. Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve will be available for PlayStation 5 (which is what I played the preview on), Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Steam on October 2. Systems Released October 2, 2026 ESRB Teen / Blood, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact Developer(s) Bandai Namco Aces Publisher(s) Bandai Namco Entertainment Multiplayer Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op Cross-Platform Play Full Genre(s) Flight Simulator, Action, Shooter, War & Military