Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve arrives as the first entry in the series built for the current generation of consoles, a flight from the sky of the last game toward a more textured one. Its makers have reached for real aviation, asking veteran pilots what the sky actually feels like, and then chosen to bend that truth so that the human drama of the dogfight survives. The fictional world of Strangereal carries much of the weight here, with most of its planned history and geography kept beneath the surface, much as a real sky holds more weather than any single flight ever sees.
Ace Combat 8 Borrows Real Pilot Insight for Cloud Physics and Dogfights, Tempered by Its Fictional World
Players have a lot more courage than the real fighter jet pilot
Mark
Why does a cloud technology deserve this much attention?
Mimi
Because it does two jobs. Cloudly makes wings trail through clouds convincingly, and it also changes play, since contrails can give away an enemy plane after you leave a cloud bank.
Luke
Worth noting that's the developers describing their own feature in a preview. The piece hasn't tested how it plays.
Mark
The pilots said they avoid clouds entirely. Isn't that a strange thing to build a feature around?
Mimi
Shimamoto joked that players are braver than real pilots. The game takes the pilots' details but keeps the thrill of flying through them.
Luke
And that's one producer's account of what the pilots said. We don't know how many were consulted or who they were.
Mark
Why did they cut back on drones?
Mimi
Kono said Ace Combat 7 had a lot of UAVs, and fans preferred dogfights with radio chatter and heated conversations.
Luke
Fair, but that's fan feedback as relayed by the director. There's no data given on how widespread it was.
Mark
And the 10 percent figure on world-building?
Mimi
Kono offered it as a rough sense, saying 10 percent is what you see. The map roleplay and the Sotoa culture are mostly hidden.
Luke
He prefaced it with 'I want to say,' so treat it as an estimate. Also unknown: the plane count and the exact release date beyond 2026.
Il Polso
- A defeated nation's last pilots pull a stranger from the ocean and hand him an antiquated jet aboard a rusting carrier.
- Cloudly physics makes every cloud a trap, with contrails betraying enemies hidden behind white banks.
- Real pilots say flying into cloud is too frightening to attempt, so the game asks players to be braver than any aviator.
- The team holds a narrow line between simulator authenticity and arcade fun, and player enjoyment keeps winning the argument.
- Most of the lore, the full aircraft roster, and the military strategy remain locked away, with only a fraction of the planning destined for the screen.
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve arrives as the first entry in the series built for the current generation of consoles, a flight from the sky of the last game toward a more textured one. Its makers have reached for real aviation, asking veteran pilots what the sky actually feels like, and then chosen to bend that truth so that the human drama of the dogfight survives. The fictional world of Strangereal carries much of the weight here, with most of its planned history and geography kept beneath the surface, much as a real sky holds more weather than any single flight ever sees.
Hours before The Game Awards in Los Angeles, CNET sat down with Kazutoki Kono, the Ace Combat series brand director, and Manabu Shimamoto, the game's producer, to talk about how much of the real sky they chose to carry into Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve. The game arrives in 2026, the first in the series made for this generation of consoles and also coming to PC, and it uses a new cloud physics system called Cloudly. Clouds streak behind your wings, and a distant enemy can be spotted by the contrails it leaves when it slips out of a cloud bank.
That realism came from interviews with former combat pilots, who told the team that flying into clouds is so frightening that they avoid it entirely. Shimamoto admitted that this makes players braver than real pilots. The team has long walked a line between simulator and arcade, and Kono said player fun always comes first. Fans of the last game also asked for more man-on-man dogfights rather than drones, so the game keeps the close fight even as real warfare moves toward unmanned aircraft and long-range missiles.
The story is set in 2029 in Strangereal, ten years after the last game. The Federation of Central Usea has been crushed by the Republic of Sotoa, and an unnamed pilot wakes in the ocean after a battle and is taken aboard an old carrier crewed by the last holdouts. Wearing the legacy of a heroic pilot from the past, the player flies an antiquated jet, with quieter moments aboard the ship offsetting the speed of the air combat.
Most of the world-building will never reach the screen. The team roleplayed invasions across a physical map and developed the history of Sotoa, though players may only glimpse it in a flag. Kono estimated that about a tenth of the planning will be visible. The F-18E Super Hornet is Shimamoto's favorite, and Kono admits to falling for each game's key jet. Beyond the 2026 window no firmer date was given, and the number of planes remains unknown.
Hours before The Game Awards on Dec. 11 in Los Angeles, CNET's reporter sat down in a nearby hotel room with two of the people behind Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve. Kazutoki Kono is the Ace Combat series brand director, and Manabu Shimamoto is the game's producer. Bandai Namco plans to release the game in 2026, and the conversation was about how much of the real sky the developers chose to bring into it.
The last entry, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, came out in 2019. Wings of Theve will be the first game in the franchise built for this generation of consoles, and it will also come to PC. Project Aces, the team behind the series, used that hardware to push the visuals and developed a graphics technology for simulating cloud physics. It is called Cloudly. It trails your aircraft's wings through the cloud as you cut across the sky, and it carries a tactical use: leave a cloud bank, and you can pick out a distant enemy plane by its contrails.
That detail came out of a deliberate hunt for realism. The team interviewed former combat pilots about the modern realities of flying fighter jets. Shimamoto, speaking through a translator, said the pilots told them it is too scary to fly into clouds, and that they avoid it altogether. By his account, that means players and the in-game pilot have a lot more courage than a real fighter pilot. The pilots also supplied other details, such as spotting distant enemy aircraft by sunlight glinting off their cockpits, much like a sniper-scope glint in a shooter like Battlefield 6.
Still, the series has long sat between strict simulator and arcade game. Shimamoto said the team is going for a certain level of reality but wants to give players a lot of decision-making agency. Kono put it as a line the team keeps aiming toward without crossing at the expense of the player experience. Player fun, he said, is always a priority in their design philosophy.
Feedback from the last game shaped that stance. Ace Combat 7 included many UAVs, Kono said, but fans told the team they preferred man-on-man dogfights, with the radio chatter and heated conversations that come with them. So even as real aviation moves toward unmanned drones and missiles fired at aircraft far over the horizon, the game keeps the dogfight.
The fiction is what gives the team that room. The series is set in Strangereal, a world of invented nations such as Usea, Osea, Erusea and Sotoa, locked in a war that swings one way or the other from game to game. Wings of Theve takes place in 2029, ten years after its predecessor. The Federation of Central Usea has been defeated and fully subjugated by the Republic of Sotoa. The player is an unnamed pilot who wakes up floating in the ocean after a fierce air battle and is picked up by an outdated aircraft carrier crewed by the last FCU holdouts. The pilot flies an antiquated aircraft and takes on the mantle of the title's Wings of Theve, a heroic pilot from yesteryear. The team is also aiming for more interpersonal moments aboard the ship, to contrast with the fast air combat.
Much of the world-building behind that story never reaches the player. In planning, the team unrolled a physical map of Strangereal and roleplayed different nations invading and counterattacking across its geography, Kono said. They built out the culture and history of the antagonist Sotoa, though players may only glimpse it in the country's flag. Kono estimated that about 10 percent of the planning is what you see in the game.
The developers could not discuss everything, including how many planes will be in the game. They did name favorites. Shimamoto chose the F-18E Super Hornet, which is prominent in the trailer and suits a game set around an aircraft carrier. Kono said he tends to fall for whichever jet is the key visual of each game, and that long study makes him notice small things, like a little hole in the F-18's nose cone, or how the bolts line up. Beyond the 2026 window, no firmer release date was given, and the plane count remains the open question.
Citazioni salienti
We are going for a certain level of reality, but we do want to give the player a lot of decision-making agency.— Manabu Shimamoto, producer of Ace Combat 8
We still can't go for that line at the expense of the player experience.— Kazutoki Kono, Ace Combat series brand director
Vuoi la storia completa?
Leggi l'originale su CNET ↗
Technology