Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve hands-on: propaganda, desperate battles, and a Land Battleship

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve drops on PlayStation 5 on October 2, and several campaign missions are already in the hands of press. Developer Project Aces is building a story around a losing war — the Federation of Central Usea is on the back foot after a lightning strike by the Republic of Sotoa, and the whole game kicks off aboard the aircraft carrier Endurance.

The central hook is a propaganda operation. The FCU launches a social media campaign built around a legendary pilot called the Wings of Theve, but the real pilot behind the myth — Rex — is just an ordinary guy told to show up, look heroic, and stay alive. When Rex gets shot down and killed in the opening mission, you take over his callsign and carry the lie forward. Brand Manager Kazutoki Kono says the first-person cinematics used to tell this story were directly inspired by the team's VR work on Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, and they do a lot to sell the pressure of being a manufactured war hero. Gameplay stays close to Ace Combat 7's foundation, but the PS5 DualSense adds haptic trigger resistance — R2 for throttle, L2 for deceleration, both together for high-G turns. You command Joker Flight, a four-fighter team, via directional button orders, and story decisions — like whether to spare enemy pilots at a wingman's request — can affect which characters survive into later missions, according to Kono.

The standout mission in the preview involves a Land Battleship, essentially a naval destroyer fused with a tank, rolling through a city center. The FCU's plan is to load trucks with bombs and blow out its treads while you fly cover — all while dodging rail guns, anti-aircraft cannons, and deployable drones, and trying not to clip a skyscraper. The only way to stop it is to demolish buildings in its path. It's a chaotic, high-stakes set piece, and the constant radio chatter from commanders, ground troops, and wingmen keeps the desperation of the moment front and center throughout.

Ace Combat 8 looks like a confident follow-up that doesn't mess with what worked in 7, while layering in a more emotionally grounded story and making smart use of the DualSense hardware. PS5 players find out for themselves on October 2.