ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE ▶ Trailer
ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE screenshot 1ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE screenshot 2
ActionFlightShooterMilitaryVehicular CombatStory Rich

5,928 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 7,979

Peak in the last 7 days: 11,102

ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE Steam store

Game description

Soar through the skies and rise above every challenge to earn your place among the elite. Engage in intense aerial combat to dominate the battlefield with powerful weapons. Experience a breathtaking campaign filled with high-stakes missions, hard choices, and deep squad connections.

Basic info

DeveloperBandai Namco Aces Inc.
PublisherBandai Namco Entertainment Inc.
PlatformsWindows
Steam DeckUnsupported
Release dateOct 1, 2026
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows 11
ProcessorIntel Core i7-10700K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
Memory16 GB
GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060[6 GB] / AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT[8 GB]
Storage150 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 436 reviews from the past 1 year

79.7/ 100
Bottom 50%

Steam rating: Very Positive (85%)

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 12, 2026)

The skies and the soundtrack carry ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE, but performance holds it back, and it scores 79.7 from 24,623 Steam reviews.

👍 Strengths

100 reviews praise a fantastic campaign with great missions, characters and incredible music, and Story & World ranks 319th of 1096. Visuals & Sound ranks 133rd of 1249: 60 reviews call the soundtrack and sound design amazing, and others describe heavy, satisfying controls and a spectacular sky. 72 say the campaign is really fun, and Content Volume ranks 302nd of 1351.

👎 Where it falls short

Tech & Support ranks 1273rd of 1399 and comes up in 57% of analyzed reviews. 115 reviews describe crashes and optimization so poor it seems to need a future graphics card, and 54 report frequent crashes they suspect come from a memory leak. Pricing & Fairness ranks 1085th of 1399; 26 reviews object to multiplayer monetization and a time limited pass. Gameplay ranks 806th of 1396, and some find the last two missions unfairly hard.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“fantastic campaign with great missions, characters and incredible music” · 100 reviews
“campaign really fun, runs well on Linux distro” · 72 reviews
“soundtrack and sound design are amazing” · 60 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 48% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Controls & feel +0.70 · Responsiveness, precision, and how the menus handle
Positive “gameplay is smooth and rewards positioning; feels good” · 21 reviews

Progression 8% · Difficulty 11% · Onboarding 11% · Freedom 2% · Strategy 8%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 55% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Story +3.28 · Plot, quests, writing, and the ending
Positive “fantastic campaign with great missions, characters and incredible music” · 100 reviews
Negative “ending disappoints; final boss underwhelming; late-game story letdown” · 14 reviews

Characters 22% · World 14%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 23% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Volume +2.46 · How much there is to play, including endgame, for the price
Positive “mission volume, presentation, music all series best” · 5 reviews
Negative “small plane list limits content variety” · 3 reviews

Variety 8% · Replayability 2%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 54% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Audio +4.23 · Music, sound effects, and voice acting
Positive “soundtrack and sound design are amazing” · 60 reviews
Negative “music good but not ranked as best in series” · 2 reviews

Visuals 33%

Playing with others, the community and servers
Mentioned in 18% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

Playing together +0.49 · Fun of playing with friends, teammates, or rivals
Positive “PvP und Multiplayer sind richtig gut” · 1 review
Negative “co-op lacks cooperation, just score hunting” · 4 reviews

Community 1% · Servers & Connection 5%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 20% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

Pricing -0.37 · Whether the price, DLC and microtransactions are reasonable, and how much paying gives you an edge
Negative “multiplayer monetization unacceptable, Ace pass time-limited FOMO” · 26 reviews

Anti-cheat 3% · Balance 7% · Matchmaking 3%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 57% of reviews · Bottom 10% of the games we've analyzed

Performance -0.65 · Frame rate, optimization, and loading times
Negative “crashes and poor optimization, needs future-gen GPU to run smoothly” · 115 reviews
Positive “runs smoothly on below-minimum specs with low graphics settings” · 10 reviews

Stability 23% · Developer support 17%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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