The world of Strangereal, setting of the Ace Fight video games, has developed a deep and storied historical past over the course of the sequence. However with Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, developer Venture Aces has modified its method to storytelling to create a more intimate and emotional story than it has prior to now. That method brings you a lot nearer to the determined makes an attempt of the Federation of Central Usea’s battered navy to combat off the invading Sotoans, and the numerous characters combating that struggle.
The most important change is that, in Ace Fight 8, you play a fighter pilot silent protagonist who’s, however, a main character all through the story. The sport opens with a cutscene wherein you’re discovered floating in a life raft after a battle by the Endurance, one of the FCU’s final remaining plane carriers.
After you’re aboard, you’re despatched up as navigator for fighter pilot Jan “Rex” Cope, whose job isn’t to interact in battles, however to function a propaganda device. He’s referred to as the Wings of Theve, a legendary combat pilot ace named for the FCU’s capital, however you shortly discover out that Cope isn’t the unbelievable ace he’s portrayed to be on social media. As an alternative, his directions are to run from each combat, however when the 2 of you might be shot down, Cope is killed in motion.
However the Wings of Theve is simply too necessary to the struggling FCU to exit that method, so that you inherit Cope’s name signal and secretly change him. As the brand new Wings of Theve, you could have a central function within the struggle effort, and your abilities assist bolster the propaganda — for higher or worse.
First-person cutscenes put you within the story
Earlier Ace Fight video games have instructed their tales by means of detailed cutscenes, however in Ace Fight 8, these cutscenes are largely offered from a first-person perspective, placing you in a room or on the deck with different characters. The story unfolds as when you’re residing it each out and in of the cockpit, fairly than having it narrated to you, and haptic suggestions within the DualSense controller helps make these moments really feel lifelike and intense, particularly within the warmth of battle.
Whereas your character Rex, as in previous video games, is silent, you often get the prospect to reply yes-or-no questions by urgent left or proper on the DualSense’s D-Pad, and to work together throughout cutscenes by trying round with the proper analog stick or responding to prompts at key moments by hitting Triangle or Sq..
By these minor interactions, you are able to do a bit to form Rex as a individual, and the opposite members of Joker Flight, your squadron, will reply to the way you select to lead them together with your choices.
Turning into half of the squadron
Ace Fight 8 places a large emphasis on all its characters, particularly the members of Joker Flight. You spend virtually the entire sport with them, whether or not it’s hanging out throughout cutscenes between missions that develop on the plot, sitting by means of briefings the place they’ll chime in with feedback or info, or listening to them over the radio whilst you’re taking down enemy plane.
That concentrate on characters makes the story of the FCU’s battle to repel Sotoa really feel speedy, personal, and harrowing. You’re not simply working a sequence of disjointed missions, the tales of the pilots who’re being requested to threat their lives to full them, and what’s at stake when you fail.
You additionally get a lot of possibilities to make small choices that give the sense that you simply’re influencing your squadron’s notion of you. In a single early mission, you encounter an allied group of pilots who’re additionally a well-known rock band — and a member of your squadron, Coster, is a large fan. When he asks if he can briefly go away your formation to assist them, the selection is up to you, however Coster appreciates it when you let him lend his weapons and missiles to defend his heroes. Little moments like this assist create a bond between you and the remaining of Joker Flight.
These further character moments additionally get you invested in your squad’s well-being. You possibly can situation orders to them with the D-Pad, sending them out to interact targets on their very own, calling them again in formation to assault your goal, or asking them to cowl you. Since your squad looks like a group of ready pilots who personally, it helps push you to put their abilities to use and to depend on them throughout the story, in addition to to assist them out once they get into bother within the skies.
A struggle effort full of people
The radio is a big half of Ace Fight 8’s storytelling. All through missions, you’ll talk together with your commanders and your squadmates through radio as they offer you key info and remark about what’s occurring.
However the radio, and the sound design that accompanies it, additionally do a nice job of promoting what it looks like to participate in missions. When a mission to retake FCU territory turns into an ambush by Sotoan forces, you hear the wrestle and worry of your floor forces as all of them yell into their radios without delay, reporting their conditions or begging for assist from the Wings of Theve.
The radio additionally provides you possibilities to do a little to form your story. If troops on the bottom name on your assist and also you reply, they acknowledge it — and infrequently, those self same characters would possibly present up on later missions. The legend of the Wings of Theve impacts more than simply the quantity of likes on social media, and whereas the story doesn’t change primarily based in your choices, these small character moments with the individuals who combat alongside you make it really feel like your contributions to the struggle effort are necessary ones.
By its method to its Story Mode, Ace Fight 8: Wings of Theve pulls you into the wrestle of the FCU in a method that’s deeply personal and infrequently intense and emotional. You can fly the skies of Strangereal yourself when Ace Combat 8 takes off on October 2 on PlayStation 5.