ACE COMBAT 8 guide: First Flights, Aircraft and Online Modes

This ACE COMBAT 8 guide covers Wings of Theve, an arcade flight combat game available on Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S following its worldwide October 2, 2026 launch; Steam displays October 1. Start with Campaign Mode, read the mission briefing, and choose your aircraft and special weapon around the targets you must destroy.

You play the pilot carrying the Wings of Theve identity, fighting for the Federation of Central Usea after the Republic of Sotoa invades. Your base is the aircraft carrier Endurance. The practical challenge is broader than chasing enemy jets: the publisher confirms dogfights, ground support and naval strikes, so preparation matters before every sortie.

The Steam listing specifies Windows 11, an SSD and 150 GB of available storage. Its minimum specification includes 16 GB RAM, an Intel Core i7-10700K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600X, and an RTX 2060 or Radeon RX 6600 XT. A graphics card with hardware ray tracing support and DirectX 12 with Shader Model 6.6 or higher is also required.

Check the complete requirements against your own machine before buying. Steam describes minimum-spec performance as upscaled 1080p at 30 fps on Low, with possible drops in demanding scenes; treat that as a stated target rather than a guaranteed result.

Bandai Namco's walkthrough describes a straightforward engagement: use thrusters to close the distance, defend against incoming missiles with chaff and flares, then get behind the enemy and attack with missiles or the machine gun.

Use your opening flights to practise those actions deliberately. Make one goal survival, another positioning, and another a clean attack from behind. Rolls and loops are part of the game's arcade flying, but make each maneuver serve a purpose: closing on a target, escaping danger or creating an attack angle. Our recommendation is to get comfortable with that sequence before spending time comparing your entire aircraft collection.

Mission-earned MRP unlocks additional aircraft, and parts let you adjust your jet. Before spending, reread the briefing and identify whether the immediate problem is airborne, on land or at sea. Then examine the special weapons available for the aircraft you can actually select.

The official roster offers useful role examples:

• F-14D Super Tomcat: a Fighter with long-range anti-air missiles; consider its role when planning an aerial engagement.
• A-10C Thunderbolt II: an Attacker built around close air support and air-to-ground weaponry.
• F/A-18C Hornet: a Multirole aircraft supporting air-to-air, anti-ground and anti-ship weapons.

Use those roles to compare available options in your hangar. If a sortie goes badly, review whether your equipment matched its targets before buying another airframe. Change one part of your approach at a time so you can tell which adjustment helped.

The publisher's game overview confirms commands for focusing on a particular target, dividing attacks, covering you and using squadmates' special weapons. Make issuing an order part of your response when the situation changes.

For example, ask for cover when you need breathing room, or concentrate the squad on a priority enemy. Our suggested habit is to connect each command to an immediate problem instead of issuing orders without a purpose. Your mission briefing remains the starting point for deciding what needs attention.

Online play has separate progression from Campaign Mode. Its two core modes serve different goals:

• Co-Op Assault: two teams of four attack NPC enemies and compete for the higher score. This is our suggested starting point if you want to practise cooperative target clearing.
• Co-Op Warfare: two squads of four fight each other with land, sea and air NPC units involved.

In Warfare, scoring without being shot down raises your Threat Level. That increases your scoring potential but also makes your defeat more valuable to opponents. Protect a successful run instead of treating every distant target as worth pursuing. Scramble and Emergency Sortie are additional limited-time missions that may become available after the core modes.