Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve has landed with very strong reviews. The embargo lifted on 25 September, and the PS5 version now sits at 87 on Metacritic from 56 reviews, with not a single negative one. The game launches on 2 October on PS5, Xbox Series and PC, costs $69.99 on Steam, and Deluxe Edition owners get to play three days early.
Who gave what
| Outlet | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic, PS5 average | 87 out of 100, 56 reviews |
| MonsterVine, PSX Brasil, Omelete, Cubed3 | 100 |
| DualShockers | 95 |
| PC Gamer | 92 |
| GamesRadar+ | 90 |
Of the reviews Metacritic has scored, 52 are positive and one is mixed.
What critics praise
PC Gamer calls it arcade flight action refined to the highest level and a must-play for aviation fans. The strengths that come up again and again:
- Handling with weight. Planes feel heavy, weather and new physics change the fights, and the High-G turn spam that marked Ace Combat 6 and 7 no longer carries you.
- Missions. More free-form annihilation missions where you chase a target score against the clock, and huge frontline battles.
- Story. PC Gamer singles out the writing and dialogue, which the reviewer thinks will surprise even series veterans.
- Look and sound. Reviewers agree the game looks and sounds excellent.
PC Gamer did not get to try multiplayer, which reworks Ace Combat Infinity, so the scores are mostly about the single-player campaign.
How it runs on PC
The most useful detail for our readers: PC Gamer reviewed it on an affordable Radeon RX 6600 with a Ryzen 7 7700X and 32 GB of RAM. At 1440p it ran mostly steadily. There was occasional hitching in first-person cutscenes, and frame rates sometimes dipped below 60 when huge fireballs filled the screen. The only bug across two playthroughs was brief input ghosting on the sticks after one of those dips, which sent the reviewer into a building. Steam Deck status is not verified yet.
Going by that test, an RX 6600-class card is enough for 1440p. Deluxe Edition owners can start on 28 September at 3pm Pacific, which is 22:00 UTC.
Sources
Metacritic critic reviews. PC Gamer, 25.09.2026. Steam store page. PlayStation Blog on the release date. Bandai Namco on launch and early access. Screenshots from the official Steam gallery.
