Ace Combat 8 hit Steam on October 1 at $69.99, and the launch week story is a split one. Critics are mostly thrilled with the flying and the campaign. A good chunk of PC players are dealing with frame drops, crashes and a controller setup that does not like a lot of flight sticks. If you were waiting to see which version of the game you would actually get, here is where things stand.
The Short Version
The core of Ace Combat 8 is excellent: weighty arcade dogfights, a dynamic weather system and a campaign with a big finish. PC Gamer scored it 92/100 and aggregate scores sit near the high 80s. On Steam, though, user reviews have been sitting around Mixed to Mostly Positive in the first days, mostly because of performance and compatibility problems. Good game, uneven port so far.
What You Get
A 20-plus mission campaign about allied forces against the Republic of Sotoa, with a squadron of wingmen you actually start to care about. Missions are more flexible than in older entries, with free-form destruction scenarios where you pick the aircraft that suits the job. Clouds and weather change visibility, so a storm is a real obstacle and not just a backdrop. The finish is a long, over-the-top set piece that reviewers keep bringing up.
The game is also on Xbox and PS5. On PC it needs Windows 11, an SSD and a ray tracing capable GPU. Our system requirements breakdown has the full minimum and recommended specs, and the install is around 140-150 GB.
What’s Actually Good
Handling is the headline. Planes feel heavy and responsive at the same time, which is the hard balance in this series, and the missile-lock tension in a crowded sky works. The orchestral soundtrack reacts to dialogue and events instead of just looping. The huge enemy encounters, like land battleships and giant transports, give the campaign its memorable moments. PC Gamer reported stable 1440p on a Radeon RX 6600 with a Ryzen 7 7700X, so the experience can be smooth on a mid-range card.
What to Know Before You Buy
Several problems showed up in the first days, and some of them might not be fixed quickly:
- Performance: players report frame drops in busy dogfights, RAM use that looks like a memory leak, and crashes. Bandai Namco has said it is investigating and suggests updating GPU drivers and freeing storage and virtual memory.
- Ray tracing: you cannot turn it off, which hurts on older hardware. DLSS is close to required on many setups.
- Controllers: support for HOTAS and flight sticks is limited to a few specific combinations. Gamepad players are fine, but sim-style setups are not.
- No FOV slider for the cockpit view.
- Ace Combat 0 bonus: the pre-order extra turned out to be a DLC executable that needs the full Ace Combat 8 install, not the small standalone many people expected. The store page was updated afterward.
- Scripted boss fights can feel rigid when you replay them.
Who Should Buy This
Pick it up now if you play with a gamepad, own a recent GPU (RTX 3070 class or better is a comfortable target) and want a strong single-player campaign. If you rely on a HOTAS, run an older card, or hate launch bugs, waiting a few weeks for patches is a reasonable move. Nothing about the game itself is going to disappear.
Price & Where to Get It
The standard edition is $69.99 on Steam. The Deluxe Edition offered early access from September 28. At this price, checking the current Steam review trend before you buy is worth five minutes, and Steam’s two-hour refund window is there if your setup struggles.
