During a recent pre-release demo event for Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, game director Kazutoki Kono and producer Manabu Shimomoto talked to Famitsu about how the new entry balances story versus gameplay. While some fans may feel like the game is placing a stronger emphasis on human drama than technological advancement (contrary to its predecessors), the devs say this has more to do with how it’s being marketed.
According to Shimomoto, Ace Combat 8 doesn’t change the franchise’s core concepts. Back when the dev team was researching Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown’s success, one thing that stood out to them was that players mentioned being surprised that the game had a story. Seeing this as a blind spot, they decided to focus on better conveying this aspect of the series in Ace Combat 8’s marketing, resulting in a perceived stronger emphasis on human drama. Perhaps as a side-effect, new characters like Tasha Seversky have become popular even before the game’s release.
Kono adds to Shimomoto’s statement, mentioning that Ace Combat 8 also improves how the narrative is experienced through real-time cutscenes that can be controlled from a first-person perspective. While you can’t just walk anywhere, you can move your line of sight and zoom in and out, allowing you to discover details happening in the background of each scene that you would otherwise miss.
A central pillar of Ace Combat 8 is “to make players experience the hero’s journey of overcoming challenges alongside their comrades to become ace pilots.” The first-person cinematics help players feel like they are actually involved in the action rather than just spectating it from a distance, the latter of which is more common in past Ace Combat titles. While the devs did not mention it, the addition of the silent pilot protagonist Rex behind the camera also contributes to players feeling like they’re taking part in the story.
Ace Combat 8: Winds of Theve is set to release on October 2 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows (Steam). Those who purchase the Deluxe Edition can play the game up to three days early.
