The world of Strangereal, setting of the Ace Combat games, has developed a deep and storied history over the course of the series. But with Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, developer Project Aces has changed its approach to storytelling to create a more intimate and emotional tale than it has in the past. That approach brings you a lot closer to the desperate attempts of the Federation of Central Usea’s battered navy to fight off the invading Sotoans, and the many characters fighting that war.

The biggest change is that, in Ace Combat 8, you play a fighter pilot silent protagonist who is, nevertheless, a major character throughout the story. The game opens with a cutscene in which you’re found floating in a life raft after a battle by the Endurance, one of the FCU’s last remaining aircraft carriers. 

After you’re aboard, you’re sent up as navigator for fighter pilot Jan “Rex” Cope, whose job isn’t to engage in battles, but to serve as a propaganda tool. He’s known as the Wings of Theve, a legendary fight pilot ace named for the FCU’s capital, but you quickly find out that Cope isn’t the incredible ace he’s portrayed to be on social media. Instead, his instructions are to run from every fight, but when the two of you are shot down, Cope is killed in action. 

But the Wings of Theve is too important to the struggling FCU to go out that way, so you inherit Cope’s call sign and secretly replace him.

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