The aircraft carrier Endurance, your home base during the game, is old and battered, having recently taken on refugees as the result of a major conflict. This has left you and your squad to protect a small fleet of ships and civilians who are trying to make it to the next day in one piece. Think “Battlestar Galactica” meets “Top Gun” with a dash of “Mobile Suit Gundam,” and you have a sense of what ACE8 is looking to deliver here narratively this time around.

This cinematic storytelling is one of the biggest changes in years for the series, by telling its story from a first-person perspective it helps immerse you further in the moment-to-moment air combat drama. Your wingmen, from the spunky pink-haired Tasha to the poetic veteran Professor, address you directly; comparatively, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown’s story was largely told through cinematic cutscenes and animated briefing maps.

In a lot of ways, this approach reminds me of the classic Wing Commander (age check verification complete) in how you would move about the Tiger’s Claw, talk to the crew, and sit in the briefing room before heading out to the flight deck. The same emotional connection is taking place here, right down to the briefing room banter, making you more invested with your fellow pilots by putting faces, hopes, and dreams to the names that pop up on your HUD during battle, raising the emotional stakes and investment in the game.