ngl, the CF-105 sold this for me, but as a spiritual successor to ace combat, I feel it manages to make basic flight control narrowly outperform it's predecessor and carve out its own niche in the genre.

BIG TIME recommend.

A fantastic indie version of Ace Combat with fun flight mechanics, a story that feels like something out of a war anime, and an excellent soundtrack that just slaps.

Play as a mercenary pilot named Monarch, flying for the forces of Cascadia after The Federation has invaded their country. Choose from twenty-one different aircraft you can purchase and unlock with in-game funds to fly in one of the main campaign's twenty-one missions in either campaign mode or free mission mode. Each aircraft will have its own set of stats (max speed, acceleration, roll / turn / yaw rate) that accumulate into a total response rating for the plane. Different planes will be put into different classes, ranging from interceptors, strikers, to prototypes, having a different number of hard points on the aircraft to attach a variety of air-to-air and air-to-ground weaponry; such as multi-lock missiles, gunpods, and unguided bombs. Defensive options include flares and an AoA limiter; flares are on a six second or so recharge, making missiles break lock on you, and the Angle of Attack Limiter allowing you to pull even tighter turns at high speed.

Missions are usually broken up into a combination of air and ground control, showing you with a bar just how many of a particular force will be present in a mission so you can prepare your munitions accordingly. Multi-lock air-to-air missiles are highly effective against flying fortresses that have multiple hard points to knock out, unguided bombs being great at knocking out ships at sea.

Conquest mode is something unique to Project Wingman, taking elements from roguelikes and RPGs to create a territory capture mode, where you must create your own mercenary army of various aircraft and flying fortresses to fight against ever-increasing enemy forces. I really enjoyed this mode of play, and hope the Ace Combat series will end up taking notes to make something similar.

Frontline-59 is a campaign DLC, adding six missions - with a selection of only six aircraft - playing from the point of view of Federation reservist pilots about mid-way through the main campaign. It is genuinely a pretty excellent DLC, especially at the price of only $6.50 CDN. One of the more memorable missions has you flying along a highway set into a mountain to get behind enemy lines undetected and wreak havoc on Cascadian forces.

Planes all handle quite well, just changing how quickly they accelerate and perform turns in terms of overall handling. Much of your consideration will go into the type of missiles / bombs available on each aircraft, although I imagine you will end up choosing the same prototype plane that I did each time once you get it unlocked.

Visually, the game looks fantastic; planes, explosions, and environments being a feast for the eyes as the sky fills up with the white trails of missiles seeking their targets. Some missions have a really nice use of colour, draping the landscape in blues, purples, and reds.

The soundtrack is pretty damn good too, hitting those high action beats during missions, harnessing that wartime anime feel at times, with some nice vocal tracks to boot.

My only complaint about Project Wingman is that there are some bugs with the achievements, the Mercenary difficulty one in particular, that have been present since the anniversary edition came out, and it seems like the developers are no longer patching the game.

If you are a fan of the Ace Combat series, then Project Wingman is really a no-brainer to pick up. At the time of writing this review during the Steam Spring Sale of 2026, it is on sale for 50% off at $14.49 CDN, which is a steal. Highly recommended, as it'll scratch that Ace Combat itch until Ace Combat 8 comes out.

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If you've played every Ace Combat game and your heart is broken because 8 isn't out yet, give PW a try, it's fantastic.

I also highly recommend the DLC that features possibly one, if not, the funniest mission in the entire genre.