Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve takes about 18 hours to beat if you play the main story: that is the HowLongToBeat (HLTB) main story time, and five of six published reviews put a first run at 15 to 20 hours. Main story plus extras takes about 23.5 hours on HLTB, and completionists should plan on 40 hours or more, going by the few completionist times so far. The campaign is a prologue plus 30 missions.
Reviewers call it one of the longest campaigns in the series, and the Aircraft Tree, harder difficulties and the separate online mode can add a lot more. Below we collect the playtimes from published reviews and HowLongToBeat, explain what the missions look like, what stretches or shortens a run, and what is left after the credits. This covers the launch version on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, which went live in Deluxe early access on September 28, 2026; Bandai Namco has announced no campaign differences between platforms.
Ace Combat 8 Time to Beat at a Glance
Bandai Namco has not published an official playtime, so every figure here comes from published reviews or from HowLongToBeat (HLTB), where players submit their own times. HLTB’s numbers were checked on October 18, 2026 and will move as more players finish.
| How you play | Time to beat | Where the number comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Main story | 15 to 20 hours | Five of the six published reviews below |
| Main story | about 18 hours | HowLongToBeat, 67 player submissions |
| Story plus extras | about 23.5 hours | HowLongToBeat “Main + Sides,” 17 player submissions |
| Completionist | about 40 hours, likely more | HowLongToBeat, only 2 player submissions so far |
| Ace Combat Online | no fixed length | Bandai Namco calls it the game’s end-game content, with two-month seasons |
If you only want the story, plan on a long weekend or two weeks of evenings. If you want everything, the completionist row is a floor rather than a promise, for the reasons below.
How Long the Campaign Takes, According to Reviewers
These are the playtimes reviewers reported for the story:
| Reported time | Context |
|---|---|
| around 15 hours | PS5 |
| around 18 hours | all 30 missions, PC |
| almost exactly 20 hours | full 30-mission campaign |
| around 20 hours | reviewer’s estimate, given in reader replies |
| roughly 20 hours | 30 missions, PS5 |
| around 32 hours | Elite difficulty, Expert controls, plus an online press session |
Going by those reports, a first run on the default difficulty should land somewhere between 15 and 20 hours. The much higher 32-hour figure mixes in a hard difficulty setting and multiplayer time, so treat it as a ceiling rather than the norm.
Some detail on where those hours go:
- Missions are long. One review reports most missions take around 15 minutes, with a few longer ones running past 30.
- There are far more cutscenes than in Ace Combat 7. The story is now told in first person between missions, and one reviewer says it took 45 minutes from booting the game to finishing the first mission. The same reviewer says they thin out as the campaign goes on.
- The finale is big. One review describes the closing stretch as a climax of around two hours.
Ace Combat 8 HLTB: What HowLongToBeat Shows
HowLongToBeat collects times that players submit themselves, so it is a crowd average, not a measurement. As of October 18, 2026, its Ace Combat 8 page shows:
- Main Story: about 18 hours. 67 players have submitted a time. Their average is 18 hours 31 minutes and the median is 18 hours, with rushed runs around 13 hours and leisurely ones around 28.
- Main + Sides: about 23.5 hours. 17 submissions, averaging 24 hours 40 minutes. For a mission-based game like this one, that mostly means free-mission replays for MRP and parts.
- Completionist: about 40 hours. This headline figure rests on just two submissions, and those two players averaged about 67 hours, so expect it to climb as more people finish every S rank and the ACE difficulty run.
- By platform: PC players average about 19 hours for the main story and PS5 players about 16, though the PS5 figure comes from only 16 submissions. A handful of Xbox Series X|S players land around 18.5 hours, from just four completed runs.
Those player averages agree closely with the reviewers, which makes 18 hours a safe single number if someone asks how many hours Ace Combat 8 is.
How Many Missions There Are
Reviews consistently count 30 missions. For comparison, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown launched with a 20-mission campaign, which is why one review calls the new one significantly longer. Our full missions list names every one in order.
Bandai Namco’s own material promises dogfights, air support for ground troops, strikes on ships threatening the carrier, and key missions against superweapons. Xbox Wire’s preview of the first 10 missions lists escort missions, bombing runs, air-to-air combat, a land battleship set piece and a fight to protect the carrier fleet. Reviewers add a few more types:
- Score-attack missions where you destroy as much as possible before a timer runs out
- A low-altitude mission spent staying under enemy radar
- A mission where you flee in an underpowered aircraft
- At least one tight flight through a confined space
The PS5 trophy list, as published on PlayStation Network, has one trophy for a prologue and one each for Missions 01 through 30, so the full campaign is a prologue plus 30 numbered missions. One review notes the prologue plays mostly as a scripted escape.
What Changes Your Playtime
Difficulty. Per Bandai Namco’s official difficulty guide, there are four standard settings, and you can change them at any time from the settings menu:
- Rookie: focused on the story, with optional settings that reduce damage from hitting the ground or structures
- Pilot: the default, recommended for new or returning pilots
- Veteran: enemies may have more health or be more aggressive, and missile locks can be harder to shake
- Elite: a high-challenge mode built around target priority and split-second decisions
The trophy list also names an ACE difficulty that is not among these four, and Bandai Namco has not said how it unlocks; our ACE difficulty guide covers how to get it.
Controls. Standard controls turn the plane when you push the left stick sideways, while Expert controls make you roll and pitch like a real aircraft. Expert opens up more maneuvers but takes practice; our controls and HOTAS guide covers both.
Cutscenes. Official screenshots show a “Hold To Skip” prompt during story scenes, so replays go faster than a first run.
Your aircraft. Picking the right plane for the job saves a lot of retries. Our best plane guide and the full planes list help you choose.
Crashes on PC. Bandai Namco’s October 16 product notice on Steam says it is still investigating crashes during play, and suggests raising Windows virtual memory as a temporary workaround. A crash mid-mission means replaying it, so if you are crashing, apply that workaround before a long session. Update 1.01.002, which went out on October 23, fixed several specific crashes (one in aircraft selection, one on first opening the Aircraft Tree screen and one in Mission 11), improved stability in cutscenes and replays, and fixed missions that could stop progressing. Bandai Namco has not said it ends the memory-related crashes its October 16 notice describes. On November 2, its third product notice said asynchronous computation may affect stability on certain GPU configurations, and that players who are crashing may see improvements by setting the Async Compute option (added to the SYSTEM menu on Steam in 1.01.002) to OFF. The option is grayed out on GPUs that do not support it, and Bandai Namco says it is still working on other causes.
What Is Left After the Credits
Finishing the story is not the end of the campaign:
- The Aircraft Tree. Missions pay out MRP, the in-game currency Bandai Namco says you spend to unlock more jets and parts; our Aircraft Tree guide explains how it works. One reviewer told readers most planes and parts unlock in one playthrough, but getting everything takes mission replays.
- Post-game unlocks. Bandai Namco confirms that the ADFX-02 Morgan -PIXY- from the Deluxe Edition voucher and that edition’s two aircraft skins only become usable in the campaign after you complete every mission. Reviewers report extra fictional aircraft unlock after the credits too.
- Replays. One review describes going back through missions in Free Mission mode with different loadouts after beating the game.
- Trophies and achievements. The hardest ones ask you to finish the campaign on ACE difficulty and to earn an S rank on every mission, free missions included. That is most of the gap between HLTB’s main story and completionist times. Our trophies guide tracks what a full clear takes.
Then there is Ace Combat Online, which Bandai Namco calls the game’s end-game content. It has its own progression, its own save data and two-month Ace Pass seasons, so it has no fixed length at all. Our multiplayer guide explains how it works. If you pre-ordered, the bundled Ace Combat Zero port is a whole second campaign, and Bandai Namco has confirmed it is getting a standalone Steam version for those owners. Our editions guide covers who gets it, and the launch and early access story has unlock times for every region. The Ace Combat 8 hub collects every guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to beat Ace Combat 8? Reviewers report about 15 to 20 hours for the story. Harder settings, replays and online play add more.
What is the Ace Combat 8 HLTB time? As of October 18, 2026, HowLongToBeat lists about 18 hours for the main story, about 23.5 hours for main plus sides and about 40 hours for completionists, all from player-submitted times. The completionist figure is based on only two players so far.
How many missions are in Ace Combat 8? A prologue plus 30 numbered missions, per the PS5 trophy list and every major review. That is up from 20 in Ace Combat 7.
How long is each mission in Ace Combat 8? One review reports most missions take around 15 minutes, with a few running past 30, before you count cutscenes.
Is Ace Combat 8 longer than Ace Combat 7? Yes. Reviewers consistently call it one of the longest campaigns in the series, with half again as many missions as Ace Combat 7.
How long is each Ace Pass season? Bandai Namco describes Ace Combat Online’s Ace Pass seasons as two months long.
Can you replay missions in Ace Combat 8? Yes. Finished missions can be replayed as free missions, which the trophy list references, and the Aircraft Tree rewards going back for more MRP.
Can you skip cutscenes in Ace Combat 8? Official screenshots show a “Hold To Skip” prompt during story scenes, so you can skip them on replays.