Despite critical acclaim, the PC version of Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is facing a wave of negative Steam reviews due to a controversial pre-order bonus implementation. While the game itself is receiving praise, with some reviewers calling it "the best Ace Combat has ever felt," players are expressing significant dissatisfaction with how Ace Combat 0: The Belkan War, a port of the beloved PS2 classic, has been handled on PC.
On console, The Belkan War is offered as a standalone game. However, PC players discovered that the bonus title functions as downloadable content (DLC) for Ace Combat 8, requiring the 150-gigabyte main game to be installed and launched for access. This has caused particular frustration for Steam Deck users, who now face substantial storage requirements to play the older title.
Furthermore, achievement hunters are dismayed that The Belkan War, as a DLC, will not feature its own Steam achievements or activity tracker, a common expectation for standalone releases. Early versions of the PC store page reportedly indicated it would be a separate application, adding to player frustration when the reality of its DLC status became apparent.
Players have voiced their disappointment in Steam reviews, with one user stating, "I was shocked to find out that ACE COMBAT ZERO was actually a DLC executable that is dependent on ACE COMBAT 8 rather than an actual standalone app on steam. This means the way to access the 4GB ACE COMBAT ZERO game is to download and install ACE COMBAT 8 which is 140GB??" Another review expressed, "I’m grateful to finally get to play the official PC version of supposedly one of the best games in the series, but it’s incredibly disappointing to see how it has been implemented on Steam."
The Steam store page has since been updated to reflect the DLC nature of The Belkan War. The negative reviews also extend to some technical issues reported with Ace Combat 8 itself, including memory leaks, frequent crashes, and incompatibility with certain third-party flight sticks. The game is officially set to release on October 1, though the deluxe edition is currently available.