Our Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown Ultimate Edition review explores Project ACES’ modern flight classic, from its dynamic weather and rewarding aerial combat to the outstanding Season Pass missions. We also evaluate Linux performance and whether the Ultimate Edition remains the definitive way to experience the game.
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown At a Glance
Release Date
Jan 17, 2019
Into the Lighthouse War
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown reunited many of the developers behind the PlayStation 2 era of the series, bringing veteran talent back together to modernize one of Bandai Namco’s most beloved franchises. To better capture the feeling of modern air combat, the team also visited Komatsu Air Base, interviewing fighter pilots about the physical and psychological challenges of flying through dense cloud cover. Those conversations directly influenced one of the game’s defining features: weather that feels as dangerous as the enemy itself.
Originally planned for a 2017 release, the game was delayed by two years to give Project ACES time to refine its ambitious weather systems while transitioning the series to Unreal Engine 4. The additional development time shows throughout the campaign, with dynamic cloud formations becoming more than visual spectacle—they’re an integral part of how every mission plays.
The development team for Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown includes:
- Sunao Katabuchi (Story)
- Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies, Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War, Shining Force: Neo
- Kosuke Itomi (Narrative Director)
- Ace Combat Zero, Ace Combat: Infinity
- Takuji Kawano, Masato Kanno (Character Designer / Art Director)
- Takuji Kawano: Tekken 3-4, Ace Combat 5, SoulCalibur II-VI
- Masato Kanno: Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere – Ace Combat 6, R4: Ridge Racer Type 4
- Keiki Kobayashi (Lead Composer)
- Ace Combat 4 – Ace Combat 6, Ridge Racer 6-7, SoulCalibur IV
- Jun Omura (Development Producer)
- Tekken 7, SoulCalibur VI, New Pokemon Snap
Reviewer’s Perspective
I first played Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown at launch after following its development from the original reveal through release. My experience with the series began with the Nintendo 3DS version of Assault Horizon Legacy, while the soundtracks for Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere and Ace Combat Infinity turned me into a longtime fan of the franchise’s music.
For this review, I revisited the Ultimate Edition on Nobara Linux, completing both the main campaign and the Season Pass missions in roughly 18 hours. The DLC was entirely new to me, giving me the opportunity to experience the much-discussed Matias Torres storyline alongside the original campaign for the first time as a complete package.
Review Impressions
Flight & Combat
The moment the wheels leave the runway, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown makes one thing clear: the sky is just as dangerous as the enemy. Thick cloud banks reduce visibility, missiles streak across your canopy, and every successful maneuver feels earned rather than automatic.
The moment you’re airborne, the battlefield begins fighting back.
You play as Trigger, an Osean Federation pilot caught in the middle of the Lighthouse War. After being falsely accused of a crime early in the campaign, Trigger is reassigned to a penal squadron where every sortie becomes a fight for survival. The story provides the backdrop, but it’s the combination of intense dogfights and dynamic weather that defines the experience from mission to mission.
Mastering the Skies
Video Time Stamps
- 0:00 – Mission Start
- 0:02 – Tactical Preparation: Aircraft and Special Weapon Selection
- 0:13 – Takeoff Sequence: Mage 2 Standing By
- 1:46 – HUD Overview: Manual Target Cycling and Priority Tracking
- 2:27 – Maneuvering: “Zero-G” Turns and High-Mobility Evasion
- 4:00 – Drone Combat: Engaging High-Agility Targets
- 5:03 – Atmospheric Friction: Cloud Icing and Stall Demonstration
Dogfighting Fundamentals
The basics of Ace Combat 7 are easy to understand, but mastering them takes practice. Every mission revolves around balancing your speed, positioning, and awareness while tracking multiple threats at once. As enemy aircraft fill the radar, choosing the right target often becomes just as important as landing your missiles.
Cloud cover adds another layer to every engagement. Flying into dense clouds reduces visibility, interferes with missile tracking, and can even cause ice to build up on your aircraft. Sometimes diving into the weather is the safest way to break an enemy lock, but staying there too long creates a new set of problems.
High-G turns quickly became one of my favorite techniques. By sacrificing speed, you can rapidly swing the aircraft around to line up a missile lock or avoid an incoming attack. It feels incredibly satisfying once it becomes second nature, especially during the game’s larger dogfights.
When the counter hits zero, your maneuvering better be perfect.
Flares
Missiles are relentless, and your supply of flares is limited. Timing becomes everything. Triggering one too early wastes a valuable defensive tool, while waiting too long usually ends with your aircraft disappearing in a fireball. Once the counter reaches zero, every evasive maneuver suddenly matters much more.
Building Your Squadron
Preparing for a mission is almost as important as flying it. Every sortie rewards Military Result Points (MRP), which unlock new aircraft across a branching technology tree featuring American, European, and Russian designs. Because missions can be replayed, you’re free to experiment with different aircraft instead of feeling locked into a single progression path.
Customization extends beyond simply buying new fighters. Performance parts let you improve speed, maneuverability, durability, weapon handling, and missile tracking, while every aircraft carries a unique Special Weapon that can completely change how you approach a mission. Choosing the right loadout often makes the difference between scraping through an objective and dominating the battlefield.
Story & Writing
Rather than telling a straightforward military story, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown uses the Lighthouse War to explore the growing tension between human instinct and autonomous drone warfare. You step into the cockpit as Trigger, an Osean pilot whose reputation isn’t built through dramatic speeches or lengthy cutscenes, but through the missions you survive and the trust you earn in the skies.
The campaign balances large-scale aerial battles with quieter moments that explore communication, loyalty, and the uncertainty of war. While the story occasionally leans on military jargon, its strongest moments come from showing how the people behind the aircraft are forced to adapt as technology begins replacing the very skills that once defined elite fighter pilots.
The Physicality of the Sky
The weather is one of Ace Combat 7’s greatest achievements. Rather than serving as a visual backdrop, the atmosphere becomes an active part of every mission. Thick cloud banks reduce visibility, rain streaks across the canopy, and the contrast between bright afterburners and dark night skies creates some of the most striking moments in the campaign.
Lightning and turbulent weather aren’t just visual effects, either. Flying through dense clouds can cause ice to build up on your aircraft, while lightning strikes briefly scramble your HUD and force you to fly on instinct. Combined with reactive engine audio and muffled sound inside cloud cover, the battlefield feels unpredictable in a way few flight games manage.
Lightning always has the final word on the frequency.
The soundtrack is equally memorable, blending orchestral, electronic, and rock influences throughout the campaign. Rather than settling into a single musical style, it evolves alongside the conflict, making each major battle feel distinct. “Daredevil” remains the standout, elevating one of the game’s most iconic missions into a sequence fans still revisit years after release.
Standout Tracks
Daredevil
An emotional orchestral finale that builds from quiet tension into a soaring choir. It perfectly captures the desperation and triumph of the campaign’s climax.
Dual Wielder
A driving battle theme that amplifies the intensity of large-scale naval engagements with aggressive percussion and urgent pacing.
Alicorn
A dramatic orchestral piece that reinforces the overwhelming presence of the massive submersible aviation cruiser during the DLC campaign.
Advanced Flight Techniques
One of Ace Combat 7’s highest skill ceilings comes from its manual Post-Stall Maneuvers (PSMs). By carefully reducing your speed and timing your control inputs, certain aircraft can perform advanced aerobatic techniques like the Cobra and Kulbit to rapidly reverse direction during a dogfight. These maneuvers aren’t required to finish the campaign, but mastering them opens up an entirely new level of aerial combat for experienced pilots.
The Alicorn Arc (Season Pass)
The Season Pass adds three story missions that take place alongside the main campaign, and they’re easily among the best content in Ace Combat 7. These operations introduce tougher objectives, larger-scale battles, and some of the most demanding encounters in the game.
At the center of the story is the Alicorn, a massive submersible aviation cruiser that transforms every mission into a high-stakes battle against a mobile fortress. Standing in your way is Captain Matias Torres, whose increasingly unhinged radio chatter turns him into one of the series’ most memorable antagonists. What begins as a military operation gradually becomes a tense tactical duel, and it’s easy to understand why Torres remains one of the community’s most talked-about characters years after the DLC’s release.
Seiyuu Performances
Seiyuu Performances
The Japanese voice cast gives Ace Combat 7 much of its personality. Because so much of the story unfolds over the radio while you’re flying, strong performances are essential, and the cast consistently delivers. The quieter conversations help ground the larger political conflict, while the frantic exchanges during combat make every sortie feel more immediate.
Long Caster remains a standout. His constant food metaphors become a running joke throughout the campaign, and the rest of the squad’s reactions make him one of the most memorable support characters in the series. It’s easy to see why he became a fan favorite.
Somehow, food metaphors become part of the mission strategy.
- Avril Mead — Satsuki Yukino
Notable roles: Shion Sonozaki (When They Cry), Kagome Higurashi (Inuyasha), Yoruichi Shihoin (Bleach) - Alma / Ionela Shilage — Saori Hayami
Notable roles: Vector (Girls’ Frontline), Yor Forger (Spy x Family), Orie (Under Night) - Rosa Cossette D’Elise — Megumi Han
Notable roles: Kana Arima (Oshi No Ko), Gekkomon (Digimon Beatbreak), Eunie (Xenoblade Chronicles 3) - Dr. Schroeder — Hiroyuki Kinoshita
Notable roles: Sebastian Castellanos (The Evil Within), Hiromu Hidaka (Robotics;Notes), Edward Kelley (Nioh) - Long Caster — Kenji Nomura
Notable roles: Hax (Fuga: Melodies of Steel), Iron Tager (BlazBlue), Storm the Albatross (Sonic)
Linux Performance
Getting Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown running consistently on Linux required a bit of experimentation. Proton Experimental and newer GE-Proton releases eventually froze during extended sessions on my RX 9070 XT, but GE-Proton 10.2 remained completely stable throughout my playthrough.
Once I found the right configuration, performance was exceptional. Running at 1440p, the game averaged 366 FPS with excellent frame pacing, making every dogfight feel incredibly smooth. Based on my testing, the remaining instability appears to stem from newer Mesa 26 drivers rather than the game itself.
Final Verdict
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown asks you to earn every victory, and that’s exactly what makes it so satisfying. Aircraft have real weight behind them, weather constantly challenges your awareness, and every successful mission feels like the result of skill rather than luck. That sense of progression mirrors Trigger’s journey perfectly, making your rise from expendable penal pilot to legendary ace feel genuinely earned.
The campaign isn’t without its rough edges. A handful of escort missions and dense anti-aircraft defenses can be frustrating, sometimes forcing you to rethink your aircraft and equipment before trying again. Linux players may also need to experiment with Proton versions to find the most stable configuration, though the payoff is excellent performance once everything is dialed in.
The Season Pass elevates an already outstanding game even further. The Alicorn missions deliver some of the best aerial encounters in the series, while Matias Torres earns his place as one of Ace Combat’s most unforgettable villains. Combined with rewarding flight mechanics, spectacular presentation, and a story that never loses sight of the people behind the aircraft, Ace Combat 7 remains one of the finest arcade flight games ever made.
Review Summary
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown Ultimate Edition (Linux)
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown Ultimate Edition combines rewarding flight mechanics, dynamic weather, and exceptional DLC into one of the strongest arcade flight games available. Minor mission frustrations and Linux setup quirks do little to diminish an outstanding complete package.
Tested On
CPU: Ryzen 7 5900X | GPU: AMD RX 9070XT 16GB | RAM: 64GB DDR4 | Storage: Crucial P5 Plus NVMe SSD
OS: Nobara Linux | Resolution: 1440p | Settings: High/Custom | Framerate: Uncapped
References
Official Sources
- Bandai Namco, The Making of ‘Ace Combat 7 Skies Unknown (Part 1) | 25 March 2023
[Live | Archive] - Bandai Namco, The Making of ‘Ace Combat 7 Skies Unknown (Part 2) | 25 March 2023
[Live | Archive]
Videos
- BANDAI NAMCO, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown – PS4/XB1/PC – Open Fire (Launch Trailer) | 14 January 2019, Official Bandai Namco Europe, Jan 14, 2019.
[Live | Archive] - TheErrGuy, ACE COMBAT™ 7: Post-Stall Maneuver Mastery Challenge | 22 January 2019
[Live] | [Archived]
