Gaijin Entertainment announces that Ace of Thunder, a new flight simulation game primarily focused on combat in VR, will be available for purchase in Q4 2024. In addition to the previously announced PlayStation 5 version, a Steam version is also on the way. Both are already available for wishlisting on their respective platforms, the price and exact release date will be announced later.
Aces of Thunder is a spin-off of the popular online game War Thunder, and this new title is focusing solely on aerial battles of legendary aircraft in the most iconic theaters of war. More than twenty meticulously recreated models will be available to players at launch. The roster includes the American P-51 Mustang and P-63 Kingcobra fighters, the German Bf 109 and Fw 190 fighters, the Soviet IL-2 attack aircraft, the British Spitfire fighter and the Japanese A6M3 Zero. You can admire both the interior and exterior of these beauties, i.e. while walking around them on the airfield, as well as during flight, which the player experiences exclusively from the cockpit, you can quite literally grab the controls with your hands and spin a turn.
"From the very beginning we focused mainly on VR-specific ergonomics and the immersive flight experience achievable with modern hardware. To reach these goals we have rewritten and optimized the VR-subsystem of the Dagor Engine (some of these improvements can be seen in War Thunder already, a game that uses the same engine), - says Vladimir Dranyonkov, game director of Aces of Thunder. - We have re-evaluated our approaches to user interactions along with audio and visuals, so familiar from our previous experience with War Thunder. We also worked on addressing common comfort issues without harming the simulation aspect of aerial combat. This, we hope, will attract new pilots to our virtual skies."
Battles will take place on 15 maps representing three key theaters of operations: the Eastern Front, Western Europe and the Pacific Ocean. You can fight both online with other players and in single-player scenarios; alone or in squads with friends. Two dozen iconic aircraft are available immediately after purchasing the game. Thanks to the native support for the OpenXR standard, Aces of Thunder is compatible with the widest range of VR devices. To directly control the aircraft, players can use the interactive virtual cockpit controls, gamepads, VR controllers or joysticks.
You can read more about the game on the official page in Steam, as well as on Aces of Thunder pages in social networks.