Since the announcement, I’ve been trying to figure out exactly what Aces of Thunder was supposed to be. It’s part of the reason why I haven’t written much about it on Stormbirds to date. The combat flight sim experience, developed by Gaijin, the folks behind War Thunder, looks to have started out mostly as a VR single player experience but has expanded in scope to include flat screens. Let’s look at what we know and don’t know about the title now that it has launched.

VR and flat screen air combat experience

In the media kit, Gaijin says that Aces of Thunder has been developed with the newest generation of VR headsets in mind while also offering a flat screen mode for non-VR players. They tout detailed 3D models, flight and damage model system utilizing some of the same technology developed for War Thunder.

As far as content go, they say there is a list of 20+ historically accurate from both World War I and II. That said, there isn’t a specific list of aircraft from the press kit and released materials. Types like the P-51, P-63, Bf109, Fw190, IL-2, Yak-9T, Spitfire, and A6M3 are mentioned. So too is the Fokker Dr. I and SPAD S.XIII.

There are 15 maps representing the Western Front of WWI and Eastern, Western, and Pacific Fronts of WWII. The maps set the backdrop for intense dogfighting and both multiplayer and single player modes.

Finally, they tout the ability to walk around your aircraft, check it out, then hop in the cockpit and use VR controllers to control the aircraft that way. HOTAS support is available though TrackIR style headtracking for 2D screens is currently not available and is planned in a future update.

Aces of Thunder is available on Steam for $26.99 USD with a 10% launch discount. There are also already some individual aircraft DLC packages for the Spitfire Mark Ia, P-40E-1, SDB-3, Hurricane Mark IV, F4U-4 as well as a bundle under the Deluxe Edition upgrade.

Check out the Steam store page here and visit the Gaijin website for more.

Community initial reaction

I’m seeing a lot of mixed reaction from the community since launch. Looking over comments on Reddit and on Steam, some users are having a lot of difficulty tweaking the settings to run smoothly on VR while others are struggling with setting up their controls. Still other community members are reporting few issues and smooth operation with VR and HOTAS control bindings. Like most sim games, it sounds like Aces of Thunder will require you to do a little setup before you can get going. At the start of the day, reviews were strongly negative, however, as more people try it out it seems to have climbed towards a mixed reaction.

The overall impression I’m left with is that it seems to be that this is sim-lite or sim/arcade experience mixing some aspects of War Thunder with a more concrete content experience. There’s no grind here which is going to be highly appealing for some. Despite some additional DLC, you can mostly just jump into whatever aircraft you want to from the available list and fly.

If you’re a dedicated combat flight simmer this may not be what you’re looking for. Have a close look at this title and see if its something that appeals to you or if it lacks the kind of depth that you need for a more enjoyable experience. Others will find it too VR focused with a current lack of TrackIR support (coming later) to be worthwhile. For others, however, the mix of quick action and VR experience may be the right combination! You’ll have to decide.