Project Wingman
Project Wingman is an arcade-style combat flight action video game developed by Sector D2 and published by Humble Games. It was released on 1 December 2020 on Microsoft Windows and later released on 28 October 2021 on Xbox One. The game features two game modes: campaign and conquest. Campaign mode follows the story of the war set on alternate Earth between the United Cascadian Republic and Pacific Federation through a silent protagonist named Monarch, a mercenary pilot. Conquest mode has the player conquer Cascadia in a rogue-lite game mode by conquering territories, buying new planes, and  recruiting allies. Gameplay. "Project Wingman" is a combat flight action game similar to the "Ace Combat" series in which the player flies a combat plane into battle and destroy enemy targets. The player can choose from a wide selection of planes inspired by real-life combat planes and equip the plane with special weapons. The player can choose to play in first-person or third-person. First-person perspective has the option to play with or without the cockpit view. Virtual reality (VR) and hands on throttle-and-stick (HOTAS) are supported. Two game modes offer the player to play  either the campaign or conquest. In campaign mode, the story follows a mercenary pilot "Monarch" in the mercenary company Sicario on a contract with Cascadian rebels in a independence war with global superpower Pacific Federation in twenty-one missions. Prior to each campaign mission, the player receives a briefing detailing the story events, expected enemy composition, and mission objectives. Conquest mode presents the player with territory capture game in which the player must complete combat missions in order to capture. The alert level in conquest mode starts at zero and slowly increases during combat missions, making enemies more numerous and  skilled. After each conquest mission, the player receives resources to recruit pilots and buy flying warships. The player starts out with trainer variants of the F-4 Phantom II and MiG-21 inspired jets. All planes start with flares and standard missiles and can equip with certain special weapons while more advanced planes offer an AOA (Angle of Attack) module, granting supermaneuverability, in place of flares. Before every mission, the player picks a plane, special weapons, and paint scheme. Smaller planes can equip between one or two special weapons while larger planes can equip between two and three special weapons. Completing missions  allow the player to earn in-game currency which can be used to purchase other aircraft. Synopsis. Setting. The game takes place in an indeterminate future of an alternate-history Earth afflicted by a worldwide volcanic cataclysm centuries ago that uncovered a valuable geothermal energy resource called "cordium" but also created multiple exclusion zones across the planet. In the year 432 AC (After Calamity), the Pacific Federation, a multinational political union based around Australia, east and southern Asia and the western parts of North America, has control over the cordium deposits across the Ring of Fire. In recent years, tensions  between Federation member states have escalated to the point where the United Cascadian Republic (a member state located along the Pacific Northwest region of North America) declares independence and starts an armed rebellion. Several private military companies such as the Sicario Mercenary Corps are hired by Cascadia in their war against the Federation. The player controls the game's silent protagonist with callsign "Monarch", who is a member of the "Hitman" Team of pilots part of the Sicario private military company, hired as mercenaries by the government of Cascadia, which also include two other pilots with callsigns "Diplomat" and "Comic ; and Monarch's weapon systems officer President". Other members of Sicario include Sicario's primary AWACS operator with callsign "Galaxy" and the company's leader with callsign "Kaiser", who is also a pilot and leader of the "Assassin" Team. Plot. After finishing their contract with the Creole Republic, the Sicario Mercenary Corps is hired by the Cascadian Republic in their war of independence against the Pacific Federation. The Federation forces gain the upper hand in the early stages of the war, to the point of capturing the Cascadian capital city of Presidia. However, Hitman's distinguished achievements in battle result  in its pilots, especially their flight lead Monarch, gaining notoriety amongst Federation and Cascadian forces alike, and earn them the attention of the Federation's elite "Crimson" Team, a special operations peacekeeping unit deployed to Cascadia. Hitman is able to slowly turn the tide of the war in Cascadia's favor, as the Federation begins losing support due to their questionable actions during the war and inability to maintain control of Cascadia, culminating in a massive aerial furball between Federation and Cascadian forces over the Bering Strait; during the battle, Crimson Team is deployed to stop Hitman, but are ordered  to retreat after Hitman inflicts too many losses, leaving Crimson Team's leader, "Crimson 1", enraged and vowing revenge against Monarch. Following the battle, Hitman runs a mission on an offshore Federation-controlled research facility to uncover intel on their projects. They encounter a rogue mercenary, "Frost", who attacks Hitman in an advanced prototype fighter codenamed 'Project Wingman'; Monarch defeats Frost, but she ejects, escaping with data accumulated from the facility and from her dogfight with Hitman. During a subsequent mission to liberate Prospero, Cascadia's main economic hub, the Federation bombards the city with cordium-enriched cruise missiles in  an attempt to halt the rebel forces' advance. The warheads trigger a massive underground volcanic chain reaction, which destabilizes the Ring of Fire, ravaging most of the Pacific Rim in the resulting tectonic event. Unable to properly communicate with the surviving Cascadian forces due to damage to their sensors, Hitman withdraws from the battle, but are intercepted by Frost, leading a group of bounty hunters, who reveals that Hitman's true identities have been leaked to the public. Hitman shoots down Frost and the bounty hunters and re-establishes communications with Sicario, planning to leave Cascadia behind, but their Cascadian  liaison officer offers them an undisclosed "deal" in exchange for Sicario's continued support. Sicario accepts the deal and departs with the liaison. Operating from an improvised base built on an unfinished highway, Sicario assists the Cascadian government with subduing remaining Federation forces and re-stabilizing the country, and defeats Crimson Team in a dogfight above a devastated Prospero. During the last major battle of the war to liberate Presidia, both sides of the conflict agree to a ceasefire as the battle winds down. However, Crimson 1 suddenly arrives in a prototype fighter based on the data taken from Project  Wingman. Overcome with madness from the war and the loss of his squadron, he detonates several cordium-enriched warheads, devastating the city and incapacitating Hitman Team except for Monarch, whom he challenges to a duel. Crimson 1 is ultimately shot down by Monarch, ending the war as the surviving Federation and Cascadian forces spectate. Hitman, having ejected from their planes, are rescued by Sicario's SAR unit, and the remaining Federation forces fear their summary execution on suspicion of breaking the ceasefire, as Cascadians swear vengeance on the Federation. After the war, Cascadia honors their "deal" with Sicario. The whereabouts  of Hitman Team, including Monarch, are unknown; the Federation declares them wanted criminals for their part in the war, though it is implied that they have assumed new identities as part of the deal. Having suffered irreplaceably high casualties, and with their reputation irreversibly soiled by the use of cordium weapons of mass destruction, the Federation faces multiple insurgent movements from other member states, backed by the now-independent Cascadia (which became a haven for mercenaries) among other foreign powers. Development. Development of "Project Wingman" began on November 2015. In 2017, "Project Wingman" was funded though an Epic Games Unreal  Dev Grant. Fans donated to the game's Kickstarter campaign, raising AU$ 114,544 and exceeding its goal of AU$ 35,000. Story mode was confirmed by the development team, but cutscenes were not included due to being outside of the Kickstarter budget. "Project Wingman"′s release date was originally stated for summer 2020 before it was pushed back to early 2021, but the release date was moved to 1 December 2020, due to development proceeding faster than expected. The game was announced to come on Xbox Game Pass in 10 August 2021 and Xbox consoles later that year. The game was later  ported to Xbox One and the Xbox Windows app, and released on 28 October 2021. Reception. "Project Wingman" received "generally favorable reviews" from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic. "Polygon"'s Charlie Hall praises the game for its action that can be commonly found in modern first-person shooters. TheGamer's Sean Murray notes the game's improvement on the "Ace Combat" formula by allowing players to equip multiple weapons and adding rogue-like conquest mode. The lack of mission variety has been criticized since all missions involve destroying targets as the objective. Critics have praised the game for its  audio and visual feedback.