Aggressors F.A.C. - Kemono Kombat
Simlite Combat with Animal Eared Pilot Privateers in a Post-Human World
As I leisurely play Ace Combat 8 and see overwhelming support on social media and streaming video platforms for the king of the flight shooter genre, I cannot help but feel a level of excitement in my chest for the many "Ace-like" indie games that have been in development for some time now. During this time of hype around Ace Combat, I hope these upcoming titles are getting the attention they deserve as well. Wanting to do my part this month, I am going to make it a point to discuss some of them as general introduction pieces.
Aggressors Fantasy Air Combat by Sanikkat has been on my mind a lot lately. Sometimes it is hard to tell, but I am firmly an enjoyer of anime culture. An "otaku" of sorts. It waxes and wanes as my age changes, but alongside my pricey flight simulation gear and military unit patches are detailed models of fictional aircraft and merchandise of fighter pilot protagonists. Imagine the smirk on my face when Aggressors F.A.C. posted a lore drop that included animal eared pilots the same day our Indie Highlight Series interview with the developer was posted. Even more so when this indie game had a booth at VRChat Flight Week 2026 - a virtual reality convention onboard a highly customized aircraft carrier. I was not expecting any of that.
While the artistic style of the characters may lead people to draw assumptions, the reality is that Aggressors F.A.C. was not designed to be a 100+ missile toting "Pilot Hero" shooter. In fact, it was inspired by games that were a touch more realistic in certain regards but still available on game consoles that were immensely popular during the "Golden Age" of the flight shooter genre.
It is hard to define what a "flight sim lite" is these days, but Aggressors F.A.C. is the type of game where dropping your guard because it is "not a simulator" is exactly the type of thing that gets you shot down frequently. Fans of Nuclear Option and Tiny Combat Arena can probably deeply relate to this.
World Setting
The world of Aggressors F.A.C. is a future version of Earth where the continents have shifted and Humans are no longer around. Instead, a new breed of "people”, who are derivatives created by human experimentation, continue on with their own lives, cultures and armed conflicts.
Players will fly as animal eared private security forces assigned to the Merchant Shipping Company 44th Security Squadron 4th FIeet "Nomads”. But it's not all following slow moving cargo ships and double checking manifests. This "shipping company" offers its pilots and their combat aircraft for any combat mission - so long as the price is right. Despite humanity begin gone the scale and ferocity of international armed conflicts hasn't changed too much.
Gameplay
First and foremost, how aircraft handle and how combat is portrayed is most important. Visually this game looks like it is one of the greatest flight game hits from the Sega Dreamcast. Something you would keep right next to your copies of Iron Aces, Airforce Delta, StarLancer and Aero Dancing F. However, it is being designed with the experience of someone that is rather familiar with the "Golden Age” of this genre back in the 2000s with all the modern dev techniques and ideas someone from back then wished they had access to.
Rather than just recreating something from the past, it is building largely off of features that are expected and requested within the current flight shooter genre market. I'll go into more of that at the bottom of this article.
What has been notable for me is the limited number of weapons per aircraft, their effectiveness and the rather short target time to kill. Just a second or two of accurate aircraft cannon fire is enough to destroy an enemy fighter. A handful of unguided rockets can dispatch armored vehicles. Full sized air-to-air missiles are essentially one-shot kills if the missile connects with their target. But with a limited quantity of weapons onboard and only so many places to put them on an aircraft, a very real dilemma appears.
Are there more targets available than weapons onboard the player's aircraft? Players need to pay for the weapons used as well. Is it worth trying to wipe out every hostile on the map if the amount of money made isn't worth it? Maybe it's best to complete the primary objective, get the cash and avoid too much extra weapon expenditures or damage to the aircraft. What is the point if you clean out entire missions and you are not profitable in the slightest, right?
I like that these are things that need to be considered. It is too early to get into exact details about missions, aircraft cost and the in-game economy. There is not a playable demo yet or a campaign preview. However, we do have an early look into some of that information in an October 25th, 2024 example:
Video: 2024 prototype of menus, briefing, aircraft loadouts, etc.
New Details About Early Development
While our Indie Highlight Series interview did go into more detail, I reached out to developer Sanikkat via direct message again to ask her specifically about the early game development phase. Some interesting facts came out of it:
Development started on June 4th, 2022, though the idea itself is older than that.
The defining moment that started formal development came from an argument with a best friend about feelings of being stagnant in life. On an impulse, fueled by heavy emotions, a Unity project was created and coding tutorials began.
The Sanikkat was already familiar with Unity due to being a 3D artist by trade who made character models for VRChat and modded environments for Machinecraft. The dev notes that the initial concept for what would become Aggressors F.A.C. can be traced back to this game to a degree.
After a long period of quiet, but concentrated development, on May 11th, 2023, the first post about Aggressors F.A.C. was made on social media. Only when the developer felt like it was truly possible to see the game all the way through did public posts begin.
Points of Interest
Here are a few other points that interest me about Aggressors Fantasy Air Combat.
Weapon System Officer Development
This was mentioned recently in the article "Tomcat Fans Are Eating Good", but in short: two-seater aircraft in this game will have voiced Weapon System Officers. The first video announcing this was posted on July 22nd, 2026. Though development is using a robotic text-to-voice system for now, it is clear that the back seater will be calling out useful information at least half of the time. Not just calling out weapon releases for the sake of being cool. In the examples so far, information includes also the positions of threats, what those threats are doing, danger approaching the player from behind and incoming fire. With more than with more than 200 voice lines planned, it will be interesting to see what other information the back seaters discuss.
Video: Random WIP footage from internal testing.
Robust Customization and Controls
Customization of user interface, camera position, controller support, extensive control remapping and extended options for accessibility options that could even support gaming devices designed for the physically impaired are being included in Aggressors F.A.C. Speaking on control types, while gamepads and Hands On Throttle and Stick hardware was prioritized first, keyboard and mouse based controls including Novice Controls and Mouse Aim are also available.
Hub World Exploration
This game has a JRPG style portion where the players move their character through different locations. Like from their bunks into various common areas where other characters and objects can be interacted with before they take on their next mission. While highly unusual for this genre of games, it has a lot of potential for detailed world building and character story on a small scale.
Video: Hub World exploration.
VR Headset Support
As of September 28th, 2026, basic support for virtual reality headsets has been demonstrated. While the system is still heavily work in progress, it is functional. Even without using touch controllers as a bespoke control scheme, the addition of VR purely as an immersive monitor while still relying on traditional control devices is great. This alone will capture a new, sizeable demographic of VR centric users.
Indie Developer Tools
In true indie dev spirit, Sanikkat is also developing tools to assist other indie developers with their current and future endeavors. While there are no set timelines for release on these, here is a list of the known tools according to public sources:
Cockpit Creation Aide: a standalone program that creates flight instrument panels and even throttle quadrants.
Terrain Tool: a large-scale terrain tool for designing entire levels.
City System: thus far this is the most well documented system from Aggressors F.A.C. While the video linked here shows extreme tests for what the system can produce, the video below provides a thorough explanation:
Video: City System explanation.
In the grand scheme of "Ace-likes" that are a buzz recently, Aggressors Fantasy Air Combat by Sanikkat continues to be at the top of my mind anytime I surf through social media. Though there are a few others that are deeper into development demonstrating their concepts. More on those soon.
Connect With 'Aggressors Fantasy Air Combat'
Aggressors FAC (X Profile, Bluesky Profile) - Developer - Kofi
About the Writer
Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers. [Read Staff Profile]
