Project Wingman

Project Wingman is a combat flight-action video game developed by Sector D2 and published by Humble Games. It was released on 1 December 2020 on Microsoft Windows with optional VR support for the whole game. It was later released on 28 October 2021 on Xbox One. The game was also released as part of the PlayStation VR2 collection for PlayStation 5, titled Project Wingman: Frontline 59, on 3 October 2023. It contains optional VR support via six new missions rather than the whole game. The game features two game modes: Campaign and Conquest.

In campaign mode, the game follows the story of a war set on an alternate Earth between United Cascadia and the Pacific Federation through a silent protagonist with the callsign Monarch, a mercenary pilot for the fictional Sicario Mercenary Corp. After finishing up a previous contract, the mercenary group is hired by United Cascadia, a nation vying for independence from the Pacific Federation, a nation that comprises across most of the Ring of Fire. An area is rich with a fictional material called "Cordium", which is used both for geothermal and military applications.

In conquest mode, the player conquers various territories for Cascadia in a rogue-lite game mode involving conquering territories, buying new planes, and hiring help, while the Federation gets progressively aware and cautious of player's presence, sending fighters, airships, and ace squadrons to oppose the player.

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 destroys 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.

The game offers the player two game modes: campaign and conquest. The campaign follows a story in which the mercenary pilot Monarch fights for the Cascadians in their war of independence against the Federation in a future Earth devastated by a cascade of tectonic events in the Ring of Fire. Conquest provides the player with roguelite and strategy gameplay in which the player completes an objective depending on the area, manages resources, and conquers the map.

In campaign mode, the player completes twenty-one missions where the objectives can range from destroying enemy planes, annihilating ground forces and bases, and protecting allies. When the player completes a mission, they receive money which can be spent on buying new planes.

In conquest mode, the player starts out with basic combat planes and must complete 43 missions in a single life. Mission types vary from hunting transport planes to destroying anti-air defenses. All missions end with a fight against an enemy ace squadron. Upon mission completion, the player receives credits and prestige. Credits can be used to hire mercenaries, and prestige can be used to buy new planes. The alert level determines the number and type of enemies, and it is raised based on time spent in the mission. If the player dies, the player loses everything except prestige and planes bought before.

The player starts with trainer variants of the F-4 Phantom II and MiG-21 inspired jets. All planes start with flares and standard missiles and can be equipped with certain special weapons. More advanced planes offer an AOA (Angle of Attack) limiter toggle, granting supermaneuverability, in place of flares. Before every mission, the player picks a plane, special weapons, and a paint scheme. Smaller planes can equip between one or two special weapons while larger planes can equip between two or three. Completing missions allows the player to earn in-game currency which can be used to purchase other aircraft. Access to some of the planes requires the player to finish specific campaign missions with some of the best planes available only when the campaign is finished. The difficulty or scores achieved during missions doesn't affect progression towards unlocking aircraft, aside from mission scores being a source of money.

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, however, tensions between member states have risen due to Federation imperialist policies, which have been fueled by the rich cordium deposits of United Cascadia (a member state located along the Pacific Northwest region of North America). Additionally, the Federation plans to cement its control over Cascadia further to exploit its resources. As a result, Cascadia declares independence from the Federation 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 in the Sicario Mercenary Corps, which also includes two other pilots: Peter Kennedy (callsign "Diplomat") and Evelyn London III (callsign "Comic"); and Monarch's WSO, Robin Kuo (callsign officially "President", more commonly referred to as "Prez"). Other members of Sicario include Sicario's primary AWACS operator Dominic Zaitsev (callsign "Galaxy") and the company's leader Arnold Frenken (callsign "Kaiser"), who is also a pilot and leader of the "Assassin" Team.

In the PlayStation 5 exclusive mini-campaign Frontline-59, the story follows Division K-9, a squadron of Federation reserve pilots who are unexpectedly called to duty to make up for the Federation's losses suffered in their rapidly escalating war with Cascadia. The squadron consists of the player characters "Driver", pilots "Brick", "Bookie", "Cobb", and Driver's WSO "Eye-Tee". They are commanded by the Federation AWACS "Vita".

Plot
After finishing their contract with the Creole Republic, the Sicario Mercenary Corps is hired by Cascadia amid their war of independence against the Pacific Federation. The Federation forces gained the upper hand in the early stages of the war, to the point of capturing the Cascadian capital city of Presidia.

However, the Hitman Team slowly turns the tide of the war in Cascadia's favor, as the Federation begins losing support due to Federal war crimes and their inability to control Cascadia. Hitman Team becomes a rallying point for Cascadian forces because of their immense successes in repelling Federation forces, which earns them the attention of the Federation's 'Crimson Team', a fighter squadron of elite peacekeeper pilots. The air war culminates 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 is forced to retreat after Hitman inflicts too many losses, leaving Crimson Team's leader, "Crimson 1", enraged and vowing revenge against Monarch.

During a subsequent mission to liberate Prospero, Cascadia's main economic hub, the Federation bombards the city with cordium-enriched cruise missiles when Cascadian victory seems imminent. The warheads activate Prospero's rich cordium deposits, causing a massive underground volcanic chain reaction. This destabilizes the Ring of Fire and ravages most of the Pacific Rim in the resulting tectonic event. Having lost communications with allied forces in the chaos, Hitman withdraws but is intercepted by a team of bounty hunters led by Klara Rask (Callsign "Frost Druid") who reveals that Hitman's true identities have been leaked to the public. Hitman shoots down 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 their continued support. Sicario accepts the deal and continues to fight, while their leader Kaiser travels abroad to rally supporters for their cause.

Sicario assists the Cascadians with eliminating Federal resistance and re-stabilizing the country, and Hitman 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 Cascadia emerges victorious, but Crimson 1 suddenly arrives in a hijacked prototype super-fighter, the '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. Crimson 1 holds Monarch responsible for the escalation of the war and challenges him 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.

After the war, Cascadia honors their "deal" with Sicario. The whereabouts of the 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 the immense loss of reputation from using cordium weapon of mass destruction, the Federation faces multiple insurgent movements from other member states, backed by the now-independent Cascadia (now a haven for mercenaries) among other foreign powers.

Frontline 59
Set concurrent to the main plot, reservist squadron K-9 is activated in an emergency mobilization and ordered to join the battle over the Bering Strait, despite their inexperience. However, they are too late to join the battle and are forced to protect retreating Federation forces instead, resulting in them saving Crimson Squadron. In light of the massive losses they suffered, the Federation mobilizes the reserves of the entire frontline territory of Magadan, as Cascadia stages an amphibious invasion into eastern Siberia, led by General Faust. Despite K-9 and Peacekeeper Squadron Steel Team inflicting heavy losses on the Cascadians, they cannot stop the invasion and are forced to retreat inland.

Over the next month, K-9 participates in defensive operations, buying enough time for the main Federation forces to regroup. The turning point comes when Driver performs a daring raid through an underground tunnel, destroying the Cascadian headquarters and putting the entire invasion force in disarray. The fully assembled Federation forces then drive the Cascadians back to the coast, refusing all offers of ceasefire. The main Cascadian invasion force is destroyed and the Federation begins their invasion of Cascadia. However, instead of being deactivated as planned, K-9 is sent to stop a last-ditch attack by General Faust targeting Magadan's largest geothermal plant.

Driver destroys Faust's airship and kills her before she can attack the geothermal plant, but as her airship explodes, Faust warns of a terrible secret that was found in Oceania in the last war that the mercenaries consider "holy", and which will destroy either the Federation or Cascadia. The mission is completed just as K-9 witnesses a flight of cordium-enriched cruise missiles flying overhead toward Prospero.

Afterward, due to their role in repelling the Cascadian invasion of Magadan, Driver is put into consideration to be promoted to a full-fledged Peacekeeper.

Development
Abi Rahmani started Project Wingman as a portfolio piece in November 2015. In 2017, Project Wingman became a full-time project after receiving 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.

Project Wingman was later ported and released on Xbox One on 28 October 2021. The game was also released on the online PC game store GOG.com on March 28, 2022.

Reception
Project Wingman received "generally favorable reviews" from critics and an 8/10 score from users, according to review aggregator Metacritic.

Polygon's Charlie Hall praised the game for its action that can be commonly found in modern first-person shooters. TheGamer's Sean Murray noted the game's improvement on the Ace Combat formula by allowing players to equip multiple weapons and adding a rogue-like conquest mode, but he criticized the game's lack of mission variety due to being "go here, shoot things". Critics have praised the game for its audio and visual feedback.