How do you play the standalone Ace Combat Zero on Steam without Ace Combat 8?

Requirements

• Only players who already got Zero as an Ace Combat 8 pre-order bonus on Steam get the standalone app. Players who don’t already own the bonus can’t newly get Zero through it.
• The app has to reach your Steam Library. Bandai Namco’s notice of 23 October 2026 says it is added to eligible libraries in stages, so it may not appear for every owner at once.
• Ace Combat 8 doesn’t need to be installed. PC Gamer says the standalone Zero is a 3.2GB download, while the old route needed the 136GB Wings of Theve install.

Steps

1. Open your Steam Library and find ACE COMBAT ZERO: THE BELKAN WAR. Steam lists it as a standalone application, separate from Ace Combat 8.
2. If you play on more than one PC, turn on Steam Cloud before you launch the standalone app. Bandai Namco’s notice says save sharing across PCs needs Steam Cloud enabled before that launch.
3. Install and launch it. The notice says it can be installed, launched and played even on PCs where Ace Combat 8 isn’t installed.
4. Load your save. The notice says existing progress (medals, assault records, owned aircraft and mission progress) carries over automatically on the same PC, whatever your Steam Cloud setting.
5. Complete any mission. That unlocks the achievements your old save already meets the requirements for (see Rewards).

Tips and common mistakes

• If the Zero launch-options dialog still appears when you start Ace Combat 8, Bandai Namco’s notice suggests selecting “Play ACE COMBAT 8”, checking “Always use this option” and pressing “Play”. That makes Ace Combat 8 the default.
• To stop Ace Combat 8 offering Zero at launch, the notice also suggests opening your Steam Library, right-clicking Ace Combat 8, choosing Properties, then DLC, and unticking Install for ACE COMBAT ZERO.
• If you read that Zero can’t go standalone on Steam, that came from Bandai Namco’s 1 October 2026 notice, which cited licensing and platform considerations. Its 23 October notice says the standalone app is now available.
• These steps are for Steam on PC. According to DualShockers, pre-order owners on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S got Zero as a standalone application.

Rewards

• The standalone app supports Steam Achievements, according to Bandai Namco’s 23 October notice. That is newer than DualShockers’ 13 October report that the Steam version had no achievements.
• Achievements your old save already meets the requirements for unlock automatically once you load that save and complete any mission, the notice says. A player on Zero’s Steam forum says the same: “you just need to play a mission once.”