Ground of Aces | PC Early Access Review

March 19, 2026 Paul Hein

Have you ever sat and looked up at the sky and wished there were more planes in them? Does the sound of a Merlin engine live rent free in your head? Do you ever think about what it would be like to be the first line of defense against Göring and the Blitz? Have you ever laid out a map and pushed little figures around it in real time? Do you like to micromanage your fellow man? Do you enjoy a fine cognac after dinner? If you answer at least two of these questions as a yes, then Ground of Aces is for you.

Released into early access on July 10, 2025 by Blindflug Studios AG, Ground of Aces is a base management simulator centered around an RAF airfield during the Blitz (the bombing campaign of the UK from September 1940 to May 1941). You manage everything from the hiring of support staff, medical, ground crews, cooks, intel, and the oh so important pilots. Build your base up from a simple dirt strip to a concrete tarmac capable of sending out four engine bombers to ruin the Ruhr valley.

The Chaps on the Ground

Gameplay is menu dense (think Rimworld) and during base attacks, a little bit of base defense (place those guns and searchlights carefully). Sound effects and music are spot on and the roar of the planes as they take off and even fight above your base is music to this aviation aficionado’s ears. This is a very much mouse and keyboard game that would not work well with a controller and I am thankful that the developers haven’t attempted to put the extensive menus behind a choice wheel.

You are responsible for more than just the physical gear needed to run an airbase: tents, fuel and supply storage, medical, and defensive gear (gotta love those 40mm Bofors). Your staff’s morale and effectiveness is also on the line. Every mission a pilot flies and every base attack impacts each person individually and the team as a whole. Success makes a pilot bolder and more effective, while failure can push people to make worse decisions and even death.

There are missions that you can select from the mission board with various conditions that you can throw pilots at. Depending on your pilot’s abilities, a success rating (shown by a percentage) given for the pilot chosen, and you can often improve the odds by throwing more pilots at the job. Be careful, however, because certain missions can appear and are timed and if you are out of pilots, you won’t be able to complete them and they will count as failures. PLUS you need to make sure you have someone to fly defense for the inevitable bomber attack that always happens when you send everyone out already.

Playing Ground of Aces I have found very few technical issues, despite being in early access, and credit Blindflug Studios AG’s continuing passion for this game. Now on Major Update 4, they continue to add features, planes, and quality of life improvements. My favorite new change is the ability to customize your starting base, which can eliminate some of the insane terrain RNG that took place with the game in earlier iterations. You can check out their roadmap for the game below. They also have an active social media that fans can follow for updates from the devs.

Tally-ho!

I highly recommend this game. I have always been an aviation enthusiast, as well as a WWII history nut after finding pictures of my grandfather’s deployment in Italy and stories on how he and his buddies used to bum flying lessons from the pilots stationed near them.

There is a lot to love with this game, from seeing the classic planes, to the delightful comic book style people running around your base. It delivers both on the detailed aircraft and the human toll of the war. A unique experience on the management game genre that has touched this author right to his core.

Ground of Aces is available in Early Access on Steam for Windows, Mac OS, and Steam OS. It is currently on sale and has a free demo that you can try before you buy. It is not resource-intensive and will run on older Windows 10 setups. While listed as “playable” on Steam Deck, I would highly recommend a mouse and keyboard for this game.

To hear me talk about Ground of Aces, be sure to listen to our July 16th, 2025 episode around the 1:31:02 timestamp.