Bandai Namco Entertainment published today the opening movie for Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, introducing a portion of the game's amazing story and one of its main characters.

The opening movie focuses on Avril Mead, Ace Combat 7's airplane mechanic who was already seen multiple times in past trailers. Avril grew up with her grandfather and his war buddies. While her late grandfather prohibited her from joining the Osean Air Defense, seeing his distrust of the army after Avril's father lost his life there, he always used to tell her stories about his flights and how beautiful the sky is up there. As Avril grew up, she became specialized in refurbishing scrap parts and repairing planes, ending up building her own plane. As she takes off with it, she ends up in an unexpected situation.

Seeing this opening animation reminds us how Ace Combat 7 follows the tradition of the most beloved Ace Combat games. Taking place in the fictional world nicknamed Strangereal, telling an alluring war story, mixing politics, constantly evolving technology and the perpetual dream of humanity flying through the skies. However, don't forget the game will also include online multiplayer, allowing you to soar the skies in a free-for-all massive dogfight or with teammates. The game also features a VR Mode.

You can find the opening movie below. I've also included the Japanese version of the trailer, for those who'd like to watch it. Most of the Japanese versions of the trailers so far used English voice-overs as well, so it's one of the rare occasion we've got to hear the Japanese cast before release. In Japanese, Avril is voiced by Yukino Satsuki, a veteran voice actress who handled roles like Sonozaki Mion in Higurashi, Kagome in Inuyasha or Full Metal Panic!'s Kaname Chidori.

Bandai Namco has also been regularly releasing airplane trailers, each introducing some of Ace Combat 7's aircraft. The latest trailer, introducing the Russian Sukhoi Su-34, is included at the end of this article. Previous trailers introduced the iconic F-22A Raptor, the air-to-ground A-10C Thunderbolt II, and the Russian MiG-31B.

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown takes off on January 18 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game will also come to PC on February 1. It's been almost 4 years since the game was announced, and there are only a few days left to wait now. If you'd like to pre-order the game, you could do so via Amazon.