If you're into air combat games, this should be right up your alley. A new game of the genre, Project Wingman, just had its Kickstarter campaign launched.

The project appears to be heavily inspired by the Ace Combat series, with which it shares the mix of a fictional setting with real-world aircraft and giant secret weapons, and the arcade-style flight combat battle.

The game is supposed to come on PC (no other platforms or related stretch goals have been mentioned) with an estimated release window in May 2019. VR headsets will also be supported. The goal is rather modest, set at 35,000 Australian dollars (which is just north of $26,000).

Below you can read a description directly from the developers:

"Pure combat flight action is our mantra, and we've created a game where you can experience it to the fullest at any skill level. You will fly and fight against a variety of adversaries that can go toe to toe even with the best player or take it easy and feel like a unstoppable killing machine.

The rules of aerial warfare will remain the same throughout the game: survival and superiority. Whether you are an attack aircraft pilot, skimming the ground with a gatling gun and rocket launchers attached to your wing, or an interceptor with long range, almost sniper-like missiles at your disposal, it will be up to you to prove yourself as an Ace pilot.

Prove your worth: The game will encourage you to take a high risk, high reward approach: the better you fly, the better the reward, and thus the more resources you have on hand to expand your battle capabilities. Do you go after that enemy SAM cluster at the risk of getting shot down, or play it safe to minimize your potential losses? It could very well mean the difference between going to the next mission rolling with the latest tech, or flying with nothing more than a wing and a prayer. Remember the mercenary's credo: "Everything has a price."

Aces will have higher payout than regular fighter jockeys, airships will yield more than tanks, and naval cruisers are more enticing than patrol boats."

We also get a blurb outlining the story:

"In a world unlike our own, a multinational order known as the Federation has historically held onto an important resource along the Pacific Ring of Fire: Geothermal Deposits.

Uncovered by a cataclysmic fracture in centuries past, it offers a valuable resource to any that can claim and harness it: an abundant source of energy, tapped directly from the core of the planet.

After generations of systematic oppression over the exploitation of the thermal resources, tensions within council states of the Federation have risen to the point where opposing parties enacted a Coup d'état and rise up in armed rebellion. This is where you come in, a mercenary pilot hired to turn the tides of war in the name of their freedom.

Whether you fight for the sake of combat or for something more, the war ahead of you will be uphill, filled with warfare unseen in that world for centuries filled with conventional machines of war and those powered by the very geothermal energy risen from below the mantle itself."

Another interesting feature is the Conquest mode.

"In Conquest Mode, fight in an uphill battle against various bosses and ace squadrons in atactically-oriented territory capture game, drawing elements from roguelikes and RPGs. Players will have to earn enough money to not only maintain and upgrade their own plane, but build a mercenary army of their own in order to take on waves of increasingly difficult opposition as they struggle to take on a myriad of changing missions.

Modifiers and Parameters will also exist in the full game to customize your experience within Conquest mode and add/reduce difficulty or introduce unique and different modes to increase replayability of the game. "

A free flight mode will also be included for those who want to enjoy the maps from above without being shot at. Even better news is that you can try out the game right now, thanks to an extensive playable demo. If you prefer watching, a trailer can be enjoyed below.

If you're interested in supporting Project Wingman, you can do so at its official Kickstarter page.