Armored Core 6 might be the reinvention the series needs | Hands-off preview

For a lot of people, Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon will be their first foray into the series that, in many ways, FromSoftware was best known for. Most people either aren’t old enough, or don’t care about being cool enough to pretend they were there and into the games back then. And while some of us long for From to revisit 3D Dot Game Heroes, Armored Core is an interesting series to reboot, as those early games in the light of day are impenetrable, confusing, and more than a bit niche.

On the back of Elden Ring, and success after success, the question I kept musing upon is “why now?”, but after a hands off presentation from Yasunori Ogura (lead producer) and Astuo Yoshimura (producer), it seems pretty clear that FromSoftware wants to modernise while revolutionising, and get the Armored Core series the love it clearly craves.

This is “an action game where you fight with your own personal mech”, explains Ogura, before showing off the three pillars the team consider core to Armored Core 6. First up, the “massive and 3D level” design, then the “tactical combat system further expanded by parts and assembly”, and finally, the challenge that modern FromSoft is known for, which is probably why Ogura described this new Armored Core as “combining the fun of the AC series with the action of the current FromSoft games”.

Armored Core 6 looks smooth, with fast moving mechs, responsive controls that are reactive to inputs, and speedy combat. The mission I got to see was interesting, and there were elements of the action that changed depending on how you build your mech. You see, customising your mech changes via the arsenal is not just for fashion-Souls purposes, but more importantly to change how your mech controls, and indeed your play-style overall.

The maps do look absolutely huge, from desert biomes to icy landscapes, it’s a mix of natural terrain mixing with man-made buildings. There are industrial cityscapes and cavernous wilds, and FromSoft says the maps and how you traverse them couldn’t be done with a human character and that this level of exploration is “only possible in a mech game”.

But this is 2023 FromSoftware, the developer who has wowed fans for years with Elden Ring, Bloodborne, and Dark Souls, and Ogura explains that you will still need to observe, experiment, and repeat encounters to overcome the challenges. While assembly offers you a great deal of freedom, this experimentation of build might actually be how you end up winning a more difficult battle.

I got to see an early part of the game where you have to capture a large facility called Grid 086. This is “mega structure” where, essentially, the bad guys are hanging out. There is a large exterior to approach, but the map then gets tight as you go inside to the interior area.

Armored Core 6 is a reboot, so the intention is to follow the flow from those original concepts. You get a briefing video before each mission before a launch, and frankly, it looks stunning. You can fly with your boost right away (so long as you have enough energy to do it), and right away the sense of scale is almost overwhelming. Where in previous, more recent FromSoft titles, you’re faced with paths to travel, here, you can just dash off into the air in any direction you want.

While you need to get inside, you can take any route you fancy, all thanks to that mobility on offer. In my demo, the player just directly attacked enemies, flying straight over and engaging in combat. Missiles were flying around everywhere as the mech skidded across the metal grating, destroying foes.

After hacking a locked gate, the player was ambushed and has to stay calm, avoiding the multitude of attacks spraying at the mech, learning when to attack and dashing in and out to defeat the enemy. Repair kits restore health, and in the demo we saw, the player had 3, but more on that in a moment.

Inside, then, the claustrophobia is palpable. As a huge mech that barely fits inside, thankfully you have a scan function to reveal enemies so they can’t take you by surprise, making it almost feel like a stealth game… only one with a massive mech at your control.

As the demo progressed, the enemies seem to get more and more aggressive, though you have a shield to block the barrage of firepower, and can then dash in to attack when a moment appears.

What’s difficult to tell without playing it myself, is if it’s challenging, or if the person I saw playing was an expert. It really does seem like your build matters. At one point during the demo, the player was able to observe a group of enemies, and Ogura mentioned it was “too far to engage” with his current build. The ideas suddenly swirled around my head about partial sniper builds, and how you can tailor the mech combat to your needs.

But what of death? What of failure? Checkpoints are in the middle of the missions. Yes, checkpoints, in a FromSoftware title. You can even check your build and in the assembly menu, alter your loadout. Head, core, arms, legs: you can change them to be better suited for your current situation, and the numbers will change dramatically to show you a less visual idea of what your changes will be doing. There seems to be a huge amount of weapons, even at the early part of the game I saw. There are even supply points in some missions where you can grab new health kits.

After dying, the producer swapped out the mech’s legs to make it faster, and went to try again., which is when I got to see the “stagger” mechanic. If you are staggered you will receive heavy damage from attacks, but of course you can also stagger enemies, and this sounds vital to taking down stronger opponents. There’s an impact gauge at the top of the enemy (think Sekiro) that, once filled, makes them vulnerable and you can get in close and wreak havoc.

It all seems so fluid, and not like you’d think when hearing the word “mech”. At the end of the mission there are boss fights, like the one I saw against “Cinder” Carla who, wouldn’t you guess it, was a huge boss firing rockets from its body, with grinder arms you can destroy to help you out.

Really, I didn’t know what to expect before seeing it in action, but now I have, it’s clear why FromSoftware is going back to the series. There’s something there; perhaps there always was, but those worried the developer would be leaving the masocore roots behind probably shouldn’t be concerned, because everything I saw makes me think this could be a superb reinvention of the series, making Armored Core 6 a serious one to watch ahead of its August release.

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X on August 25th.