FromSoftware is working hard on the long-awaited new entry in the Armored Core franchise. I was able to see a special hands-off preview presentation that demonstrated why Fires of Rubicon might become one of the best Armored Core games ever. Let’s jump in!
Huge levels
Unlike FormSotware’s latest release Elden Ring, Armored Core VI doesn’t offer an open world to explore, which is to be expected in this franchise of course. Instead of an open world, Armored Core VI comes with huge levels that feel like little open worlds themselves. With the addition of vertical gameplay, the levels truly looked immersive and fun to explore in the presentation. It’s clear that a lot of development time went into the level creation and I love all of the little details I got to see during the presentation. In order to travel through the levels, the game will give you a tremendous amount of options to create the mech of your dreams. Just like in the other Armored Core games, creating your own mech is an important gameplay mechanic and really goes far in this upcoming entry. You can basically change everything and create different types of mech depending on your preferred style. The legs of your mech are a crucial part and during the presentation, we saw different options all resulting in different styles. Are you going for robust legs that offer some needed defenses against your enemies or are you going for rocket-boosted legs to help you out in fast-paced combat and platforming? It’s clear that the team invites you to explore and experiment as much as possible with all of these options as they truly alter the way you’re playing this game. It all looks very promising and I can’t wait to see and experiment with the options myself.
Armored Souls?
Since FromSoftware has become the king of creating Souls games, a lot of fans are wondering how this would affect the Armored Core franchise. Well in a lot of ways, it doesn’t affect it that much. First things first, Armored Core VI is still shaping up to be an extremely fast-paced game set in huge levels which is a big difference in how Souls games play like. When you look at the game in action, you’ll see it’s far closer to an action-packed fast-paced mech game than it is to let’s say Elden Ring. There’s a huge difference in gameplay style and approach to the overall genre so if you’re an Armored Core fan first, you’ll definitely enjoy the direction of this sequel. It’s clear that FromSotware just wants to create a modern Armored Core entry by keeping true to some of its core mechanics. That being said, when we look at the combat in action, there certainly is some Souls influence there.
The presentation clearly showcased the level of difficulty you’ll face when trying to defeat the enemies. Like good Souls games, you need to find the pattern of attacks and the weakness of your enemies in order to inflict real damage. If you time your attacks correctly, your enemies can potentially trip over which gives you a huge advantage of course. Discovering the patterns and attacking your enemies depending on their weakness is very Souls-esque but the boss battles offer Souls gameplay at its finest. The boss battles look like a real challenge and you’ll have to do everything in your power in order to step them. Finding their weakness is just one strategy, changing your mech and adapting to the situation is another. I love how well FormSotware manages to add a level of difficulty to the franchise without turning it into another typical Souls game. Judging from what I’ve seen, this still is an Armored Core game pur sang with some added difficulty from the Souls genre.
Early conclusion:
Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is an interesting game, although the Souls inspiration is clearly there, it still looks like it’s an Armored Core game first. If FormSoftware keeps this up, I’m pretty sure they’ll deliver an unforgettable entry in the legendary Mech franchise.
