Do Souls Fans Have Anything to Look for in Armored Core 6? FromSoftware Explains
The new game fromSoftware is not another soulsborne and the developer does not intend to make Armored Core in the fashion of Elden Ring or Sekiro.
The announcement of Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon confirmed rumors about the return of this somewhat forgotten mecha series from the creators of Dark Souls. Another thing is that the short trailer did not reveal much about this reactivation. A little more was revealed by IGN in an interview with Hidetaka Miyazaki and Masaru Yamamura, dedicated to Armored Core 6.
FromSoftware's CEO and chief designer pf Sekiro also didn't reveal a lot of details about Fires of Rubicon. Nevertheless, they clarified a few basic points, such as the one that Armored Core VI will not be similar to soulslike games.
Armored Core is not soulslike....
Veterans of the series will probably facepalm at hearing such an obvious fact explicitly stated, but it is not completely unjustified. The most recent Armored Core was released almost a decade ago. Meanwhile, since 2011 (or even 2009, if you count Demon's Souls) FromSoftware is famousl almost exclusively as the creator of successive soulsborne games - representatives of a genre that, by the way, in a way created (or at least codified).
Therefore, Miyazaki made it clear that the sixth Armored Core will not have much in common with Elden Ring or other "soulslikes." The developers primarily want to refine the basics that distinguished the series on the market, primarily the freedom manifested in the options for mecha customization and their influence on gameplay, but also in building the game world.
"A fundamental assumption [when working on Armored Core 6 - ed. note] was to look back and look at the basic premise of Armored Core and what made the series unique. We wanted to take the aspect of assembling, matching and customizing your mech - your AC - and then being able to accurately control the machine we built. So we wanted to take these two core concepts and re-examine them in the context of today's market."
Also, don't expect a fully open world in the style of Elden Ring. The developers will stay with the classic division into missions.
...and mechas are not samurai
Of course, it is difficult to expect the developers to completely ignore the last several years spent on soulsborne games. Especially since some elements - like the grim post-apocalyptic world full of secrets - were present in FromSoftware's works long before the release of Demon's Souls.
Yamamura pointed out, for example, the similarities between Armored Core 6 and Sekiro in two aspects: the variable pace of combat and mechanics that promote aggression. In Fires of Rubicon we won't see counterattacks straight out of the studio's samurai games, but the player will be encouraged to put pressure on enemies (even when they find themselves on the defensive) and look for solutions to tip the balance of victory in their own favor.
In practice, this is expected to translate into "more aggressive and dynamic clashes that can only be created with the participation of mechas.", using a variety of ranged weapons, but also not shying away from close-quarters combat.
Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon will debut next year. The game is headed for PC, PS4, XOne, PS5 and XSX/S.
