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I recently previewed Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, courtesy of Bandai Namco. FromSoftware has a pedigree now of excellent narrative titles packed with stringent challenges. But what makes these titles great is how worthwhile it feels to overcome them and succeed. Before the days of Dark Souls though, Armored Core was the franchise that made FromSoft, as far as I’m concerned. I absolutely adored playing these games in my early adulthood.
But the real question is, how is Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon? During our preview session, we had access to a wealth of content. This included the entire First Chapter, which means several boss fights, as well as unrestricted access to the customization and creation of our ACs.
While we didn’t get to play the entire game, we had hours to play through a good chunk of it, and I came away feeling positive. Here’s why Armored Core 6 is going to astonish gamers in 2023.
Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is an incredible, polished experience
Armored Core 6 is the first AC game to show up in 10 years, and fans hadn’t forgotten about the series. Thankfully, FromSoftware had the resources to work on it - that’s the only reason we had to wait so long. It was a matter of having a proper team and resources to give it the focus it deserved.
It shows, too. I, like many others that were invited to the event, quickly found myself enamored with Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon. If you’re wondering if this is a Soulslike game, though - I’m sorry to say that it isn’t. However, in an interview with the producer and director, I did learn something about that.
While it isn’t a Souls game, it does have the “FromSoft difficulty” that fans expect from the company. Still, every stage isn’t going to be a frustrating, challenging slot. Some missions will make you feel like a rockstar - smashing through groups of weak MTs (Muscle Tracers - weaker mecha units).
Others will culminate with you fighting a boss that can swarm you with more missiles than the Macross anime could dream to muster. These bosses felt like Dark Souls bosses. I won’t say how long it took me to beat the first two bosses of the game, but it was not swift.
This is, without a doubt, the best Armored Core experience I’ve ever had. I’ve played every entry that’s come to North America, and this is peak mecha action. The gameplay is responsive, and every weapon feels unique. While a tiny bit slower than I’d like, movement is enhanced by the ability to use Assault Boosts.
There are very few flaws in Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon as it stands right now. But if it launched in the form I played it in, I would be perfectly satisfied. One of the only minor qualms I had was turning while in Assault Boost was incredibly hard to perfect. I imagine that’s probably by design, considering how fast you are going.
Armored Core 6 introduces concepts and features at a solid pace
Armored Core 6 can be an incredibly complex game if you want it to be. After all, you have to design and pilot a powerful engine of destruction - an AC. You could opt to leave them mostly alone and only occasionally add new parts.
Where’s the fun in that, though? The game teaches how to upgrade, change, redesign, and recolor your AC at a solid pace. It’s not overwhelming at all. You’ll learn to take part in PVP and learn what makes each AC type special.
You can go bipedal, reverse legs, tank treads, or quadripedal designs. There’s so much to love about the game. We had access to all of these while playing the preview build of Armored Core 6.
Even beyond the normal customization and adjustments you can make, you also have Chips you can unlock and install, which further update your mecha. This means your AC can be exactly what you want it to be.
Armored Core 6’s stages vary in size and scope, but all feel fantastic
Not every stage or mission in Armored Core 6 will have a major, Souls-like boss. These are spread out at a decent pace so as to not frustrate players. Some missions are stealth-based, and others are information-gathering. Of course, you also have missions where you just smash through enemies with reckless abandon.
Your character is a Mercenary whose name is presently unknown. However, over the course of the First Chapter of the story, you unlock a Call Sign and begin taking missions on. You will work for various factions that are morally dubious at best.
We played through a satisfactory variety of stage types, and each felt slightly different from the rest. Some of these were relatively short, making them ideal for farming credits and other resources.
Others, like “The Wall,” were intense, lengthy sieges where you must survive a wide assortment of foes. This was probably the most fascinating stage, other than perhaps one other that’s a secret for now.
Whether attacking a massive mobile weapon or simply slaying a single pilot, Armored Core 6 delivered when it came to the scope of its story and map. Speaking of narrative, while it’s a new story in the AC universe, there will be plenty of easter eggs for long-time fans to uncover.
An Arms Race worth taking part in
One of the best parts of Armored Core 6 is the armory itself. There are plenty of weapons and weapon types within the game. Each one felt special and useful in certain situations. Some missiles fired forward and then spun backward, while others fired up and then back down again.
Each of these has important uses, depending on the battle. While I used an assortment of guns and rockets, my favorite weapon was easily the Beam Saber. It felt so powerful, and it was more than just one slash.
You could do a few combos and charged slashes to make those up-close hits count. We also learned that there will be secret, hidden weapons scattered throughout the maps. Perhaps that’s where we’ll find Moonlight and Karasawa.
Armored Core 6’s Visuals and Dub are exceptional
When it comes to a visual presentation, Armored Core 6 delivers without a doubt. We played through winter storms, heated deserts, and dimly lit factories, and they all looked gorgeous.
The dub sounded great, too, with characters that sounded like they were certainly believable. It also featured a solid OST, but in general, I was satisfied with the visuals and audio of the game. The weapon attacks even sounded fantastic.
I also appreciated that you could add weathering to your AC parts. If you don’t want your mech to look sparkling and new, you can make it look beaten and worn down. It’s the little things that really add up.
In Conclusion
From 3v3 PVP to an epic single-player journey, Armored Core 6 has the potential to be one of the best games of 2023. It scratches an itch I haven’t dealt with in such a long time. The mecha gameplay feels fluid and fast, and no enemy is impossible to defeat.
The bosses are imposing and impressive, but they can be defeated. The only thing that would make it better for me is a co-op element. However, the multiplayer is just going to be PvP.
That’s perfectly fine, but I’d love to suit up with my best friend and make some money as a mercenary. Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon launches on August 25, 2023, and it’s surely going to be a blast.
