Armored Core 6 Arrives in August : Full Details

FromSoftware previously confirmed that Armored Core 6 would still launch in 2023 and it seems they meant even sooner than we may have expected. Armored Core 6 will release globally on August 25th for PC, Xbox consoles, and PlayStation consoles. FromSoftware has shared a wealth of information on the upcoming mech-action game including unique details via the PlayStation Blog and Xbox Wire. We break it all down for you below.

A New Beginning

Armored Core 6 represents a return to a franchise that’s been dormant nearly a decade. While it’s been called “a reboot in essence”, the synopsis is as follows:

Armored Core 6 takes place on the remote planet of Rubicon 3, many years after a cataclysmic event has left it, and the surrounding star system, engulfed in flames — thought to be the result of an energy source turning volatile, one that had originally helped advance humanity’s technological capabilities on the planet. Now this substance has reappeared many years later, and corporations and resistance groups are fighting over what they can find.

In speaking with Producer Yasunori Ogura and Director Masaru Yamamura about their vision for Armored Core 6, Mike Nelson at Xbox Wire posed some questions about how they are approaching the combat.

“In our approach to difficulty, let’s say, for example, that a certain boss is giving you trouble with a devastating laser attack that sweeps across battle arena and it’s very hard to avoid,” Yamamura says. “One possible solution, in such a situation, could be to go back to the Assembly and reconfigure your mech with reverse jointed legs, which have excellent jumping ability. Or a booster with a powerful upward thrust so the attack can be evaded vertically. An alternative approach could also be to use a high impact weapon like a bazooka to stop the enemy’s movement or before it attacks.”

According to the team, they are aiming to create a new mech-action game with some of the features that FromSoftware titles are known for today.

“First and foremost, what we are aiming to create with AC6 is a new mech action game as a product of what the current day FromSoftware can output, based on the knowledge and experience we’ve gained from developing these recent titles,” Yamamura details. “But we also want to combine that with the original essence of AC, and that is the Assembly aspect and taking your assembled mech into battle and piloting it freely. So, in this process we placed a lot of importance on intricate 3D map design, combat design that allows players to observe enemy movements and deal with them accordingly, and the ability to overcome challenging situations with their own creativity and ingenuity.”

“These are things that FromSoftware action games have always tried to emphasize, and we of course developed AC6 with this in mind,” Yamamura continues. “However, as the basic format of Armored Core is completely different from games in the Souls lineage, there really aren’t any specific aspects of gameplay or mechanics that can be observed as-is. So, we’ve tried to incorporate this know-how and experience at points of the game where it can coexist and be easily digested in the sense of Armored Core, and without tainting those original qualities of what make Armored Core great. So, in this way, we believe we can offer that same underlying mech action goodness, as well as a more advanced game experience to both Armored Core fans and fans of our more recent [FromSoftware] titles.”

According to Ogura, initial concepts for the title originated in about 2017-2018 with only a handful of FromSoftware staff involved including President Miyazaki. After the basic concept for the game and maps was scoped, the project was then handed over fully to Director Yamamura.

“We’ve been cultivating a number of development staff both new and old throughout our experience with recent titles in recent years and there were many members of that staff, including Miyazaki and myself, who wanted to make a new Armored Core game for a long time, so it really wasn’t a question of if, it was always a question of when – and not making a new Armored Core game really wasn’t an option,” explains Ogura.

A Complex World

The areas of Rubicon are filled with contrasts, as the hollowed-out industrial ruins from the aforementioned disaster smolder beneath a shiny shell of state-of-the-art mining constructs encasing the planet. The expansive environments will deliver an incredible sense of scale, maintaining the quality we’ve come to expect from FromSoftware’s world-design maestros. And with your Armored Core’s advanced movement skills, you’ll be able to explore these large, open spaces to your heart’s content.

You’ll also encounter lots of different scenery and objectives as you advance through the game’s mission-based progression structure.Director Yamamura speaks to the world design.

“It’s an intricate and multi-layered world, brimming with mega-structures and enormous underground facilities built by its former inhabitants. These structures cover a planetary surface wracked with extreme cold and contamination in the aftermath of the great disaster, and the player will be exploring these various environments as they proceed,” says game director Masaru Yamamura.

“There will be missions where you’re fighting across sweeping battlefields–very combat-oriented,” Yamamura explains. “But you’ll sometimes be recovering data logs from wreckage and doing other side objectives too.”

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Dynamic Combat and Customization

Thanks to deep customization, new abilities, and challenging bosses, the combat in Armored Core 6 is more dynamic than ever. Here are just some of the features you can expect.

Assault Boost: One of the biggest new features in Armored Core VI is an instantaneous switch between long-range gunfighting and close-range melee, thanks to a button-activated movement skill called the Assault Boost.

“Assault Boost is an offensive action that helps close the gap between enemies and lets you quickly go from long distance to close range,” Yamamura tells us. It will also provide some incredible chain abilities when fighting, as he describes vividly: “Say you activate Assault Boost to make your approach while using machine gun fire and a missile salvo to stagger the enemy, then use your pulse blade to score a direct melee hit once you’re up close.”

Stagger: Another addition to the series’ combat is a “stagger” element: if an AC takes too many hits over a short period of time, its Attitude Control System will be overloaded, making it vulnerable for a short time. Both continuous hits and big, powerful strikes will cause stagger damage, encouraging you to keep up the pressure on the opponent. The damage inflicted to an enemy’s stagger gauge varies from weapon to weapon. It can also be affected by factors like distance, adding additional strategy in equipping and using these armaments in combat.

“The average movement speed across the game is somewhere between Armored Core 3 and Armored Core 5,” he replies. “But Armored Core VI has been developed to bolster the changes of tempo and combat. With instantaneous bursts of speed and sudden changes of tempo, combat can often reach the dizzying heights of say, Armored Core 4.”

The series’ big boss encounters are back, and the metal monstrosities you’ll encounter look bigger and more intimidating than ever. In addition to these larger bosses, you’ll even fight against other ACs and humanoid mechs in high-octane duels. And in grand FromSoftware tradition, it may take several attempts and some experimentation with your AC’s equipment to fully learn and adapt to a boss’s quirks.

“There will be a rich variety of powerful enemies of all shapes and sizes,” says Yamamura. “Huge combat helicopters, heavily armored mobile turrets, and unmanned heavy demolition machinery that’s programmed to indiscriminately crush intruders. Armored Core VI will offer a number of explosive battle experiences that challenge players to fight against the odds and overcome these ginormous, more abnormal mechs.”

Customization is a key part of the Armored Core experience. You have access to an assortment of parts to upgrade and fine-tune the power of your AC. Four slots for holding weaponry–one in each hand and two on the back–give you a lot of space to experiment with custom loadouts. Add in custom paint jobs and liveries and you’ll be able to create a unique AC that’s all yours.

“One aspect we focused on in Armored Core VI is melee weapons, exclusively equipped to the left hand,” Yamamura continues. “These can include a cluster bomb thrower, a chainsaw or pulse blade, lances, and other more idiosyncratic weapons. Since the main weapons are firearms, the melee weapons are more focused on that strength of individuality.”

There’s more good news for longtime Armored Core fans. The Arena, a much-cherished mode where you can fight a series of battles against a wide array of specially customized mechs, makes its return in Armored Core VI as a “combat aptitude evaluation program” (simulated training exercise).

“There are a lot of different AC frames and a lot of colorful characters to fight in the Arena, so we hope the players confront them all and aim for the top rank. You can even encounter the real version of these opponents while out on missions. These are more formidable than their simulator counterparts, and will confront the protagonist with their own ideals and motives in the heat of battle.”

Prepare for Launch

Perfecting your combat skills won’t be the only reason you’ll want to return to the frontline: there will be multiple endings to Armored Core VI’s narrative, with new paths opening up on subsequent playthroughs, giving players plenty of incentive to explore the world and story thoroughly. We’ll have a lot more on Armored Core 6 : Fires of Rubicon in the coming months. For now, pre-orders are open with some special editions being available directly from Bandai-Namco.

The Collector’s Edition retails for $229.99 and includes the following: