Fromsoftware, a video game company famous for making Dark Souls 8 times (that’s a joke please don’t come after me), also has another recognizable franchise named Armored Core–a popular Mecha shooter during the Playstation 1 and Playstation 2 era. The series had a dozen mainline games and several spinoffs, but when the last game came out in 2013, the series became dormant.

Until…

The Game Awards 2022. Geoff Keighly, clearly excited, prepares the crowd for a new announcement trailer. The lights dim. Ominous music starts. A futuristic planet is destroyed with bright red fire. What could this be? A new AAA game? A sequel to something? Then, the words appear.

Feed The Fire…

Let The Last Cinders Burn…

A mech rises from the ground, and Fromsoftwares name appears.
Armored Core is dead no more.

When I was a wee lad, my father was obsessed with Armored Core 2 and Armored Core 3. He played through both games and reached #1 in the Arena Mode. So, from a young age, I knew of Armored Core. When I was old enough to actually start playing video games, I attempted to get into it, but the dated controls and looks were too much for me. But when Armored Core 6 was announced, and my Dad pre-ordered it, I knew this was my chance to finally get into the series. On August 26th, the game arrived at our door, and I rushed to play it. But this time, something else was different: this wasn’t the clunky controls of old–this was new. Fast-paced action paired with stunning graphics made me immediately want to sink everything into this game. 

You’re dropped into the first level with little information. This is Rubicon 3, a barren and uninhabitable planet filled with a desired substance known as Coral that many corporations and Freedom Fighter groups are fighting over. You are an augmented human mercenary known as “621” who pilots a Mech (known as AC’s). The level starts off slow, teaching you the basics, but then it becomes blisteringly fast. My AC felt real. It felt like I WAS a 20-foot-tall Bipedal War Machine. Until the first boss battle.

 If you know anything about FromSoftware, it’s that they like their boss battles, and Armored Core 6 is no different. During the first mission’s boss fight, the game slowed down to a halt. Although during later boss fights, you have the option to change your AC to exploit bosses’ weaknesses, the first mission has no such option. I no longer felt like an all-powerful AC. I felt like a brand new, scrappy AC, who has been on this planet for no more than 5 minutes. I died, and I died, and I died. It took me about 5 hours (and near destruction of my controller) to beat the boss fight, and finally unlock the rest of the game, which, as it turns out, is wonderful.

The rest of the game consists of your character 621, now dubbed “Raven”, taking on missions from varying corporations, or working against those very corporate bosses and taking on missions for the Freedom Fighters. Most missions are very easy, as your AC can take hits from smaller mechs and machines as though they were spitballs. In almost every mission, I rarely died. The only exception was missions with Boss battles. As mentioned earlier, boss battles in this game are freakishly difficult, so make sure to clear your schedule for the next hour or so as you scream obscenities at Rusty and that stupid Juggernaut fight. Or any of the other boss fights in the game. But specifically that evil evil man Rusty and that son of a garbage dump Juggernaut. 

Every mission gives you a good amount of cash, which can be spent at the in-game shop, where AC parts can be bought and sold. Every part of your AC is customizable, including the Head, torso, Arms, Legs, both arm weapons and 2 shoulder weapons, and other optional generators and extensions. This allows you to make the robot of your dreams, infusing everyone’s AC with their own personality, and allowing for many different playstyles. This could be a tank with Bazookas and hundreds of missiles available at a whim, a lightning-fast machine gun toting AC, a 4 legged AC capable of mid-air hovering, or many more. Now, you may actually have to be good at math to properly make a functioning AC, or you can just do what I do and make sure none of your stats are in the red so that you’re good to go.

The final thing worth mentioning is the Arena. Now, the Arena is freakishly difficult the higher your rank is, and I have not gotten that far in it, so I don’t have a whole lot of opinions on it. There are 29 contestants in the arena (you are the 30th) and you must go through each, defeating them all 1 by 1, until you make it to rank #1. They give you decent cash and bonus unlockables for completing them, so it isn’t just for satisfaction. There is also an Online Multiplayer mode, but I have no opinions on it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

To conclude, Armored Core 6 has blazingly fast and wicked fun gameplay and frustrating boss fights, but beautiful graphics and infinite customization. Definitely worth picking up, and I’ll see you on Rubicon 3…

Final Score: 4.5 out of 5 stars