Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon set to introduce “a different style of play”

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon which is likely to be released on 25 August 2023. The ACs will not trade its playstyle for the success of Soulslikes or the open world of Elden Ring. This is something that FromSoftware has commented on several times, although its director Masaru Yamamura recently explained in an interview that with the new installment of this veteran, there was talk of looking for “a different style of play”.

The responses of FromSoftware Director Masaru Yamamura say that during development various options were studied and even changed the gameplay, but the company finally decided that they did not want a game focused on movement and exploration of Elden Ring or Souls. “In the end, Armored Core is about creating the movement of your character -mecha- and how it affects the gameplay, it is what makes the series so beloved. It is designed to make you think about your speed, jumps and impulses, and the combination of this dictates displacement.”

“With this, we felt that the [free] exploration aspect was not a good fit. We decided that Armored Core 6 would be a more mission-based experience.” However, there will be some large areas where the same type of 3D movement can be practised as during combat, but always limited on those maps.

FromSoftware has spent years preparing for a new Armored Core

Armored Core was the studio’s biggest hit before Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls. “It wasn’t a question of whether to do it, it was always about when – not doing an Armored Core was out of the question,” said producer Yasunori Ogura. Pre-production began in 2017 with ideas from Hidetaka Miyazaki – director of multiple Dark Souls and Elden Ring – but the priority of other projects meant that its development was slower than expected.

The ACs or Mecha has been around for so long that its gameplay has evolved considerably over console generations and over a dozen games. It may be called Armored Core 6, but it’s a pretty big simplification of the game’s release timeline. Still, after a recent great interview with FromSoftware, we know a few things for sure.

It will be a mechanical fighting game where the players will be able to customize every component of their robot to their exact specifications. The Gamers may want a higher movement speed, so choose a certain type of leg, but sacrifice their flight and momentum.