Fresh off of disclosure Armored Core 6: Rubicon Fires at The Game Awards 2022, FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki and director Masaru Yamamura provided several new details to IGN. They confirmed the lack of an open world or connection to previous titles. Furthermore, while it would have challenging mech fights, the difficulty could vary based on missions, types of enemies, and how one assembles their mech.
So it may come as no surprise to learn that the game isn’t aiming for the Soulsborne style of gameplay. “No, we haven’t been making a conscious effort to try and steer it towards more Soulsborne-like gameplay. First of all, let me make that clear,” Miyazaki said.
“An essential address [Armored Core 6] was to go back and take a good look at the core concept of Armored Core and what made that series special. So we wanted to take the assembly approach, assembling and customizing your mech – your AC – and then being able to have a very high level of control over the assembled mech. So we wanted to take those two core concepts and re-examine them in our modern environment.
“And, of course, what that means is taking our knowledge and experiences from game development in recent years, and applying that knowledge to development [Armored Core 6]and reexamine it along with those core concepts of Armored Core. So the real impetus for this project, I think, or at least one of the appeals for me comes from that aspect of the assembly, and being able to freely assemble and modify the mech, I I think we are very focused on it Armored Core.
“Having mechs or mecha as a theme, it’s really about that high level of freedom that customization of each part gives, and how that affects the gameplay and the properties of your mech actually in combat . We think it’s a little more liberating than, say, just swapping out armor or gear. There’s a lot more freedom here, and being able to see these effects in the game, as part of the world building, and as part of your player choices, we feel like this is a very big part of the this does. Armored Core special.”
Yamamura previously contrasted the gameplay to Axe: Shadows die Twice, with players getting more customization, rather than sticking to one style. He further notes that despite “no elements directly referring to them An axe,” “I feel that both titles share the same essence with battles such as aggression, change of pace and action-oriented combat. For this title, by continuing to attack even the strongest enemy, the force of the impact can break the enemy’s posture and inflict a large amount of damage – a critical blow.
“This is the starting point for changing the slow and fast pace of the battle, and when combined with long-range firefights and close melee combat, the enemy and their machine engage each other violently, creating a more aggressive and dynamic battle that only mechas can engage in.”
It sounds vaguely like a counter mechanic, but Yamamura explained, “Instead of calling it a counter mechanic, what we want to emphasize is this reason to keep attacking and continue the offensive . You want to create opportunities for yourself in combat and turn the battle to the player’s advantage. So what we feel is this is going to create a nice back and forth flow in battles Armored Core 6and create this nice mix of offensive and defensive play… but we want the player to feel like they can constantly put pressure on the enemy and that’s why we incorporated some of these systems.”
Armored Core 6: Rubicon Fires is currently in development for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC. It’s out in 2023, with a release date yet to be confirmed. While there will be a Versus Mode (with more details on multiplayer coming later), the focus is on the single player story. Stay tuned for more details and gameplay in the coming months.
