While Fantasy Warden may not be the biggest fan of mecha games and has stuck primarily to PC games (hence we haven’t played Armored Core in their previous iterations), we can’t hide our intrigue for the new Armored Core VI by FromSoftware and hence it is one of our most anticipated games of 2023. The biggest question is probably: Will Armored Core VI be like Elden Ring? The answer is no. The reason our hype is high is that this is the only company in the gaming industry that has consistently made extremely high-quality games for the last decade with the biggest “miss” being Dark Souls 2, which can still be considered a good game. Moreover, even though we are huge fans of medieval fantasy series like Dark Souls, Elden Ring, and Sekiro, we can’t help but wonder what these high-quality practices would look like in a new Armored Core game.
February Interview
In the recent interview (February 3rd), the most important thing that the developers revealed is that building mechs will be more intuitive and logical. This doesn’t necessarily mean more “friendly” because we don’t want “friendly”, we want to intrigue and challenge with a good logical base behind it. Furthermore, it’s obvious that the player’s freedom comes from the customization. Elden Ring has many builds, but this is just at another level, hence we think that FromSoftware will put the cards in the customization, rather than the open world or extremely good-level design, although it was rumored that the game will have that “exploration” factor built in.
Moreover, the developer emphasized that the customization will be very nuanced and it is the main focus of the game. There will be weathering options which are basically customizing your robot with scratches, bullet holes, and rust. This just shows how much this aspect of the game is covered. The gameplay mechanics are hinted at in the trailer of the game. Furthermore, the boss fights will have a touch of a soul-like feel but will be much more dynamic, fast, and perhaps something more geared toward Sekiro, but it’s tough to know for sure. Moreover, an online PvP arena was confirmed alongside custom emblems that are tradable.
The Armored Core VI community hype
While it is important to keep our heads leveled and expectations in check, we can’t help but hype a bit with the whole Elden Ring and Armored Core VI community. We see so many questions that people have. Will Armored Core VI be like Elden Ring? (No) What are the core mechanics of the game? Will it be the same as before? How much soul-like flavor will the game have? These are just some of the questions many people have in a post-Elden Ring hype. There is some information on what the game will look like, but we don’t know the most important thing, which is the gameplay footage.
Players Trust FromSoftware Practices
We all saw big reputable companies fall prey to corporate greed and bad development habits. Blizzard with Warcraft 3: Reforged and the generally horrible practices of the company. EA with microtransactions, paywalls, refurbished games, and overall corporate fiascos. CD Project Red with the unfinished overhyped Cyberpunk release, and so on. We clearly saw a pattern of companies abandoning practices that made them, and adopting a more business approach as the success of the company goes up.
This is a very bad practice that FromSoftware didn’t fall prey to, except for some optimizing issues, but that’s not the same. Elden Ring had a vast, rich, and functional open world from the start, as it was hyped and promised. Armored Core VI: Fires Of Rubicon will have missions instead of an open world, highly customizable robots, and some elements from modern souls-like games, but not much we presume. Even though we are a bigger fan of medieval fantasy, we welcome new genres if it’s from an extremely reputable studio.
While we were definitely burned with trusting gaming companies in the past, we have hopes that FromSoftware will not succumb to corporate greed (live services, quantity over quality DLCs, in-game items for a few dollars, etc.). Moreover, game studios in recent years have had a huge tendency to be released half-baked. This is very frustrating and has created a very bad habit of thinking that only older games are “polished”, and we should wait for months or years before a new game becomes “playable” in all its glory.
IGN Interview with Hidetaka Miyazaki
After the announcement of Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, FromSoftware answered our burning questions about the return of its venerable mecha series. https://t.co/Vd7hB0bSyP pic.twitter.com/xJvD6DRkfw
— IGN (@IGN) December 12, 2022
So far, there is a lot of talk about the nature and mechanics of this game. In a recent IGN interview, Miyazaki answered a lot of questions regarding the game. Although we found the interviewer’s questions pretty distasteful as she was basically repeating “Will Armored Core VI be the same as Elden Ring?” over and over again. While we love Dark Souls and Elden Ring, we don’t necessarily want the same “shtick” with the mechanics and gameplay.
What we are more interested in is how will the “brains” behind Dark Souls and Elden Ring influence this game that will have a modern taste to it. Furthermore, we have the information that Armored Core VI is being worked on by Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice lead designer, which we find very reassuring.
Armored Core VI will accumulate new fans over the following months
Will all the information so far, we are still hesitant to jump on the hype train fully. We still need to see some footage and a little sneak peek into the overall gameplay. Furthermore, there is a ton of pressure and expectations from the community and from the investors that FromSoftware has to endure. One thing is for sure, Armored Core VI will amass hype with time. We just hope that this game will be a hit and that FromSoftware will continue its reign rightfully so.
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