Armored Core 6 – Review

Armoured Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is the latest addition to the franchise and leverages FromSoftware’s accumulated experience to deliver an unforgettable experience.

As a long-time fan of FromSoftware, having sunk hundreds of hours in its various Souls titles and Elden Ring, I was suitably excited when Armored Core 6 was announced.

I hadn’t played an Armored Core game before; however, I had faith that the game would up to FromSoftware’s usual standards.

As it turns out, I was right.

Armored Core 6 was one of the best games I played last year and an experience I would recommend to anyone with even a passing interest in action games.

Gameplay loop

AC6’s gameplay loop is divided into two components catering to a different aspect of a mech-based game.

Rather than using an open-world style format, as with Elden Ring and many other newer titles, AC6 uses a mission-based system.

Whenever you accept a mission, you’ll deploy into a specific, handcrafted area and pursue your objective – this can range from destroying a particular enemy mech (Armored Core) to collecting data from scattered wrecks.

Once you complete the mission objectives, you’ll be rewarded with your pay and sent back to the other part of AC6’s gameplay loop – the Garage.

While in the Garage, you can purchase new parts for your AC and customise it to fit your preferred combat style.

Moving between these two distinct parts of the game is what makes AC6 so enjoyable, as each perfectly plays off the other.

With each mission you play, you’ll get a feel for what you like and don’t like about your AC; perhaps it’s too slow for your tastes, or you don’t like one of the weapons it’s currently using, so you’ll go to the Garage and make changes.

With the changes made, you’ll go into the next mission, see what worked and what didn’t, and return to the Garage with the mission’s completion for further changes.

Over time, this refining process will create your ideal AC, and the satisfaction of seeing it all come together is second to none.

Combat

In combat and while piloting your AC, you can dodge, lock on to targets, and independently fire each of the four weapons you can outfit the mech with – one for each arm and two shoulder mounts.

Each weapon has its own ammo count, reload or cooldown times, and learning to balance the fire of these weapons and their effective ranges is essential for success in combat.

Your AC also has boost jets that, depending on your it’s leg types, can offer hyper-fast movement overland and in the air or more conservative and controlled bursts of speed, depending on your preference.

Combined with the vast array of available weapon types, from energy swords and shotguns to missile launchers and machine guns, piloting your AC is an intense experience that’s easily learnt but harder to master.

Story

While some have stated that AC6 has no story, that couldn’t be further from the truth – instead, it’s more accurate to say AC6’s story isn’t as readily apparent.

Most RPGs these days, excluding FromSoftware’s contributions, tend to offer up their stories and characters on a silver platter, leaving little to the imagination.

AC6 instead wants you to come up with your theories as the story unveils itself across its missions.

This unveiling chiefly involves the dialogue between missions, the odd cutscene, and environmental storytelling.

Another key factor is that to get the full story and the true ending to the game, you’ll need to play through AC6 three times – at a minimum.

Each playthrough will add new missions and story outcomes, with the third providing the missions that unlock the game’s true ending.

It may seem like a lot, but after your first playthrough, things become far easier for the most part since you carry over all your gear, upgrades, and money.

This also lets you bully early-game bosses you may have struggled with when you were still fresh to the game – which is satisfying in of itself.

Verdict and 100%

I do recommend Armored Core 6, but along with that, I’d also advise you 100% the game.

Normally, to 100% a game, in my experience, is a tedious task with a few achievements always being a headache to acquire.

However, AC6 is different; all its achievements are quite reasonable, and one, in particular, offers an enjoyable challenge –acquiring an S rank on every mission.

Once you complete a mission, you can replay it any time, and during this replay, you’ll get a score based on your performance – this includes ammo spent, time taken, damage taken, and the number of enemies destroyed.

Some missions are easier to S rank than others, of course, but many require you to not only play well but also go to the Garage and specifically design an AC.

Much like defeating a hard boss in Dark Souls, S ranking a difficult mission in AC6 is extremely satisfying and offers a true sense of achievement.

Whether you elect to 100% or not, AC6 is one of the best games from last year and definitely worth your time.

Read: Nintendo preservation project successful acquires 23,000 data dumps to save 3DS and Wii U DLC

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Armored Core 6 – Review

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