From Software has become an iconic studio over the last 14 years, with hits such as Demon Souls, their revolutionary Dark Souls series, the masterpieces that are Elden Ring and Bloodborne, and the game which should be Tenchu, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. But before their breakout, mainstream hit in 2009, they made a collective of other games including Tenchu, and a whole lot of Mecha-themed titles, primarily the Armored Core series. It’s a series which has been slumbering for well over a decade, but now it seems to be the perfect time to bring it back.
Is there room in today’s gaming space for a classic Mech title? The answer is indeed, absolutely yes.
What is Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon? 
The almighty “mecha-themed” Armored Core franchise began back in 1997 and spanned numerous titles right until 2023. Back in the early 2000s, From Software had produced a number of titles, for the PC and PlayStation 2, amassing quite a cult following, but never gaining mainstream success. Even the latest entry back in 2012 didn’t receive the most impressive reception, despite being a decent enough game. Well From Soft has built quite the reputation, and it appears to be paying off with the likes of their latest Armored Core title.
While the series is quite expansive, featuring a lot of games under its belt, the narrative and thematic elements are usually retained throughout. The original game back in 1997 saw Earth experience a catastrophe known as the "Great Destruction" with humanity having been forced underground. Then came along the mega-corporations who began fighting for dominance, leading to the increasing reliance on Armored Core pilots known as Ravens. The series has been set on Earth, Mars and other planets with Armored Core VI bringing us to Rubicon 3, a planet which became the new haven for humanity, until yet again another catastrophic event occurred and left most of the surface in burning ashes.
And again, the corporations and a whole heap of mercenaries have arrived to proclaim dominance over the planet Rubicon and take the vital resource known as Coral. You a fresh-faced pilot have been recruited in a rather shady manner to take on various jobs from corporate elites, to destroy the resistance, competitors and to ensure that as much Coral is given to the highest bidder. Lace that together with big fighting mechas, explosive action and compelling conflicting ethical questions and you got yourself an Armored Core game, my friend.
Burning Mechas and even more burning questions 
Minor spoilers aheadNow it seems like centring Sci-Fi stories set on other worlds usually revolve around corporate greed, invasions, precious materials, and questions of ethics. Series like Lost Planet dive into the subjects well enough, and even Gears of War is quite a metaphor for many historical events including the Gulf War. I love this kind of stuff and if done right, can present a compelling melodrama of the highest tragic beats.
Armored Core VI and From Soft does indeed do a great job with its story yet miss a couple of important elements in the presentation which I feel would have elevated it. But these issues aside, From Soft has managed to propel themselves as a master of grand, epic stories and whether you like the Dark Souls' manner of vague, fragment storytelling, the narratives and lore are usually very interesting and engaging.
Rubicon 3 has an utterly tragic backstory, being a new haven for humanity, and brimming with the material Coral, which was used to benefit humanity as a whole. Yet that all changed when the Coral sparked the Fires of Ibis, engulfing the planet in flames and leading us to believe that the material was wiped out. After five decades of isolation, there are faint traces of Coral again, thus leading corporate greed, murder, destruction and mecha mayhem to come to the planet Rubicon 3.
Taking on the role of the ominous Raven 621, players are under the watchful guidance of handler “Walter”, who takes on jobs from various corporate clients which require fighting, destroying and straight-up murder from inside a powerful Mecha. Things start shady enough as Raven 621 illegally lands on Rubicon 3 and steals the license of a deceased mercenary to assume their identity. After a while of taking on various jobs, and fighting the local resistance, i.e., the inhabitants of the planet, you may or may not want to have two cold showers. One for your body, and the other for your soul.
There are plenty of moments where you will ask yourself about the ethics of what is happening on Rubicon 3 but never beat you over the head with morals or messages. You meet plenty of interesting characters, all fantastically voice-acted, who care about making it out alive and making a living in a harsh landscape. As the plot unravels, there are new revelations, divisions and all-out warfare that leads to multiple endings, being either very damning yet poetic, or bitterly sweet and cathartic. Armored Core 6 does have an utterly enthralling narrative at times, but is let down by a lacking sense of presentation.
Now as mentioned the voice acting is top-notch, and that’s good because there are very few cutscenes, or story-driven moments where we see characters engage on screen, with much of the exchanges, and dramatic moments having over radio chatter. It’s a little disappointing as I would have loved to see these characters talk face to face, exchange glances, face off, or even develop some romantic interests. Aside from the intro, endings and a couple of small moments, pretty much the exchanges and drama are done over radio chatter making the impacting gravitas of many situations feel a little artificial and distant. There’s a lot of setup between missions, little interaction from Raven themselves and does make sections of the story feel a little lifeless. But the parts we do see in all its cinematic glory are epic, especially the ending battles and outcomes.
However, the drama is still very compelling, with some great twists, and the multiple endings all made Armored Core 3 a captivating drama with cool robots. There is quite a bit of density here, adding to the replay value, but also seeing the plot and events from another angle. I loved the voice work, the questionable ethics of the corporations, the greed, corruption and tragic underlinings of the planet and its people.
Super Mecha fun time! 
Now, you’re not here for the drama, the ills of humanity and corporate greed, are you? (We have enough of that in real life, minus cool mechas). Or maybe you are, good for you. But we also do love big, super cool Mechas that fight to the death, and deliver a good dose of carnage, fire and mayhem.
Armored Core has given fans for the last two and a half decades what they always wanted, to ride in a big Mecha and be able to customise it to their heart's content, and From Soft has gone all out on this instalment. Players will be given their own Mecha to stylise and arm as they please, with various paint jobs, arm-mounted swords, shoulder-mounted missile launchers, Rail Canons, giant dual-wielded machine pistols, massive shotguns, more massive grenade launchers and so much more.
As you play through missions and earn money, players will be able to obtain new weapons or other useful bits of gear, such as shields and the like. As you progress through the story new weapons are unlocked, allowing you to tackle even more dangerous jobs, and replay older missions in new ways. This is handy as you can go back, and obtain a higher ranking for previously played missions, get more money and complete secondary missions you may have missed.
Of course, you must consider things such as repairs and ammo spent, as these can rank up massive expenses. So, you must consider your weapons carefully and plan. Do you load up on massive weapons for the ultimate destruction? Or do you go more tactical, with a shield, a sword, and a rifle, meaning you must spend more time fighting, but less ammo potentially. And this is what Armored Core VI asks of its players, to plan, to consider immensely the choices of loadouts and to get into the mindset of tactical thinking. And, if you want your Mecha to be the same colours as Iron Man (I did).
Forward-thinking is what is needed, or a good dose of trial and error. Every mission has its unique problems, from faster enemies, more complex terrains, more powerful enemies, or complex level designs providing plenty of cover, but also enemy advantages. Or even just facing against a gigantic beast of a boss. You get a brief and very general idea of the level before you, and from here you have to plan. You can customise your Mecha with all sorts of weapons and supports, making it super powerful, fully loaded with weapons and thus much heavier. Or go for swiftness, grace and speed at the expense of firepower.
You will mix and match, change styles, and with a whole heap of weapons and tools, be experimenting and creating all sorts of different Mechas for all sorts of missions. I enjoyed the level of detail in customising your Mecha, and just how many varied components there were to equip. There is so much on offer, allowing all players to change their playstyle and tactics from mission to mission. Planning out for the road ahead is a vital lateral component to the gameplay, and learning from previous mistakes or using the knowledge from failing a mission will help in your judgement immensely. You’ll never be using the same Mecha twice, and with the amount of gear to purchase, earn and equip, why would you?
You also must consider attributes such as weight and power, which are affected by what you load. Equipping more weapons on your arms, and shoulders will of course add to the weight, and more powerful weapons require more power, thus taking away energy from one of your most important abilities, flight. You can indeed purchase different components and new limbs to enhance your Mecha, allowing you to take more exotic weapons, more of them, and to have the best flow and momentum possible. Usually, the legs carry the weight, while the torso of the Mecha takes on board generators and thrusters, allowing for more energy and better flight. And you can buy new generators and thrusters just like other items.
Learning of all these systems and subsystems can be a little overwhelming at first, and while the guidance is quite basic it is fine overall to get you up to speed. However, my biggest gripe was with the UI which for someone whose sight has not improved over the years, looking at various small stats from across the room on a decent-sized TV, can be annoying. Never has the Xbox magnifier tool been such a godsend. So, accessibility is something that needs improvement, but the general gist of learning the ins and outs of all the various systems, weights and powers is fine, and new players will grasp it fairly quickly. Even if you go by just the simple stats, you can grasp the systems well enough, but there are some good guidelines regardless of which are best read up on.
This town ain’t big enough for all these Mechas! 
Now we’ve gone over the delicate side of gameplay, with tactical planning, forward-thinking and strategic building of Mechas. Now comes the (Random explosion noises, Mechas fighting, and all that cool stuff!) awesome bits.
The heart and soul, and of course the mass appeal of Armored Core or any mech game (like the classic 2002 title Mech Assault) is having giant robots fight each other and a ton of carnage happening all around. From Soft doesn’t shy away from the action and delivers some excellent-looking spectacles and engaging firefights which range from one-on to Mecha duels to the death, massive assaults on heavily fortified compounds, or scaling a massive titan of a walking tank while a giant mechanical eye shoots a laser at you. Like the gear, all the combat encounters are varied, and provide plenty of tactical action and strategic problem-solving.
Each mission can be approaching all guns blazing, but repeating each level gives you a chance to try it again with the knowledge you acquired but with a different loadout. Thus making the mission more of a success, leading to more money and better equipment. Plus, a sweet, sweet S ranking.
There is a good gathering of locations and terrains to explore, fight and play around in, and while some areas are repeated from time to time, they are usually well-crafted and detailed. Be it a massive desert where enemies come through a devastating sandstorm, or fighting powerful, mobile tanks in a crowded, decaying urban space where mighty gas containers, and other volatile components combust in a fiery gaze or awe. Every level feels purposefully made, with no lack of detail, interesting structures, or cool enemies to fight. Various missions have additional objectives that are high if completed. There is a good deal of combat to be had, all of which is refined, engaging and looks pretty good no matter the location.
But it’s just the feel of the Mecha which is nailed here, and no matter your build, be it heavy or light, every level will accommodate you and be wide enough to endure all the action. Never did hyper-charging through the air towards my objective feel so cool as it does in Armored Core VI.
The only thing I do feel which will either make or break a player’s experience and in general get them to play the whole game is the beginning level. Now to fault From Soft with one thing, and that thing is they don’t do tutorials all that well. They do offer them, and they are informative, but like Dark Souls, and with Armored Core VI, there are vital gaps of information missing in the first couple of hours.
The first mission is a weird mix of easy-to-grasp, easy-to-deal-with combat encounters, and then you get a boss fight which can certainly break some players. It’s not a massively hard fight, but challenging enough as you have to figure out the move-set to beat it and this can take time, trailing and erroring the situation. It’s made harder as you have a pre-determined loadout which you may or may not like, and standard attacks do nothing to damage it. Which is odd, as some of the next bosses are a cakewalk.
But once you do beat it, there a VR-style training grounds, more guides that appear and inform you of charged attacks, and other useful tactics, which you would’ve learned on the fly during the first boss fight. It’s clumsy and not well thought out. But thankfully, Armored Core VI is not Dark Souls with Mechs and provides plenty of checkpoints and a means to customise your loadout even mid-mission. Although you can’t buy new stuff during missions which was a tiny bit annoying, but understandable.
Still, the combat is so much fun, down to the variation of weapons, environments, and enemies. The forgiving nature means you can try, try, and try again and even change bits of your Mecha to help you in a tricky fight. And the excellent controls and fluent movement make handling one of these beastly machines a pure dream!
Overall?It’s amazing to see From Soft go back to their roots and bring us something not only Souls fans can rejoice in, but causal gamers, Mecha fans and everyone in between can thoroughly enjoy. Armored Core VI is a game with plenty of heart, soul, and awesome Mecha action, with an excellent, detailed customisation system, thought-provoking, and highly engaging combat, with massive set pieces, battles, and impressive action, which overshadows any of the issues I mentioned. I do wish for the next instalment, there would be more visual storytelling elements, better characterisation and more personal depth in the journey, and better accessibility.
But what shines bright, outshines everything, making Armored Core VI one of the best action-adventure games in 2023. This deserves a high recommendation from myself, and a message to From Soft directly – Please make a Tenchu game next!
++ Awesome Mecha combat and customisation
++ Cool world design, massive set pieces and bosses
+ Large variation in gear, weapons, and enemies
+ Multiple endings, and cool extras
- Could have implemented more visual storytelling elements and better character development
- Improvement in accessibility options needed
A review key for Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon was kindly provided by the publisher for this review.
