Armored Core 6 is on the way, which is likely quite the revelation for long-time FromSoftware fans, and Dark Souls players wondering just what an Armored Core actually is. With the Armored Core 6 reveal trailer at The Game Awards offering no actual gameplay of the action game, it’s understandable then that questions about the direction of the FromSoftware series, which had its last entry a decade ago, have been raised ahead of next year’s release, and Sekiro is an unlikely comparison.
This is where FromSoftware veteran developers come in, as they discuss what Armored Core 6 actually is, and how the studio’s last decade plus of Soulslike games – a genre FromSoftware itself inspired – will, but also won’t, influence Armored Core 6 after Elden Ring’s The Game Awards 2022 win.
“We’ve not been making a conscious effort to try to direct it towards more Soulsborne type gameplay,” says Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki. “Let me just make that clear.”
The Armored Core series has been about mech customisation and precise controlling of said mech, with Miyazaki saying these two aspects have been examined in a “modern environment.” The announcement at The Game Awards also follows quite a few rumours about a new Armored Core, with a survey making the rounds fairly recently apparently containing details about the game.
“The essential direction of 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.”
Miyazaki isn’t directing Armored Core 6 however, as that’s falling to Sekiro lead game designer and Dark Souls developer, Masaru Yamamura.
“There are no elements directly referring to Sekiro,” Yamamura tells IGN, “but I feel both titles share the same essence of battle such as aggressive, speed change and action-oriented fighting. For this title, by continuing to attack even the strongest enemy, the force of impact can break the enemy’s posture and inflict a large amount of damage – a critical hit.”
To be absolutely clear, I wouldn’t expect fat rolls and Soulslike mechanics in Armored Core 6, but it does look like the frenetic combat of Sekiro has informed how the mechs of the newest Armored Core game will fight one another.
This lack of Soulslike influence might seem obvious to some, as Armored Core is about giant robots with guns and missiles, while Soulslikes are all about melee combat. That said, FromSoftware has been religiously developing one type of game since 2009’s Demon’s Souls, so there’s bound to be some level of inspiration, or at least change to approach, with Armored Core 6 thanks to the Soulslike games developed at FromSoftware.
If FromSoftware’s The Game Awards win has you jumping back into Elden Ring while you wait for Armored Core 6 though, we’ve broken down the best Elden Ring classes and best Elden Ring builds to help you get a leg up on the competition.
