Bloodborne<\/em>. And if it\u2019s any indication of what\u2019s to come, Yamamura has a long career ahead of him as one of the studio\u2019s premier directors.<\/p>\nIf you\u2019re reading this review, there\u2019s a good chance that, like me, you haven\u2019t played an Armored Core game before. Even at its peak, the series never enjoyed the kind of global popularity Dark Souls achieved in the span of five years. But if you\u2019re curious if there\u2019s something here for you, the short answer is a resounding yes. However, as with almost all of From\u2019s games, a little \u2014 okay, a lot \u2014 of patience goes a long way.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the thing you need to know about Armored Core VI: <\/em>It is uncompromising. Like Sekiro <\/em>before it, prepare to be frustrated until you wrap your head around how Yamamura wants you to approach combat. I\u2019ll admit, I died about a dozen times to Armored Core VI\u2019s<\/em> first boss, which appears at the start of the game before I managed to eke out a victory. Even then, it took me several more hours before I felt like I had a narrow grasp of AC 6\u2019s <\/em>interlocking weapon, piloting and mech assembly systems.<\/p>\nPart of what makes From\u2019s latest so<\/em>intimidating is that there\u2019s so much going on all at once. To give you a sense of the complexity involved, the game's mechs \u2014 called Armored Cores \u2014 can carry up to four weapons, and fire them independently of one another. Moreover, there are dozens of different weapons archetypes, each with its own set of tactical considerations. Missile pods, for instance, fire a salvo of rockets either at a single target or multiple enemies simultaneously. Since most feature a lengthy reload or cooldown animation, you can\u2019t rely on any one weapon alone to win an encounter. Each requires thoughtful consideration and use, all while keeping a hulking robot skillfully evading fire.<\/p>\nMovement is everything in AC6<\/em>. Armored Cores have three different boosts available: one to increase their regular traversal speed, one to dash away from attacks and one that allows them to catapult themselves at enemies and quickly cover a lot of ground. They can also jump, and ignite their boosters to fly.<\/p>\nAll of an AC\u2019s more advanced movement abilities consume energy, which is represented by a bar along the bottom of the interface. Landing on the ground will begin to quickly replenish that resource. Most enemies don\u2019t have anywhere near the mobility of the player\u2019s mech, but some can hit hard if they\u2019re allowed to land a shot. There\u2019s also a stagger mechanic within the game that applies to both the player and opponents. One difference between AC6<\/em> and From\u2019s Soulsborne games is that dashing doesn\u2019t give invincibility frames. As a newbie to the series, the need to consider spacing on top of reacting quickly added to the game\u2019s learning curve.<\/p>\nSince you\u2019re not tied to the ground like you would be in Dark Souls<\/em> or Bloodborne<\/em>, combat is far more vertical than in any of From\u2019s other recent games. A lot of enemies have access to wide, horizontal sweeping attacks that you can\u2019t avoid through lateral movement. Conversely, gaining the high ground on opponents is often the most effective way to dispatch them. Knowing when to take to the air is probably the most important skill to grasp in AC6, and, if you\u2019re a Soulsborne veteran, likely the most difficult to learn as well.<\/p>\nHow nimble an Armored Core is depends on the parts it\u2019s built from, and with hundreds of options to choose from, there\u2019s a lot of room for creativity. Some offer simple stat boosts while others change how a mech travels across the battlefield. For example, a set of quadruped legs allow an AC to hover in the air without consuming energy, a feature that\u2019s useful for missions that require a lot of aerial combat. By contrast, a mech with tank treads isn\u2019t great at getting off the ground, but it can drift after dashing and charge up a weapon without stopping.<\/p>\n
Like I said, there\u2019s a lot to learn and unpack. Thankfully, Armored Core VI <\/em>is also one of FromSoftware\u2019s more accessible games. After the initial hurdle of the first boss, the first few missions that follow are smaller in scale, and feature less formidable enemies. At the same time, the game offers training missions that are there to illuminate the finer points of Armored Core VI\u2019s <\/em>mechanics. At most, these take a few minutes to complete, and provide useful mech parts as rewards. It\u2019s a structure I felt eased me into the game before throwing harder challenges my way.<\/p>\nYamamura and company have also wisely done away with some of the series\u2019 more hardcore elements. Past games featured a system that allowed the player to go into debt if they didn\u2019t play well. That\u2019s not something that\u2019s present in AC6<\/em>. I found I always had spare funds to modify my mech, thanks to the amount of credits the game doled out for completing missions and the ability to replay them for even more money. It also helps that every component available to purchase can be sold for the same price it costs to buy it. As a result, I found I was free to experiment with different loadouts to find the combination that suited my playstyle without having to consider a punishing in-game economy.<\/p>\nAC6\u2019s mission structure also does a lot of heavy lifting to make the game more approachable. The inclusion of a checkpoint system meant I never lost much, if any, progress when I died (and I died a lot in my early hours). It\u2019s also possible to modify a mech between deaths without restarting a mission. Unless I was chasing an \u2018S\u2019 ranking when replaying a mission, that meant I was free to use one mech to reach a boss and another to defeat it. In fact, the game encouraged me to do exactly that after dying multiple times in a row to one boss I encountered midway through chapter one.<\/p>\n
Still, there were some frustrations. Boss battles felt overly difficult relative to every other enemy, perhaps to balance the game\u2019s checkpoint system. Most opponents \u2014 including opposing Armored Cores \u2014 have a limited pool of attacks. Bosses throw out that script. To give you one example, Balteus, the final boss of the game\u2019s first chapter, starts with a moveset that consists of about a dozen attacks, a few of which flood the arena with homing missiles. When the battle enters its second phase, Balteus\u2019s moveset doubles and the boss becomes even more aggressive. It\u2019s a punishing encounter and a brick wall of an early-game skill check.<\/p>\n
Sometimes the controls also don\u2019t feel up to the task of what AC6<\/em> is asking you to pull off. It\u2019s especially noticeable if you go with what\u2019s known in-game as a \u201cdouble trigger\u201d build, which involves equipping an Armored Core with a pair of weapons that ideally should be fired in unison.<\/p>\nBy default, Armored Core VI<\/em> maps all of a mech\u2019s weapons to left and right triggers, alongside the bumper buttons. The right analog stick, meanwhile, controls the camera and the square or X button is for dashing. The game includes a target assist mode that locks the camera to a single target, but it\u2019s not ideal to use when fighting more than one enemy. When I felt I struggled the most, it was because I had to give up control of the camera to boost away from an attack. It\u2019s possible to remap the controls, but I didn\u2019t find a configuration that worked as well as the default setup.<\/p>\nThose frustrations aside, I never felt like Armored Core VI <\/em>was anything short of compelling. Even in its most challenging moments, the game gave me little victories to celebrate. It is an incredible achievement in game design and thematic cohesion, and, I think, a promise of what we can expect from FromSoftware\u2019s next generation of talent.<\/p>\nArmored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon <\/em>arrives on PlayStation, Xbox and PC<\/em>on August 25th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2004, a young Hidetaka Miyazaki joined FromSoftware. Before becoming a household name in gaming circles, he cut his teeth working on the studio\u2019s long-running Armored Core series, serving as a planner on 2005\u2019s Armored Core: Last Raven and then as director on Armored Core IV and Armored Core: For Answer. Following the success of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6789,6790,2895,1986,77,330,1794],"tags":[6791,6792,2900,1988,79,333,1795],"yoast_head":"\n
Armored Core VI review: FromSoftware's latest challenge is surprisingly approachable - Best News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-review-fromsoftware-mech-game-150015742\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Armored Core VI review: FromSoftware's latest challenge is surprisingly approachable - Best News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 2004, a young Hidetaka Miyazaki joined FromSoftware. Before becoming a household name in gaming circles, he cut his teeth working on the studio\u2019s long-running Armored Core series, serving as a planner on 2005\u2019s Armored Core: Last Raven and then as director on Armored Core IV and Armored Core: For Answer. Following the success of […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-review-fromsoftware-mech-game-150015742\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Best News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-13T11:03:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"FOX NEWS\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"FOX NEWS\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-review-fromsoftware-mech-game-150015742\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-review-fromsoftware-mech-game-150015742\/\",\"name\":\"Armored Core VI review: FromSoftware's latest challenge is surprisingly approachable - Best News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-review-fromsoftware-mech-game-150015742\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-review-fromsoftware-mech-game-150015742\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/7.SDoyeYcZKwXzpk21h2Yg--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD02NzU-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2023-08\/fdce2330-41c2-11ee-8efe-4c6714ffe212\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-13T11:03:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-13T11:03:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5cf07a6ddf9e6df40835bbfb2fdf373\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-review-fromsoftware-mech-game-150015742\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-review-fromsoftware-mech-game-150015742\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-review-fromsoftware-mech-game-150015742\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/7.SDoyeYcZKwXzpk21h2Yg--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD02NzU-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2023-08\/fdce2330-41c2-11ee-8efe-4c6714ffe212\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/7.SDoyeYcZKwXzpk21h2Yg--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD02NzU-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2023-08\/fdce2330-41c2-11ee-8efe-4c6714ffe212\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-review-fromsoftware-mech-game-150015742\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Armored Core VI review: FromSoftware's latest challenge is surprisingly approachable\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/\",\"name\":\"HOME\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5cf07a6ddf9e6df40835bbfb2fdf373\",\"name\":\"FOX NEWS\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/aitesonics.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/author\/fox-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Armored Core VI review: FromSoftware's latest challenge is surprisingly approachable - Best News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-review-fromsoftware-mech-game-150015742\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Armored Core VI review: FromSoftware's latest challenge is surprisingly approachable - Best News","og_description":"In 2004, a young Hidetaka Miyazaki joined FromSoftware. Before becoming a household name in gaming circles, he cut his teeth working on the studio\u2019s long-running Armored Core series, serving as a planner on 2005\u2019s Armored Core: Last Raven and then as director on Armored Core IV and Armored Core: For Answer. Following the success of […]","og_url":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-review-fromsoftware-mech-game-150015742\/","og_site_name":"Best News","article_published_time":"2024-04-13T11:03:44+00:00","author":"FOX NEWS","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"FOX NEWS","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-review-fromsoftware-mech-game-150015742\/","url":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-review-fromsoftware-mech-game-150015742\/","name":"Armored Core VI review: FromSoftware's latest challenge is surprisingly approachable - Best News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-review-fromsoftware-mech-game-150015742\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-review-fromsoftware-mech-game-150015742\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/7.SDoyeYcZKwXzpk21h2Yg--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD02NzU-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2023-08\/fdce2330-41c2-11ee-8efe-4c6714ffe212","datePublished":"2024-04-13T11:03:44+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-13T11:03:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5cf07a6ddf9e6df40835bbfb2fdf373"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-review-fromsoftware-mech-game-150015742\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-review-fromsoftware-mech-game-150015742\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-review-fromsoftware-mech-game-150015742\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/7.SDoyeYcZKwXzpk21h2Yg--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD02NzU-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2023-08\/fdce2330-41c2-11ee-8efe-4c6714ffe212","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/7.SDoyeYcZKwXzpk21h2Yg--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD02NzU-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2023-08\/fdce2330-41c2-11ee-8efe-4c6714ffe212"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/armored-core-vi-fires-of-rubicon-review-fromsoftware-mech-game-150015742\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Armored Core VI review: FromSoftware's latest challenge is surprisingly approachable"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/","name":"HOME","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5cf07a6ddf9e6df40835bbfb2fdf373","name":"FOX NEWS","sameAs":["http:\/\/aitesonics.com"],"url":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/author\/fox-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4334"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}