Armored Core 6 Fires of Rubicon is the latest game to come out of Fromsoftware. Probably best known for the Dark Souls series of games, and others in a similar style. Dark Souls 1-3, Demon Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Elden Ring… They’re all action RPGs in fantasy settings, with a couple branches here and there. Bloodborne adds a gothic Victorian aesthetic to it all, Sekiro leans more into Japanese stylings, swordplay, and stealth mechanics, and Elden Ring makes the game about as open world as possible (to great effect).
Now, that’s pretty much what I know Fromsoftware for. Creating the entire genre of souls-likes, and generally making really good games. If you ask me what else they’ve done, I can easily say “Well, they made also Kings Field. That’s where the Moonlight Greatsword comes from.” And with a little bit of pushing, you’d remind me of other games they had their hands in, like Eternal Ring or Shadow Tower, which are games I’ve only heard of from listening to other people talk about them, who only found out about them from looking back at Fromsoft’s other works before Dark Souls.
Apparently Fromsoft made Armored Core as well. A bunch of them actually, going all the way back to the PS1. And I don’t really know Armored Core. I’d heard the name a few times. It lurked in the back of my mind like a mouse in the walls. Sure, it’s there, but it’s not like I know anything about it. I just hear it occasionally. “Armored Core? I think that’s a mecha game, right?” That was the extent of it. And then BOOM, Fromsoft is making Armored Core 6. Oh cool, they’re picking up a game from another company, like how Platinum Games picked up Nier? Well, no, Armored Core has always been Fromsoft. It was their first non-Kings Field franchise.
Oh. Huh. Egg on my face. I don’t know anything about Armored Core. It’s got big mecha. Those are cool. Science fiction with big mecha fighting each other. Yeah alright, I can vibe with that. Let’s check out the trailer.
Well god damn, that looks cool. When I first saw this quite a number of months ago, I nodded, liked what I saw, and filed it away as “for later”. It’s Fromsoft, they’re not gonna make a bad game. And again, this looks really freaking cool. I was excited to, if nothing else, watch other people play it.
Cut ahead to yesterday. The giant robot bug bit me, and I had mechs on the brain. Should I try watching Gundam? Maybe I should finally check out Lancer, that seems like a neat tabletop system everybody’s been talking about. Can I write a fantasy novel where giant robots are the main focus? Probably yes, let me do several hours worth of worldbuilding, and browse through about a thousand different mech designs. Hey, wasn’t Fromsoft making a giant robot game? When does that come out again? Oh crap, it comes out tomorrow.
Cut to today. The game has been prepurchased, the installation was done overnight, and there are 7 hours and 51 minutes until I’ll be able to play the thing. The reviews are good, and this is a series that I’ll be going into as blind as physically possible. I’m ready to pilot a giant robot, give it some cool guns and melee weapons, and do whatever it is that the pilot of an armored core does.
If you’d like to join me on this journey, then I suggest picking the game up here.
Until next time. Guess I’ll have to give my first impressions then.