Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon (PS5) Review

Beyond scorched skies.

 

 Developer FromSoftware has built a solid reputation for delivering high-quality and challenging games with their Souls offerings. Prior to that, they used to dabble in smaller, more niche games. Armored Core is one of their lesser-known series, with the last game released over a decade ago. Now, the series is back with Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon and stars you as a mercenary looking to make a buck on a desolate planet. I've heard lots of good things about the game online and from friends, so I'm excited to finally share my thoughts on it.

 Taking place on Rubicon 3, a planet rich with a precious resource known as "Coral", said to have taken a role in humanity's technological advancement. You play as independent mercenary named "621" or just "Raven", who along with your handler Walter, accept jobs from competing corporations after Coral to score money and build a reputation. What starts off as a simple "get rich quick" goal slowly turns into a planet-threatening plot revolving around Coral and the dangers it posses. The game's true ending is locked during the first two playthroughs as you'll need three runs reach it, which aside from the villain, was worth playing since the story was a lot more interesting.  It may lack depth, but the story remained an entertaining one.

 I wasn't a fan of the characters at first, but they slowly grew on me with the likes of the moody boss Walter, scrappy inventor "Cinder" Carla, and your guiding voice companion Ayre being decent characters. Though it's got to be Rusty, the friendly mech pilot who occasionally fights alongside you, who ended up being my favorite character in the game. 

"Got a job for you, 621."

  Armored Core VI is a third-person shooter where you control your mech-- known as an Armored Core-- as you customize it, shoot enemies with it, explore Rubicon, and fight tough-yet-satisfying bosses across the game's five chapters. Right from the start, your AC is almost completely customizable with you being able to equip hand weapons, shoulder weapons, boosters, new body parts, OS upgrades, and generators that power up your AC. You can even paint your AC to your liking-- I painted mine to look like a Gundam! Of course, most will require a big chunk of credits that you receive from missions. You'll always have a max of three health kits in every mission and at various points, will be able to resupply it along with ammo.

Shoot down enemies and fly high in the game's action-focused stages.

 Speaking of those, each mission tasks you with either destroying a specific AC, enemy outpost, or protect something in later missions. Destroying optional enemies and points of interests will even net you more credits. You'll be taking missions from all factions, so you'll often come at a crossroads between which side to choose over the other, with some affecting the ending you get. The level designs weren't anything special, just the usual military bases and warships. What did stood out were the snow areas in the first chapter and Xylem, the floating city level at the end. 

 You'll be taking part in boss fights at every opportunity and in true FromSoftware fashion, most of them can be difficult. The likes of the aerial mech Balteus was a huge challenge early on and the Ice Worm where you're working with allies to bring it down was tough as well. The mission where you must climb the Strider unit and destroy it was pretty challenging and engaging as well. Towards the end, things get even more hectic as you must fight two or three enemies at the same time. If you're ever stuck at a boss, careful planning and build setup can easily help you cheese through most of them. Regarding that, you can't just slap all the best equipment on your AC and call it a day, as you must heed the load capacity and energy restrictions. Meaning you'll need to pick and choose the right weapons and armor suited for you build, be it light, medium, or heavy.

Battle some tough and lighting-fast foes.

 It took me around 13 hours to beat the game in my first playthrough-- oddly brief for a game riddled with content-- but that's because the true ending requires two more playthroughs to reach it, which took 25 hours total. Fortunately, you get to keep your  AC builds, inventory, credits, and overall progress so replaying the game isn't a chore as it might sound. Side-content include the likes of an Arena that pits you against ACs to test your skills and online PvP where you fight real-life players. One issue I had was with the lock-on system as it would often disengage when the enemy would fly off-screen, which made reorienting while keeping track of enemy attacks a struggle at times. 

 Armored Core VI is a visually stunning game thanks to its detailed mech designs, over-the-top visual effects, and jaw-dropping backgrounds in certain missions. Some of the AC designs like Rusty's and boss ones were pretty cool too. On PS5, it ran at a blistering 60fps in performance mode that made combat feel all the more smooth. The voicework was exceptional as it carried the story with many fantastic performances-- especially since the characters faceless in the game. As for the soundtrack, it's great with plenty of tracks that complimented the tense action of the game such as Baltaeus' theme, Ayre's theme, Garage theme, and credits themes being standouts.

The game's not short on flashy and awe-inspiring moments.

All in all, Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon was a fun experience with it's super faced-paced action and challenging difficulty. Since I'm also a fan of mechs, I ended up enjoying it way more than I expected and became a fan of the series too. Packing an intriguing story, neat characters, excellent gameplay, and slick presentation, Armored Core VI is a must-play for those looking for an action-packed ride.