Will Armored Core VI be a Soulsborne game?

Could FromSoftware be taking a new direction with the Armored Core series?

Armored Core looking out at the sky
Image via FromSoftware

FromSoftware is a game development company well-known to fans of the Soulsborne games throughout the years. From the early days of Demon’s Souls back in the PlayStation 3 era all the way to their modern open-world offering of Elden Ring, FromSoftware’s games have all been varied and diverse. Despite this diversity, there are a few similarities between each of their games.

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One of the more compelling aspects common to all of their games is the old-school difficulty that many games had in the mid-late 80s to the mid-late 2000s. The difficulty has been a topic of debate amongst gamers for decades now, with hardcore fans welcoming the challenge while the more casual players want a difficulty slider for their games. Nevertheless, FromSoftware never budged from its stance and that has led to several gaming masterpieces that stand the test of time.

With so many successful games, some of their older games seem to be forgotten by a majority of the fanbase. One of these examples is the Armored Core series, which was initially a PlayStation 1 classic series, leading up to the PlayStation 3 era.

The Armored Core series was created much before the advent of the Soulsborne games and as such, the combat formula differed greatly. With the announcement of Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon at The Game Awards 2022, FromSoftware’s lead game director and head creative mind behind the Soulsborne series, Hidetaka Miyazaki, answered some questions regarding the future of the series.

Will Armored Core VI be a Soulsborne game?

With the focus of the Armored Core series being entirely on futuristic mechs instead of the dark ages, feudal Japan, or Victorian era that fans have become accustomed to, Miyazaki said the Armored Core series will not feature components from the Soulsborne games. He said despite what FromSoftware has become known for in the past couple of decades, the developers will be going back to their roots with Armored Core VI.

Image via FromSoftware

In an exclusive interview with IGN on Dec. 12, Miyazaki said going back to the roots of Armored Core will mean that the series will stick with the climactic boss battles of the Soulsborne era while adding the mech assembly aspect of the classic Armored Core games. The focus of Armored Core VI will be on assembling your own mech and customizing it as per what the situation calls for.

With FromSoftware’s experience accumulated from developing the Soulsborne games combined with current modern technological capabilities, Miyazaki said he is hopeful for this game and for the future of the Armored Core series as a whole.

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Anish Nair
Freelance gaming writer for Dot Esports. An avid gamer of 25 years with a soft spot for RPGs and strategy games. Esports writer for 2 years and a watcher for 12 years. Aspiring author. Dad to a host of animals. Usually found trying to climb ranks in Dota 2, plundering the seas in Sea of Thieves, hunting large monsters in Monster Hunter World, or mining rare minerals in Deep Rock Galactic.