Armored Core VI Will Offer a “Stiff Challenge,” Miyazaki Led the Game’s Early Development

Last year at The Game Awards, FromSoftware revealed their next big project to be Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon, and since then, fans have been hungry for more details. We know the game is going to stick more closely to the classic Armored Core formula, rather than incorporating Soulsborne mechanics, but a lot of other questions remain. Well, in a new interview conducted at the Taipei Game Show, Armored Core VI producer Yasunori Ogura provided some more details about the game. You can check out the full interview below, or scroll on for a recap of the key points.

While Armored Core VI isn’t a Soulsborne, the success of those games means it will have a higher budget than previous entries in the series, and many of the things FromSoftware learned making games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring will be applied to this project. The game’s story campaign will be strictly single-player, but From is planning a multiplayer battle arena mode. Speaking of story, Armored Core VI will tell an original tale not tied to any previous entry in the series, which Ogura provided some details on…

“The subtitle Fires of Rubicon is derived from the world developed specifically for this new game. The game is set on a planet known as Rubicon 3, and the story begins with the discovery of a mysterious new material there. The overarching backbone of the game’s story features the struggle for control of this material between various corporations and organizations. The player character is an independent mercenary working amid these fires of conflict, and it is the task of the player to carry out a series of missions amid that backdrop.”

While FromSoftware has been clear that Dark Souls/Elden Ring mastermind Hidetaka Miyazaki won’t be shepherding Armored Core Vi through development, he was involved. Miyazaki acted as “initial game director,” which involved him getting the game off on the right foot before handing it off to others.

“His title for this game is ‘Initial Game Director,’ which means he directed the initial phases of the game’s development. Obviously he didn’t do that alone, but he worked together with people like Kenneth Chan, co-director and producer of Fires of Rubicon, as well as a range of other developers, to establish the game’s foundation. This includes such elements as map design, action fundamentals, and other core elements at the game’s heart.”

Finally, challenge! This is a FromSoftware game, so we have to know how hard it is. According to Ogura, Armored Core VI will provide a “stiff challenge,” but if you’re clever when it comes to customizing your mechs, you may be able to mitigate some of that difficulty.

Armored Core Fires of Rubicon launches on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PS5 sometime in 2023.