FromSoftware recently announced Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, and the game will hopefully take inspiration from the franchise's best installment. The mech combat game will be the series' first installment in a decade, with Armored Core: Verdict Day releasing back in 2013. Fires of Rubicon will introduce an entirely new audience to the Armored Core franchise, and looking into the series' past may help predict its future.
The Game Awards 2022 revealed a surprising Armored Core 6 trailer 10 years after AC5, marking an exciting revival of the dormant mech combat series. The title will cast players as a mercenary on Rubicon 3, a distant planet ravaged by a deadly but highly coveted energy source. The game will take place half a century after this calamity, with extraterrestrial mega-corporations and resistance groups alike hiring the player for their robotic combat skills. Like past Armored Core entries, players will build their own massive fighting mech and pilot it into battle in fast-paced sci-fi warfare. This setup is very exciting, and one past entry is responsible for laying its foundation.
Armored Core 3 Cemented The Franchise's Winning Formula
While there have been many Armored Core games released since, many fans still consider 2002's Armored Core 3 to be the pinnacle of the series. The title took the liberty of rebooting Armored Core plot details, giving the franchise a fresh start while also returning to the post-apocalyptic settings that dominated the series' earliest entries. While robot customization remained mostly unchanged from its predecessors, Armored Core 3 did make mech combat much faster than the clunkier combat systems that came before it. There are also many more missions in Armored Core 3 than in prior titles, making it a much more robust sci-fi experience.
Silent Line: Armored Core Pushed The Series Even Further
While technically a full-blown sequel, Silent Line: Armored Core is essentially a large expansion for Armored Core 3. Both titles share the same setting, with only minor gameplay improvements setting Silent Line apart from its predecessor. Players could even import their Armored Core mechs from AC 3 into Silent Line, highlighting this connection. This game notably added the ability to train computer-controlled versions of the player's own mech for use in the Arena, and FromSoftware enhanced Armored Core with a first-person view too. While no official gameplay of Armored Core 6 has been shown off, these exciting mechanics could hopefully make their way into the franchise's next entry.
Many fans adore subsequent titles like Armored Core: For Answer and Armored Core 5, but the series' success was truly cemented by the beloved Armored Core 3. The 2002 title maintained the franchise's strong focus on mech customization while also making combat significantly faster and giving players many more missions to blast through. The game's closely connected sequel, Silent Line: Armored Core, built upon this already strong foundation while making subtle and impactful changes to the formula. By staying true to the game's emphasis on fast-paced robot battles and in-depth customization, Armored Core 6 can learn much from the success of Armored Core 3.
Source: PlayStation/YouTube
