ARMORED CORE 6

Not Robot Souls, or Elden Mech, but a fascinating third thing

- Shaun Prescott

Despite repeated promises from studio and publisher alike, I went into my hands-on with the hope that it would be Souls with robots. I don't want a Souls-with-robots game; it's more that I will play a Souls-with-X game, made by FromSoftware, as a matter of priority over anything else. Armored Core, though? I went in curious, but far from sold.

What I played was a fluid, intense fast mech combat game that resembled the last and only Armored Core game I ever played, Armored Core 5. Except prettier. And better. And faster. As dim as those memories are, I do remember admiring its bleak far-future sci-fi, while also being upset that it bore no resemblance to the dark fantasy RPG that the same studio released the year before. I dropped it pretty quick.

Armored Core 6 is gorgeously grim: in the areas I saw, endless minuscule neighbourhoods of Soviet-style tower blocks are couched within inhospitable snow-drenched landscapes, surrounded by yards of steely industry, all shadowed by gargantuan skybound tech structures of such Byzantine architecture that they resemble something verging on biblical. Art direction, in true FromSoftware style, seems hellbent on making you feel tiny, even while you're crushing forests of fir trees on the way to your quarry. This strange scale-dilation is something almost unique to From, and it's the first thing I noticed about Armored Core. You're big compared to the trampled IRL-sized trucks that bounce like tennis balls underfoot, but the structures that loom above you are godlike. There's a grandeur to it all, but not much serenity: this is a loud game. Everything is always exploding, and between explosions, blockbuster-style American barks command you to your next target. I'm put in mind, weirdly, of Battlefield.

HEAVY METAL