Armored Core 6 players claim devs lied about making “Armored Souls”
FromSoftwareIn a departure from recent Souls games, FromSoftware has released Armored Core 6 – a natural continuation of one of the company’s most popular franchises. However, some long-time fans feel it relies too heavily on Souls mechanics that the devs have become so renowned for in the last decade.
Armored Core 6 has been long overdue, but it’s finally here. It’s been exactly 10 years since Armored Core: Verdict Day was released, and the wait is over. FromSoftware has returned to the franchise that helped build the studio’s reputation.
Little else needs to be said about the impact and success of the Souls genre. Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring are some of the most revered titles in recent memory. Yet, many still yearned for a new AC game. Those wishes have been granted thanks to Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon. The game is certainly satisfying the craving of many who have been campaigning for a new entry.
Its mech-massacring mayhem isn’t sitting well with everyone though. Criticism is being directed toward the game for maybe not distancing itself from recent Souls games enough.
Fans claim “FromSoftware lied through their teeth” about Armored Core 6
As it stands, Armored Core 6 has an impressive 84% positive review rating on Steam. This is based on over 4,000 reviews and the player base is largely enjoying the title.
According to Reddit user ChaotixEDm though, not everyone is happy. “50% of the bad reviews on Steam are because people can’t beat the tutorial boss.” One user replied saying: “There is still a huge learning curve for me or maybe it’s because I don’t want to spend money on gear just yet because I don’t know what to start with, but giving a game a bad review over a difficult boss is just childish.”
The game’s first level does indeed feature a boss – the AH12 HC Helicopter – and it certainly will test players – in the way that Wo Long’s tutorial boss did.
Here’s an example of one such Steam review based on the first boss, courtesy of Steam user Vexlar: “Gameplay just feels meh. The gunplay doesn’t feel impactful, the mech is kinda floaty, combat flow feels weird with pew pew pause-like game loop. Most things are just one shot then suddenly you’re against a bullet sponge in the sky, and to do any real damage you need to melee. So you fly into its face swing then pause, again weird combat flow, in this boss fight it will also go out of bounds so you have to just eat its shots whilst it comes back into the fighting ring to build stagger bar, melee again rinse repeat.”
One Steam review said: “FromSoft devs lied through their teeth when they said it wasn’t gonna be Armored Souls. Longer review: I am having fun with most of the game, but the boss fights are pretty trash.”
FromSoftwareAnother user also blamed the Souls influence for alleged shortcomings: “I’ve been a big fan of Armored Core since the second game. I’ve played up to ‘For Answer’ and ‘V’ and I have to say going into this game I was really excited to have another Armored Core game to play. Sadly, if that is what you are looking for this isn’t it. This is just Sekiro with an Armored Core paint job, and it suffers for it in my opinion.”
The talk of difficulty is a constant topic in gaming – especially in Armored Core 6. If you fancy playing something alongside AC6 or want a different experience entirely, here are five other titles you should check out.