• Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon has been set for a 25th August 2023 release date.
• FromSoftware has also shown off the first gameplay trailer for the title, revealing the dynamic and highly mobile combat that fans of the series will recognise.
• The game’s director says that there will be a bunch of new features coming to Armored Core VI, including “Assault Boost” and “Stagger”.

Do you want to build your own giant robot? Do you want to outfit it with missiles, lasers and a giant sword? Do you want to take said robot to an alien world and use to defeat other giant robots in super dynamic, high speed combat?

If the answer to all those questions is hell yes, then you may want to circle the date of 25th August 2023 which is when Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon will be launching worldwide, according to Elden Ring creators FromSoftware.

It will be launching on all platforms except for the Nintendo Switch.

Together with a release date, the Japanese developer also showed off fresh gameplay for the upcoming title, and we are tentatively excited to say the least. Spliced across clips showing off the futuristic world of Rubicon and some of the stages you will be fighting on is scenes of super-fast combat where customised mechs called Armored Cores (ACs for short) are basically flying, shooting and going nuts all over the place.

Combat looks absolutely insane (and absolutely like previous Armored Core games) especially near the end of the video showing off third-person perspectives of an AC dodging enormous amounts of missiles, and lasers and flamethrowers. It looks like speed and positioning will be very important to the game and from what we can see at least four different types of AC builds have been shown off.

These include a melee-based Gundam-like build, a tank-like build with missile launches and tracks, a build capable of hovering above enemies and a speed-based bird-like build. We can also tell that the game will feature huge open areas, even though FromSoftware confirmed that it would not be an open-world game.

Instead, players will take the role of an augmented mercenary and perform missions across large areas with customised mechs, similar to robot-warfare mainstay MechWarrior. While that series of titles is famously cult-y, FromSoftware is hoping this latest Armored Core game, the first one in 10 years, can take the series out of its humble roots.

They’re definitely putting AAA money and time into it, according to FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki in an interview he gave IGN last year.

PlayStation recently chatted with the game’s director, Masaru Yamamura, who was the lead gameplay designer of Sekiro. Yamamura described the gameplay loop of Armored Core VI as one where you will be doing “very combat-oriented” missions mostly but you will also be tasked to recover data logs and perform other side objectives.

And while the game looks like previous titles in the series, especially taking into consideration the camera perspectives, Armored Core VI comes with a new gameplay feature Yamamura calls “Assault Boost” where players will be able to instantly “close the gap between enemies and lets you quickly go from long distance to close range.”

“Say you activate Assault Boost to make your approach while using machine gun fire and a missile salvo to stagger the enemy, then use your pulse blade to score a direct melee hit once you’re up close,” he explained.

Another new feature is called “Stagger” where if you hit an enemy AC enough times it will overload for a show while, making it even more vulnerable as it will be unable to move.

Yamamura also confirms that huge, camera-hogging boss fights are returning in the upcoming game.

“Huge combat helicopters, heavily armored mobile turrets, and unmanned heavy demolition machinery that’s programmed to indiscriminately crush intruders. Armored Core VI will offer a number of explosive battle experiences that challenge players to fight against the odds and overcome these ginormous, more abnormal mechs.”

There will also be a PVE Arena mode where players will be able to test out their customised mechs against hordes of different enemy robots. There will also be PVP multiplayer of some kind, but very little has been said about this mode.

Check out the new gameplay for Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon below:

[Image – FromSoftware on Twitter]