Armored Core 6 Speculations

[Lord_Leperman]

Exclusive: The First Armored Core 6 Details With Hidetaka Miyazaki and Masaru Yamamura

Thanks for that wonderful interview, a lot of questions are pretty much answered from that.

IGN: The moment in the trailer where there's a mech looking out over in the horizons and it was wearing what looks like a backpack, does that confirm that this game will be an open-world exploration with mecha?

Masaru Yamamura: To be clear, AC6 will feature a mission-based structure to the single-player. It's not fully open – it’s going to stick with that mission-based structure. In regards to that shot in the trailer in particular, there was this great disaster which was depicted in the trailer which brought with it enormous changes to the environment – similar to what you'd see with an ice age. This shot is just a straightforward representation of the world of AC6 and the mecha pilots who have to survive through such dramatic changes. So that's what we're trying to show with that shot.

Okay, so it's a mission based game with a focus on single player, not an open world game.

Anyway, I'll run through the whole interview and give my thoughts on some of the things mentioned a little later.

EDIT: Okay, after reading through that interview and piecing all the information we have right now... What could Armored Core 6 be?

Let's start with what it's likely not going to be: Souls-like. By that I mean, a persistent world, checkpoints, a death and respawn system, real time invasions/co-op. We probably won't have i-frame dodge rolls (It'd be a great in-joke if they actually made an AC dodge roll as an emote). Although quickboost might be a thing, it'd be weird if it had i-frames, unless they make some sort of sci-fi excuse for that. No poison swamps, since you can fly over them now, but we might have corrosive mists that cover horizons instead.

While this may be a letdown for some, it still is a great way for From to switch gears, and experiment on the classic AC formula. 

Now here comes my crystal ball as of 13 December 2022: Armored Core 6 may play out like another AC game: Ace Combat.

-Mission based structure. Check.
-Large, set-piece world for your AC to explore, but not exactly open world. Check.
-3D movement (fly in the air, fight on the ground). Check.
-Heavy focus on combat. Check.
-Ginormous boss fights (Something akin to the Aigaion in Ace 6, and the multitude of bosses in For Answer). Check.
-Earning credits to upgrade and purchase new toys to decrease the lifespan of your enemies. Check.

What would Armored Core 6 do differently from say, Ace Combat 7 (and Project Wingman on that regard).

-Branching mission paths with unique rewards at each end.
-Heavy customization of your AC (as emphasized by that interview).
-A plethora of weapons to finish a mission.
-Multi-tiered damage and defense system that adds complexity to combat.

To be fair, they've tried that system with ACV's 10 Story missions, to limited success, but I consider that sort of a half-attempt as the focus was on multiplayer. This time, there's an explicit focus on the single player experience.