"Powerful and cathartic moments of gameplay": Armored Core 6 promises to have "FromSoft" levels of difficulty (Exclusive)

During our Armored Core 6 preview, we learned about the game’s “FromSoft” levels of difficulty. We had a chance to speak briefly with the developers during this event. Masaru Yamamura (Director) and Yasunori Ogura (Producer First) were very open about the upcoming game. While our chat was brief, one of the most important things discussed was the difficulty of the game. By this point, I had already played the game for about four hours, so I can confirm what the developers said.

The developer spoke candidly and confirmed that there would be “FromSoft” levels of difficulty in Armored Core 6. However, take heart - the entire game isn’t designed that way. Here’s what the devs had to say during the preview event.

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Armored Core 6 promises “FromSoft” levels of difficulty

I experienced the FromSoft difficulty of Armored Core 6 while playing Chapter 1 before sitting down with Masaru Yamamura and Yasunori Ogura. At this point, I had spent well over an hour each fighting two of the bosses. They certainly felt challenging but not impossible to overcome. The gameplay has a wide assortment of difficulties for all gamers.

Yasunori Ogura had this to say on the topic:

“The quick answer is “Yes,” you can expect a similar level of challenge and satisfaction that you’ve come to expect from our games. We wanted Armored Core bosses to resemble those powerful and cathartic moments of gameplay, where you finally break through - you understand and break through to get that feeling of achievement.”

Yasunori Ogura (Left) and Masaru Yamamura (Right) (image via Sportskeeda)

You can certainly expect the Armored Core 6 bosses to be serious affairs. However, every stage doesn’t have one of these Souls-esque bosses. After all, this is not a Dark Souls game, even though it’s from FromSoft.

Armored Core as a franchise isn’t based on that kind of crushing difficulty. Some missions are going to be easy and enjoyable. You want to enjoy flying around in an AC, smashing through enemies, after all. Ogura elaborated during our chat:

“You pilot this powerful, highly versatile machine. So we want the players at times to feel that release, to feel even more powerful within that role. So there are some missions designed so that you can just lay waste to waves of MTs. We wanted to try and create a balance there.”

This is true, as well. A few of the missions were quick and satisfying. You fly down and batter an enemy pilot who is just trying to unlock a Call Sign of their own. Instead, you crush their dreams within a few minutes.

One of the Armored Core props brought by Bandai Namco and FromSoft (Image via Sportskeeda)

Every boss feels like a big deal in Armored Core 6, though. Not to spoil anything, but you certainly need different strategies and tactics for each boss. Thankfully you can do a great deal of customizing and don’t even have to be in the hangar to re-slot gear. When defeated, you can re-customize if needed.

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Armored Core 6 releases on August 25, 2023. It will be available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam).