Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is Not Open World, No Connection to Previous Games

At The Game Awards 2022, FromSoftware unveiled its newest project and the next title in the Armored Core series – Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon. It’s out in 2023 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC. While featuring similar combat and customization as previous entries, there’s a lot we still don’t know.

However, FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki and director Masaru Yamamura shined some light on the mech game in an interview with IGN. The shot in the trailer of a mech looking out over the horizon may make it seem like this is an open-world title, like Elden Ring. However, Yamamura confirmed this isn’t the case.

“To be clear, Armored Core 6 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 depicted in the trailer, which brought 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 Armored Core 6 and the mecha pilots who have to survive such dramatic changes. So that’s what we’re trying to show with that shot.”

Previous Armored Core titles had a heavy focus on multiplayer, but Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is prioritizing its story more. A Versus Mode is still planned, though, and it will be “similar to previous Armored Core titles where you’ll be able to customize your mech and take that fully customized mech into battle with others. But we will reveal more details about this at a later date. The main focus in Armored Core 6 – on the story mode at least – is having that story develop and play out. We’ve concentrated on single-player for the story mode.” More details on multiplayer are coming at a later date.

Where does it fit into the overall canon of the series? Do you need to play the previous games, or is it a reset? Yamamura confirmed the latter. “We’d like to think of this as a completely fresh new story. There are no direct links with the previous games, in terms of a continuing story. This is a brand-new setting and story for players to enjoy.”

Stay tuned for more details on Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon in the coming months.