FromSoftware’s Armored Core VI Won’t Be a Soulsborne But the Bosses Will Be “the Highlight”

The new Armored Core VI entry will not be a Soulsborne. Along with the highly anticipated Death Stranding 2, Armored Core VI was announced at the 2022 Game Awards. If you are unfamiliar with Armored Core, it is a third-person shooter mech multiplayer and single-player experience that put FromSoftware on the map.

Now that you know about Armored Core and why its grand return is so important and exciting, many fans are wondering if FromSoftware will take their success found in their Soulsborne genre as seen in Elden Ring, and implement it into the reimaged world of fighting mechs. Though it is confirmed that Armored Core VI won’t be a Soulsborne, it will focus on intense boss battles.

Will Armored Core VI Be a Soulsborne?

In an IGN exclusive interview with Hidetaka Miyazaki, the president of FromSoftware that worked on the original Armored Core games as well as Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls, and Masaru Yamamura, the lead game designer of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and now lead game designer for Armored Core VI, it was revealed that Armored Core VI won’t be a Soulsborne.

That said, Miyazaki stated that FromSoftware isn’t making a “conscious effort” to try and make Armored Core VI’s gameplay a Soulsborne. Instead, the two core gameplay elements of Armored Core will focus on “assembling and customizing your own mech” and “[exacting] a high level of control over the assembled mech.”

While that is definitely exciting and unique compared to the other Soulsborne games in the FromSoftware catalog, Yamamura also included that, “Boss battles are the highlight of the game in this title.” Though Armored Core VI might not be a Soulsborne, it will keep challenging and visually impressive boss battles as a core pillar.

Also, Yamamura mentioned that the gameplay of Armored Core VI will focus on reading enemy moves and “[playing] games with them,” in typical FromSoftware fashion.

If you have never heard of or played an Armored Core game, Armored Core VI sounds like it will be a great entry for longtime fans and new players. We can’t wait to assemble our own mechs and fight through Armored Core VI.

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon will be available in 2023.