Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon[a] is a mecha-based vehicular combat game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, and part of the Armored Core series. It was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on August 25, 2023. A reboot of the series, the game is set in the distant future on the remote planet Rubicon 3. There, a war erupts between corporations, the government and the remnants of the planet's colonists for control of Coral, a rare and incredibly powerful energy source unique to Rubicon once thought to have been destroyed in a cataclysm. The main character, C4-621, is a cyborg mercenary pilot who, after meeting a Rubiconian named Ayre, influences through their actions what will become of the Coral and Rubicon itself.
The game marked the end of a decade-long series hiatus following the previous game, Armored Core: Verdict Day. It received generally positive reviews from critics and is the highest-selling entry in the series, selling three million copies by July 2024.
Gameplay
The gameplay in Armored Core VI emphasizes mecha-based vehicular combat. Players in this game take on the role of expert pilots in control of strong mechs known as Armored Cores. The huge flexibility for modification of these mechs with the use of various parts allows players to enhance and sharpen their capabilities.
The option for players to arm their mechs with a range of weaponry is a standout aspect of the game. One on each hand and one on each of the mech's shoulders are available slots for these weapons. The players' broad arsenals grant users strategic freedom as they participate in combat.
The arena concept from the game's predecessors remains in place and appears through a "combat aptitude evaluation program." Players engage notable NPC mechs in a combat simulation, and earn "OS Tuning" chips which allow for certain abilities and upgrades to be unlocked. Additionally, players may engage each other through online play in 1-v-1 or 3-v-3 matches; initially, only private lobbies were available, but ranked matchmaking was added in a later update.
The in-game currency, credits, is awarded to players that complete missions successfully. The amount of credits earned for these missions is influenced by the several factors, which include bonuses for completing additional objectives as well as expenditures for repairs and ammunition costs.
Armored Core VI did away the debt system from earlier games in the series, which caused players to lose money as tasks fail. This time, players have the ability to attempt missions as many times as they want with no concern for lost currency.
Plot
Setting
Armored Core VI is set in a future where humanity has developed an interstellar civilization. On the frontier planet of Rubicon 3, a substance called Coral was discovered that could be used as both an energy source and a data conduit. Coral was hailed as the key to humanity's technological advancement, but instead it caused a cataclysmic event known as the Fires of Ibis, which engulfed the planet and the surrounding star system in flames and left behind a lethal contaminant. All Coral in existence was thought to have been consumed by the disaster. Fifty years later, however, signs of Coral are once again detected on Rubicon 3. Corporations flock to exploit the planet and control the Coral, heedless of the cost and harm to the inhabitants, and mercenaries follow to profit from the conflict. The player is an augmented human designated "C4-621" who is in servitude to an infamous handler named Walter, and fights as an Armored Core pilot on the promise of earning a new life by taking on mercenary jobs.[1]
Story
After illegally landing on Rubicon 3, C4-621 steals the license of a deceased mercenary and assumes their call sign: "Raven". With the new identity, Raven inserts themselves into the war raging on Rubicon's surface between the megacorporations Balam Industries and Arquebus Corp, the anti-corporation Rubicon Liberation Front (RLF), and the Planetary Closure Administration (PCA), who are all racing to find or protect the Coral. During numerous battles, Raven ends up befriending V.IV Rusty, an elite AC pilot working for Arquebus's Vespers unit; "Cinder" Carla, leader of RaD, an organization of black-marketarms dealers; and G1 Michigan, the leader of Balam's Redgun unit, who treats Raven as an honorary member. They occasionally provide assistance directly or through comms. In addition, Raven encounters G5 Iguazu, a Redgun AC pilot who envies Raven's exploits and develops a one-sided rivalry with them; and V.II Snail, the leader of Arquebus's Vespers, who looks down on Raven due to Raven's supposed inferior augmentations.
At Walter's bidding, Raven destroys a PCA "Watchpoint" used to monitor Coral, but is unexpectedly caught in a Coral surge. This causes them to make telepathic "Contact" with a Rubiconian named Ayre, who helps Raven escape alive. In the wake of the surge, Walter detects Coral converging on the Central Ice Field, suggesting a massive deposit hidden there. Raven heads there to investigate, followed by Balam and Arquebus, but they are stymied by the PCA, who send their military forces and recovered Coral superweapons known as "C-Weapons" to suppress the corporations. Faced with the threat of the PCA, Balam and Arquebus form an impromptu alliance, and direct Raven to weaken the PCA by attacking them directly. The PCA's trump card, the Ice Worm, goes out of control and is destroyed by the corporate alliance. Soon after, Ayre reveals to Raven that she is actually an extraterrestrial rather than a human colonist, one of many formless, wave-based beings created by mutations in the Coral flow.
After crippling losses, the PCA are forced to withdraw from Rubicon. Without a common enemy, Balam and Arquebus resume hostilities and the three-way war between them and the RLF continues, though Arquebus quickly gains the upper hand by reverse-engineering PCA technology. Meanwhile, Walter sends Raven to explore an underground facility, Watchpoint Alpha, and discovers the ruins of Institute City, the site of the Coral deposit and the Vascular Plant, a megastructure created to extract Coral and send it into space. G1 Michigan is killed by Arquebus forces while trying to capture the Watchpoint, causing Balam to withdraw from Rubicon. Their dominance solidified, Arquebus forces led by V.II Snail seize Institute City and capture Raven, with Walter's fate unknown. Carla helps Raven escape, explaining that she and Walter were part of a group called Overseer, dedicated to stopping a doomsday scenario where Coral expanded exponentially into space. Carla has Raven help her commandeer the Xylem, a massive colony ship, putting it on a collision course with the Vascular Plant to completely annihilate any surviving Coral.
Raven faces a moral choice that determines which of two alternate endings the player will obtain. If Raven chooses to side with Carla, Ayre breaks off relations with them. Raven breaks the Arquebus blockade around the Vascular Plant and is forced to kill Rusty, who is actually fighting for the RLF. Ayre then attempts to stop the Xylem by taking control of Rubicon's orbital defense satellites and an unmanned Institute mech. Raven is forced to confront Ayre directly, and destroys her. The Xylem successfully rams the Vascular Plant and ignites the Coral stored within, creating an apocalyptic firestorm later dubbed the "Fires of Raven". In the aftermath, Raven's survival is left uncertain, while the PCA and corporations abandon Rubicon, the planet having been completely scoured of all life. In a recording left by Walter, he congratulates Raven for fulfilling his last wishes.
If Raven chooses to side with Ayre, they attack Carla while her forces are distracted repelling Arquebus. Carla is killed, but this triggers a failsafe program to lock in the Xylem's course. Ayre then tasks Raven with sabotaging the Xylem to cause it to crash harmlessly in the ocean. She also sends a request for assistance to the RLF, who rise up en masse to overthrow Arquebus. Rusty joins forces with Raven, and they manage to disable the Xylem's generators and ramjet engines. Rusty destroys the Arquebus blockade, while Raven kills V.II Snail. Walter, now under Arquebus mind control, arrives in his own Institute AC, killing Rusty and attacking Raven. Raven defeats Walter and narrowly escapes the Xylem before it crashes. Ayre thanks Raven for protecting both the Coral and Rubicon, though exactly how humanity and Coral can coexist remains uncertain.
A third, secret ending is available only after both previous endings were unlocked. In it, the mercenary support AI ALLMIND recruits Raven into the Coral Release Project, which seeks to achieve symbiosis between Coral and humans and forcibly evolve humanity. To further it, ALLMIND directs Raven to sabotage the corporations. Raven also kills the RLF's founder, Thumb Dolmayan, who once plotted to enact Coral Release alongside the wave-mutation Seria, but now deeply fears its drastic, permanent effects on the human race and compares it to "casting the die". Preventing Raven's capture in Institute City, ALLMIND seizes control of the Institute's weapons to slaughter the corporate forces. Walter and Carla commandeer the Xylem in a last-ditch attempt, but are also eliminated with Raven's help. With Raven's role complete, it is revealed that the AC pilots that died were mentally uploaded into a gestalt intelligence as part of Coral Release. ALLMIND attempts to assimilate Raven and Ayre into itself by dispatching Iguazu, now merged with a powerful Institute AC. Iguazu usurps ALLMIND's control to kill Raven, but is defeated once and for all. ALLMIND surrenders control of Coral Release to Raven and Ayre, who initiate it themselves. Coral spreads throughout the universe, while a symbiotically linked Raven and Ayre wake up on a distant planet, activating their AC alongside numerous others.
Development
In September 2016, FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki mentioned that a new entry in the Armored Core series was in early development.[2] In January 2022, the development of a potential new installment of the Armored Core series was leaked due to a focus test.[3] The game was formally announced at The Game Awards 2022 in December.[1]Armored Core VI was directed by Masaru Yamamura, his debut in the role after being a lead game designer on Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. He took over from Miyazaki, who led development initially.[1] Yasunori Ogura was the game's producer.[4][5] Many FromSoftware staff members wanted to develop a new entry in the series but had to wait in order to properly allocate resources into the project. In 2018, the game entered prototyping, with Yamamura taking over as director once the gameplay was set in stone.[6]
Kota Hoshino served as the lead composer of the game. During development, Hoshino was given keywords by Yamamura in order to set the game's tone and evoke a "sense of loneliness and nostalgia." Hoshino was given freedom when it came to composition based on the keywords, with tracks being adjusted according to the game's flow.[7] Additional music was composed by Takashi Onodera and Shoi Miyazawa.[8]
In Japan, the PlayStation 5 version of Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon sold 115,393 physical copies, making it the best-selling retail game during its first week of release in the country. The PlayStation 4 version sold 47,949 physical copies, making it the second best-selling retail game in Japan throughout the same week.[28] The PC, PS4, and PS5 versions sold a total of 700,000 units in Japan.[29] By July 2024, the game had sold three million copies.[30]
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