Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon

FromSoftware delivers a superlative action game that builds on its Soulslike pedigree while staying lean and laser-focused.

Armored Core VI revives an old series and takes it to brand new heights, creating an addictive gameplay loop that will keep me playing to NG++ and beyond.

Armored Core 6 serves up the series' signature mech action and deep customisation gameplay in the slickest and most exciting entry in this long-running franchise thus far. This is easily the best mech shooter we've played, an immediately engaging, complex and highly replayable game that gives you all the tools required to build the machines you'll need to overcome some fantastically challenging bo...

FromSoftware does it again.

Some occasional gameplay and story mishaps, and complicated controls, don't hold back Armored Core VI from being both an absolute blast to play and an extremely welcome return from this long-dormant franchise.

Fires of Rubicon offers a new frontier for the Armored Core series, demonstrating developer FromSoftware's ability to weave its recent success and confidence back into familiar territory, while at the same time demonstrating that you can indeed teach an old hound new tricks.

If you grew up in Australia the 90s then, thanks to Cheez TV, chances are high that you fell into one of two main cartoon viewing camps: the superhero adjacent martial artists of Dragon Ball or the magical girls of Sailor Moon. While I was more of a mahou shoujo fan myself, there was a third option tucked away, later at night on SBS: Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.

For those that don’t mind that its story is passable, and that its difficulty wildly varies from mission to mission, Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is likely to be a bit of a treat. It looks great, the action is lighting fast and always remains smooth, and there’s genuine joy to be had in amassing a wide range of parts and then using them to create builds that allow you to much more effectively...

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is an epic mech shooter that shines on the Steam Deck, even with the compromises it needs for stability.

The long-awaited return of FromSoftware's mech-filled series, Armored Core 6 delivers on a lot of what fans will have been hoping and dreaming of. Building and customising mechs is engaging, missions are action-packed and it looks gorgeous, but it's undercut by swings in difficulty for boss fights and an all-too-familiar story.

Swapping swords and spells for mechs and missiles probably wasn't the first thing a FromSoftware accountant suggested following the absurd success of Elden Ring, but then the Japanese developer doesn't do things by the books. Having sold more than 20 million copies of the open world masterpiece, the studio has returned to a series it made primarily before Demon's Souls put its name on the map: Arm...

“Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon will impress fans of the mecha genre, but demanding controls and frustrating design quirks make for a tough sell for newcomers.”