Sekiro’s lead designer is directing Armored Core 6, and fans are stoked

FromSoftware fans have been eagerly awaiting news about a new Armored Core game ever since screenshots leaked earlier this year. Now that Armored Core VI has been officially revealed, they can start imagining what playing the game will actually be like. One particular member of the dev team has them really fired up.

As spotted by ResetEra forum member –R, Masaru Yamamura is directing Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon. Prior to this, Yamamura spent time on previous FromSoftware titles like Dark Souls and Bloodborne before taking on the mantle of lead designer for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. As you can see from –R’s forum thread, this connection has a lot of fans excited about what that could mean for the combat of Armored Core.

“Dream come true,” gushes commenter Dreazy. “Loved these games as a youth.” AuthenticM echoes the excitement, stating that “the game is in very good hands.” There are plenty of comments along those lines, with folks imagining how Sekiro-style blade attacks and parries could translate to a mech game. Considering the ranged combat that Armored Core has sported in the past, it’ll be interesting to see swords go up against the likes of lasers and miniguns.

Still, we know that FromSoftware is looking to combine the gameplay mechanics of the Soulsborne series with the tone of Armored Core. “Based on the knowledge gained during joint development of their recent titles, Bandai Namco Entertainment and FromSoftware seek to deliver a new action game,” the game’s Steam page states. “By combining FromSoftware’s longstanding expertise in mech games and their signature robust gameplay, Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon will be a new action experience.” It’s a bold claim, but the award-winning studio has already raised the bar with the likes of this year’s Elden Ring.

The big question is when Armored Core VI will actually arrive. At the moment, it has a wide 2023 release window. The game will launch on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam sometime next year.