Armored Core 6 and the art of rebuilding the mech-driven series

gamedeveloper.com:

Before the groundbreaking releases of Demon's Souls, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Elden Ring, developer FromSoftware made its name with the giant robot action series Armored Core. With a cult-following dating back to the original PlayStation, fans embraced the dystopian settings and the fast-paced mech combat. In the period since the studio's massive pivot to the Souls sub-genre that it founded, the Armored Core series went on hiatus.

Following last year's reveal of the long-awaited return to the franchise, Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, developers have speculated how this revival of the series will incorporate many of the key learnings that FromSoftware have cultivated from their recent hits.

We recently got to play the opening hours of Fires of Rubicon, and after interviewing game director Masaru Yamamura and producer Yasunori Ogura, we learned that Armored Core 6 isn't so much of a Souls-style take on the mecha action franchise as many thought. This revival is all about refining the franchise's tactical and free-form approach to giant robot combat, dystopian sci-fi storytelling, and, simply put, letting Armored Core stand on its giant own two feet.

As a reboot and fairly loose continuation of the story from previous games, Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon sticks close to the series' core conceit of mech pilots taking on challenging and morally ambiguous missions for the highest bidder

Playing as a mercenary who pilots a massive mech, you take on jobs with warring corporations and rebel groups on the planet of Rubicon 3 following a global disaster. By taking on different missions from these factions, the protagonist will expand their arsenal of weapons and mech parts to take on increasingly more dangerous jobs,