FromSoftware says Armored Core 6 isn't a Soulslike, describes it in the most Souls way possible

gamesradar.com:

FromSoftware has repeatedly insisted that its upcoming mech game, Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, isn't like the Souls games, but in a new interview the studio can't help but describe it in curiously Soulslike terms.

Speaking with Eurogamer (opens in new tab), Armored Core 6 producer Yasunori Ogura explained how the developers incorporated elements that'll feel familiar to fans of Souls games, as well as modern games more generally, in order to avoid making the long-awaited sequel feel dated in any way.

The thing is, a lot of the terms Ogura uses to describe Armored Core 6 sound a whole lot like FromSoftware's recent string of Dark Souls and Dark Souls-adjacent games – Bloodborne, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Elden Ring. For example, game director Masaru Yamamura said his time as lead designer on Sekiro indirectly influenced Armored Core 6's combat.

"I'd say some of that is definitely present in the aggressiveness of combat in Armored Core 6," he said. "We wanted to make something that was very visceral, very aggressive, and has a very clear and distinct rhythm or tempo to the combat. We want players to feel those highs and lows, fighting at near distance and far distance."

Yamamura said in the same interview that Armored Core 6 "is not really supposed to be a story-driven game" and that the developers "feel like there is more of a drive to the narrative through the mission structure." I don't know about you, but that sounds a lot like the indirect storytelling that's become synonymous with FromSoftware titles.

"We hope that players, as they encounter these various factions and powers at play, that they're going to be thinking to themselves, 'What am I fighting for, what is my place in all of this? And how am I going