In addition to playing the game, I was lucky enough to sit down and speak to the director Masaru Yamamura and producer Yasunori Ogura about how Armored Core VI came about and what their hopes are for it.
The biggest addition to the series is the new toggled target lock on system and updated controls. This allows players to target an enemy and they move around them while still keeping the camera focused on them. This is a big change over the older games, where all of this had to be handled manually, as Yamamura explains.
“We want to make it clear that this is an Armored Core game first and foremost. Our titles in recent years have been focused more on role-playing game action and exploration elements, but Armored Core VI is very much a mecha action combat game. When we say that we mean it focuses on two core concepts; that being the assembly aspect and the intuitive mecha action concept. Assembly is something that has always been a part of Armored Core and we feel that it has universal appeal that will still hold up to this day. So you customize your mecha, take it out into the field, and do battle with it in this fully three-dimensional space. Customizing your perfect machine, changing its appearance to your liking, and then just mastering it in combat. We feel that these two core concepts are the staple of the Armored Core series and we wanted to bring that back in Armored Core VI.
“The target lock on assist came about mainly due to the fact that this is an Armored Core game and we wanted you to, as we previously said, have full control of your mecha. It’s going to be boosting in every direction on the horizontal and vertical axes. You are going to be taking to the air to do combat, and you have simultaneous control of all four of your weapons. There’s a lot going on, it gets quite frenetic. So target assist was introduced mainly to help newer players acclimatize to this, so they could focus on those aspects that make the game fun and make the mecha action combat appealing, and not have to worry too much about keeping the enemy on screen. It works like a traditional camera target lock in that sense. At the same time, we hope that long-time fans of Armored Core will find some enjoyment from disabling target assist. If they prefer to play a more simulation-like fully manual aim style of play and hopefully we will see some amazing challenge runs with no target assist being used.
“Just to reiterate, full control of the four weapons is going to be crucial in creating these attack combos. You have to concentrate on the spacing and positioning between you and the enemy. It’s also not a perfect lock-on either, if the enemy is moving at high speed, not all of your attacks will connect. So it really is quite tough playing without the target assist and we expect players will have some fun challenging themselves by disabling it.
“There is still part of us that likes the original controls with the shoulder buttons used to look up and down, but it was the right call to update and change this for a modern audience.”
Following on from this was the reasoning on why the game lacks a realtime minimap that shows you where enemies are located. This was a regular feature in the older games, but was simplified down here to match the game’s mission structure and map layout, which Yamamura clarifies.
“There were discussions in early development about having a more open map. For instance, a more open field map and having elements that would reinforce that and reinforce the full play space and the exploration aspects, similar to Elden Ring. But we decided against it, as we wanted more freedom on the assembly side. So when you start to gear the gameplay towards exploration and traversal you begin to have the limit, that universal through line for player mobility, but we wanted a lot of variety there. We wanted players to have control over how they move and their mobility performance. So we wanted to keep this traditional mission structure, and we didn’t want a mini-map. We wanted markers, that would show the player where their next objective is. There is a (lateral) radar, which shows relative enemy positions, but it’s not an exploration and traversal focus game, so we felt there wasn’t the need for a minimap.”
One of the bigger legacy aspects from the older Armored Core games were the various hidden weapons and mecha parts tucked away in levels. This is still very much a thing, but Yamamura was a little cagey on giving specifics.
“Yes, there will be similar aspects in Armored Core VI. There are a variety of mission types and some of the more open missions where you are traversing a large and complex mega structures, these will be a little bit more open-ended and the player will have an objective but they are also able to go off the beaten path and explore the area a little bit. They may find some hidden caches with weapons and parts.”
This also ties into the regular addition of the Karasawa beam rifle and the Moonlight laser sword. Again, Yamamura was suitably cryptic.
“We will let you play the full game and look forward to you finding things of that nature.”
However, on the origin of the Karasawa’s name, Ogura was happy to give a bit of a breakdown of what happened.
“We weren’t involved in the Armored Core games back when Yasuyoshi Karasawa was the producer, but we do understand that there is a bit of a tradition there though. As he imprinted his name in the work on that particular weapon and Armored Core as a series has traditionally had these kinds of Easter Eggs where we include stuff, like developer names as the titles of weapons. So hopefully you will find something similar in Armored Core VI.
“We believe that Yasuyoshi Karasawa has since moved on and we think he is still in the games industry. We think he just parted ways after those initial projects. However, his legacy continues.”
One of the other big aspects of the Armored Core games were the various Human Plus abilities available to players. This is definitely present, but it has been split into two main components, as Yamamura explains.
“The augmented human in Armored Core VI is more of a narrative construct than a game construct. There will be some similar upgrade elements to Human Plus but these will be for your mecha. However, the old-generation augmented human in our game is supposed to invoke this mute, emotionless pilot who is built specifically to pilot these impossible machines of destruction. It is kind of tapping into that cold, indirect portrayal of this mercenary and we wanted the player to enliven that role. So the augmented human aspect in Armored Core VI is purely part of this game’s narrative setting.
“Separate from the mecha assembly, we also have a more streamlined customization element called OS Tuning. This is akin to those Human Plus and Overweight upgrades that you would be familiar with. These are more direct and streamlined upgrades that you can unlock as you progress through the campaign. One of these is the removal of the weight restriction for parts, like in the older games.
“OS Tuning is indeed a role-playing game-type upgrade system that applies to whatever you have currently assembled in terms of your mecha. So you will be upgrading your core parts to get things like Assault Armor and lifting the weight limit, and something we also call the Weapon Hangar. This is basically an extra stowed weapon that you can switch from the shoulder into your left or right hand. So these are abilities you will unlock through OS Tuning.
“OS Tuning was also included as a means to onboard and acclimatize newer players, so having all of these abilities available right from the off would have been a little bit overwhelming. So we wanted to introduce these things gradually and allow players to make those choices.”
Finishing up Yamamura talked about what hopes he had for Armored Core VI and how he thinks both new and longtime fans will react to the game.
“In previous titles, the assembly has been a big part of it, but it has been somewhat of a numbers game. This time we still have that aspect, and we really hope players will enjoy min-maxing their builds, but we also wanted it to feel like an intuitive action game. You will really feel the difference in the mobility and how these weapons control and behave. How the enemies react to them. That sort of feedback. We really hope this is more intuitive and tactile. So we hope that long-term Armored Core fans will notice this difference with the assembly and other parts of the game.
“Our expectations for Armored Core VI are to first deliver the core competence of what makes Armored Core. So this is first the assembly aspect, we want players to engage with this and enjoy tinkering with their mecha. Being this professional mercenary who is constantly optimizing themselves for each mission. We feel again that this is a big part of the series that will still have universal appeal today. We also wanted to merge that in a way that makes sense with what we have brought from the titles we’ve made in recent years. So we have not taken direct influence from our recent games, but we have wanted to apply that know-how in terms of the map design. So how we are designing and utilizing that three-dimensional space and how the player navigates that, as well as the combat design. So how the player is learning from the enemy and observing their movements and attack patterns, then adapting their play-style and their build to suit that. These are elements we have taken indirectly from the past 10 years and we hope to merge these to bring a really fresh and aggressive frenetic mecha combat game in Armored Core VI.”
Armored Core VI is released on August 25 for the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC.
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