Over the weekend, Bandai Namco hosted a livestream to showcase more of Armored Core VI Fires Of Rubicon, ahead of its release later this Friday.
The showcase it mostly to show off the PVP element of the mecha action title.
Long-time AC fans will notice some similarities to and some changes with this entry. Matches can be either a 1V1 or 3V3 affair.
For 1V1 matches, it’s a best-of-three/first-to-two bout. Like a standard fighting game.
Meanwhile, 3V3 has defeated players respawn in a points race. The team with the most points at the end of the match wins. Points are gained from defeating an enemy team, with bigger points awarded for taking down an enemy team that has survived at a longer duration. So picking off the weakest link over and over shouldn’t be the meta here, at least on paper.
What the showcase highlighted, most importantly, is how chaotic these matches can be. Missles, lasers, that target lock-on sound effect, and explosions from every direction can be heard.
Also to note, the matches seen here see no use of the repair kit. Repair kits are seen to be used in mainline missions for healing. That’s not the case seen here.
While the showcase didn’t outright highlight this, you can also see a custom match lobby feature, so folks who just want to play with friends, or tournament organisers, can make use of this.
Content creators Ouroboro and FightinCowboy are seen in the showcase duking it out, showing off the diversity of builds. From the looks of it, AC builds with quad-legs (the four-legged leg type known as tetrapods in-game) seem to be a favourite here. But do not underestimate the tank-type build. Gun Tank may be a meme in the Gundam fandom, but you should fear the beefy, literally tanky builds running on treads as, like in previous games, allows builds of high AP and the ability to carry heavy weaponry.
For the audience in Japan, there is a separate showcase event organised by PlayStation, which featured a live audience.
Armored Core VI Fires Of Rubicon launches on August 25 for the PS4, PS5, PC (Steam), Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.