Although stated before that it isn't mecha Dark Souls, a recent gameplay preview of Armored Core 6 seems to show otherwise.

Let's first set the stage for this piece of news. In Eurogamer's interview with Armored Core 6 game director Masaru Yamamura, he mentioned that “While the base format of the Armored Core games and Armored Core 6 is very different from that of the Souls series and games like Sekiro, we have tried to incorporate some of that design philosophy and our experience over the last several years.” That small part about it being “very different” is something that fans have latched onto.

As someone who has played a few Armored Core games, I can definitely differentiate its gameplay from that of Dark Souls. For starters, the game is more mission-based and relies on checkpoints should players fail. Not only that, but it also feels more like a third-person action shooter (which I guess it is), where I found myself just trying to shoot down enemies faster than they can shoot me. That's why when news first came out that Armored Core 6 was on the way, as well as the bit about how it's “very different” from Souls-like games, I, like many others, thought it would remain true to that kind of gameplay. That is until the gameplay preview came out.

The gameplay preview first appeared during Summer Game Fest and was shown to various media outlets and content creators. This preview, which is the first look at what the game would play like, has since then one online. It has also received a lot of analysis all over social media. Judging from people's reactions and after seeing the video for myself, it would appear that Armored Core 6 does play quite like a Mecha Dark Souls.

For starters, Armored Core prevalently didn't really have the lock-on feature we know. This doesn't mean that there wasn't any before. Players could lock on to enemies and have their shots hit the enemy. The difference was that the lock-on features from previous games didn't lock your camera to only track the said enemy. Players still had to aim toward the locked-on enemy for it to work. The gameplay preview, on the other hand, showed a “hard lock-on” of sorts, with the camera tracking the enemy.

In his analysis of the preview, YouTuber VaatiVidya said that there seemed to be two states of locking on, which he called soft and hard. Soft lock-on is similar to the older version Armored Core had. It allowed players to lock on to certain enemies without locking the camera. They could even lock onto multiple enemies, with weapons like missiles firing equally at all of them. Then, there's the Hard lock-on, which is the one we're used to now. This feature is one of the core features of modern third-person action games like the Soulsborne games. This lets players worry more about dodging and moving around than actually aiming their attacks.

As an important note, some players have brought up that the hard lock-on was a thing in Armored Core 4. However, it is a relatively recent addition to the game, and not something that the older ones had.

Another feature that they people saw in the preview was the stagger mechanic. In Dark Souls, players could break an enemy's stance by continuously attacking them. This is the same for Sekiro, with a visible stagger meter that fills up depending on what the player does. Armored Core 6 did something similar to Sekiro, where players could see a bar fill up as they attack enemies. Although the gameplay preview publicly available does not have a HUD, VaatyVidya mentioned in his video that the preview they saw had it. That's why he brought up the bar, as there was a visible yellow bar filling up when attacking enemies.

It's important to note, however, that the stagger mechanic is something present in previous Armored Core games. In Armored Core 5, for example, players could stagger enemies by using high-impact weapons or stun weapons. Getting hit by these attacks could stun the player. It is not the stagger mechanic per se that has players at arms. Rather, it's the fact that it plays similarly to Sekiro or Dark Souls.

Continuing on, a big feature that has players divided is an instant healing system. Players have access repair kits that they could use to instantly bring up their health. This is not something that was present in older Armored Core games. Players had to make sure they wouldn't get hit so that they had the HP to take on the bigger enemies. With the introduction of the instant heal item (which players are calling a Mecha Estus Flask), players no longer had to plan their fights well.

This has caused a division among players. Veteran fans of the series dislike the idea of having a Mecha Estus Flask because, as mentioned above, it removes some of the challenges and planning needed. Others are more open to it, as it does help newer players get into the game more.

Perhaps the biggest similarity that some people brought up was with the boss that was in the Armored Core 6 gameplay preview. From Software fans and content creators like Iron Pineapple (tweet embedded above) commented about the “big bosses that telegraph big attacks that you're supposed to dodge”. This is yet another feature that was not in previous Armored Core games. Even if there were big enemies, all they had were big guns or missiles that the player had to dodge. There was also the occasional melee weapon. However, a section of the preview focused on a giant enemy on tracks. This enemy would telegraph its huge swings, charges, and more, which players had to dodge.

Although, as mentioned above, dodging enemy fire is a basic feature in previous Armored Games, it wasn't like this. The huge boss fights felt more like fighting some of the bigger bosses in Dark Souls. Much like the Mecha Estus Flask, this has divided the community. Some players are wondering why there was a need to incorporate these kinds of boss fights. Someone even mentioned that it felt off to have a boss like that, as the mechs in the universe are all state-of-the-art and would have firearms or other ranged weaponry instead.

Others are welcoming the change, saying that it actually makes boss fights fun. It won't just be the player dodging bullets and missiles while whittling down the boss. Players would actually have to dodge attacks, making the battles more challenging.

One thing that was shown in the preview that still has players very much excited, however, is the mech customization. Mech customization has always been one of Armored Core's biggest selling points. Players could create a variety of mechs. They could mix and match parts to make their dream robot. For example, when I played Armored Core before, I created a four-legged mech that had missiles and a sniper rifle-like weapon equipped. This helped stabilize me so I could easily make long-range shots.

As seen in the embedded video above, players could modify almost everything on their mech. The mech could have up to four weapons equipped (one on each hand and two on their backs). The player could also modify the mech's frame, mixing up parts for its head, core, arms, and legs. Players could even modify the inner components of the mech. This level of customization had players very much excited about the game.

In any case, what most people seem to agree with is that judging from the gameplay preview, Armored Core 6 is a game to look forward to when it comes out on August 25.

That's all the information we have from the Armored Core 6 gameplay preview and how some players have compared it to Dark Souls. Check out our gaming news articles for the latest in gaming news.