Armored Core VI is my first entry to the Armored Core series and would probably be the strongest entry to me because of the mildly inaccessible nature of the previous games.

But realistically I played it because I was incredibly disappointed with Elden Ring.
What I got was a different FromSoft game than the one I am familiar with.

With an stronger and clearer emphasis on narrative rather than lore chunks. A narrative that's a simple skeleton and fleshed out by underlying themes of greed, religion, exploitation, capitalism, fate and freedom of will. Exposition might be heavier handed than the souls games but to its benefit doesn't sound vague enough. I have never been a fan of narratives that get that it's standing from "lore" rather than the actual events that happen in game, something that FromSoft likes doing. There ARE text logs, but never have they felt so non-essential to make a sense of the usual aberrations, to my pleasant surprise. But the story doesn't end there, pun intended. One playthrough isn't enough. You aren't even close to eating the full pie. The full picture unfolds in your successive playthroughs with some of the most haunting and ethereal endings, which in my opinion, makes it the best new game+ implementation in a FromSoft game bar none. It goes beyond increased difficulty or small bits of new stuff.

It's almost meta that the overall plot of humanity returning to a previously dead planet for the previously exhausted Coral, just like how FromSoft and new and old players alike are returning to a once dormant franchise such as Armored Core.

It's a far more generous than punishing gameplay, it's a game with a philosophy of choice first and DEMANDS you to experiment (with varying but mostly complete success). The gameplay is mission based rather than sprawling open or closed metroidvania worlds, which is actually one of its biggest strengths. It is concise, to the point and unpretentious. It's an action game first and foremost and doesn't need to be anything else.

An antithesis and yet an acknowledgement to one of their previous titles, Sekiro, this game features ACS Strain. A system similar to posture; where it differs however is how this system forces the player on their action. This is not a one hit kill mechanic, it's mechanic that gives the enemy a moment of weakness, for players to exploit it and rain damage upon it. As such, players who solely rely on heavy weapons must not overuse them to fill up the ACS strain or its a waste. Similarly, a player who chips an enemy's health is a weak ac. It demands experimentation but also observation; a key trait in almost every FromSoft game.

But experimentation doesn't stop with the gameplay, rather it starts with you first. Your Armored Core is as expressive as you make it look. The paintjob customisation is so robust, it's almost unrivalled in ANY game that I have EVER seen. It's versatile but also manageable. The complexity isn't just thrown at you, they're presented in layers, pun intended again. Not satisfied with simple colour picks? Choose an rgb value. Not satisfied with simple color patches? Pick a pattern. Patterns aren't it for you? Apply a decal. Oh even the decals aren't doing it for you? Make you OWN decal or download someone else's with a code. Hell you download someone else's whole SETUPS with a code. It's my favourite aspect of this game and it's not close.

The boss fights are as equally fantastic as they are diverse. From a literal fortress, to intense ac battles, to a bullet hell goofy ahh Balteus, to the fan-named Mechlania to the "I won't miss"(iykyk). All of these give the sense of scale that for some amount of time, I subsconsciously believed my ac was as large as a regular human.

The visuals which received a bit of scrutiny at the beginning are actually nothing to scoff at. From the gigantic but sterile and ruinous grids to icy frigid fields below a bright burning sky to the whole ruins of an underground city that's is as alien but also as ancient and manmade.

The soundtrack is a banger. "The Man Who Burned the Coral" and "Contact with You" are my highlights.

However, my one criticism of this game is that some of the missions in the earlier chapters were so booring that I genuinely almost slept. It's filler with the utmost intent, and my only wish at the time was that they didn't sacrifice quality for variety.

Overall an incredible and fresh feeling game of a type that just isn't made anymore. Extremely happy that it is selling well. And since it's extremely unlikely that I will be playing Baldur's Gate 3 this year, this will be my GOTY.

9.5/10