Despite repeated, expectation-managing promises from studio and publisher alike, I went into my Armored Core 6 hands-on with the dumb animal hope that it would be Souls with robots. I don't especially want a Souls-with-robots game; it's more that I will play a Souls-with-X game, made by FromSoftware, as a matter of priority over just about anything else. Armored Core, though? I went in curious, but far from sold.
What I played was a fluid, intense—and most importantly—fast mech combat game that resembled the last and only Armored Core game I ever played, Armored Core 5. Except prettier. And better. And—most importantly—faster. As dim as those memories are, I do remember admiring its determinedly bleak far-future science fiction, while also being upset that it bore no resemblance to the dark fantasy RPG that the same studio released the year before. I dropped it pretty quick.
