For the first time in over a decade, a new game in FromSoftware's mech-based action franchise has launched on consoles and PC with its sixth mainline entry. While Hidetaka Miyazaki made the challenge curve in the Dark Souls series a ubiquitous mantra across the gaming community, and achieved worldwide success, the Armored Core games' difficulty was a different kind of monster. Picking it up on the Xbox Series X, I tried the introductory tutorial mission Fires of Rubicon presents you with. 

The controls are pretty familiar, if you have a history with the past Armored Core games. As you advance, you'll be able to purchase better equipment, so the initial mech you pilot is decent enough to get the job done, but serves as a harbinger for the importance of adequately filling out your sortie. A tip for the future, as you plan on building your machine, keep notes of your weight and energy costs while planning. Suffice to say, your starter bot here is rather trash, and you're immediately under-powered. Intentionally, as this tutorial portion gets you acquainted with the speed of Fires of Rubicon.

Movement is fast and fleeting, you can travel and dodge in practically every direction, and as you advance in the game, you'll flex how you want your builds to go. The accelerated travel doesn't drain boost, but you have about four quick dashes before cooldown. The right shoulder buttons are your long range weapons (missiles and main arm) and have adequate CD periods after firing.

The Left Trigger is a powerful beam saber slash that can be performed twice, this move is incredibly powerful and seems like it'll become a crucial part of your offense in Fires of Rubicon. An auto-target field can be toggled by pressing down R3, opening a wide reticle that tracks enemies in range. Not a true dedicated lock-on, but it's great at keeping your field of vision under control, so the action and proximity aren't fighting with each other. 

So after easily trouncing generous handfuls of infantry, getting the speed of the series back under my feet after so long, it's time for the game's initial boss battle. A heavy PCA Helicopter, the first large flying adversary you face, swoops in as you're collecting identification tags. I can't think of a better way to set the tone for what new players to Armored Core can expect, but this is FromSoftware, so an idea should be in mind, I would say. This heavily armed chopper is fast and incredibly aggressive, your AP will get torn into faster than a Panera Bread baguette. 

If you're having trouble with this battle, my best advice is to hang as close as possible to it. This keeps the missiles flying over your head and you stay close enough to strike it with your melee attack without exhausting your boost. You'll likely run out of ammo trying to pick it apart with your missiles, and you can't outgun it with the rifle. The melee attacks with the beam saber is capable of MASSIVE damage, so land successive strikes to build its critical meter, launching some missiles to pile on the damage. With enough, that very sturdy Armor Point bar on the chopper will go down considerably.

This has been the most I've indulged in Armored Core VI: thus far, at least enough to adequately talk about the game's welcome mat. As a fan of the series, it feels very good to see it back again. It controls great, the visuals are amazing (granted, there are probably more greys and browns than I like in my games) and the machines pack a lot of detail. If you're itching for some mech action, Fires of Rubicon fits the bill. It can be a very tough game, so be prepared to have those senses turned up rather high for its opening scenario.

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubcion is currently available for the Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Windows.