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Armored Core 6 players haven't taken long to strip back the hood and get tinkering with FromSoftware's mech extravaganza, but a new trend in PvP really does leave everything on the table. PvP in AC6 is usually a matter of giant mechs circling and zooming around each other from a distance as near-endless amounts of ordnance flies both ways: it's fast, explosive, and a ton of fun. Column Panel
But what if, and hear me out, the mechs just punched each other instead?
The thought has also been occurring to players, helped enormously by an augment that lets your mech theatrically dump all of its ranged weaponry to the ground: your weapons in the game are mounted on the arms and back of the mech, so when you press the button there's an incredibly satisfying moment where all of this polished hardware just sloughs off the chassis.
After this it's time to throw down like only giant mechs can and, as players have rightly intuited, the only thing that could make a slugfest better is playing the Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance OST over the top. Is it the best fighting game soundtrack ever? Yes.
This is only the latest development in the AC6 melee meta. Youtuber ZeroLenny asked whether you can beat AC6 with no weapons and, in the below video, proves it's entirely possible to get through the whole game just beating things down. It even happened at an official event, where a randomly selected player who turned out to be a series veteran punched an airship out of the sky and earned themselves the nickname The Fires of Shibuya.
Elsewhere with AC6 it's business as usual, if your business is piloting a mech that's CJ riding Thomas the Tank Engine. Modders have even, drunk with power, begun adding Armored Cores to Elden Ring. The game is an absolute blast even when you're not melee-ing things as a mech, and PCG pilot Wes Fenlon awarded it a glowing 87% in our review, noting this would be "a great action game in any year" but is especially welcome arriving as it does among all these 100+ hour RPGs. I mean, dialogue is nice and all, but there's always going to be something to be said for a massive metal fist hitting things.
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Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."
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