Is this "Dark Soul"-ized?

[Netsa]

Talking purely about the mechanics, not the difficulty. The ACs I played weren't exactly easy.

Checking out some of the negative reviews (since this didn't get the coveted Overwhelmingly Positive), some of them mentioned that this "doesn't feel like Armored Core" with one guy saying the boss mechanics felt more akin to Sekiro. This makes me wonder if FromSoft mixed in some Dark Souls stuff to try and hook in more of their newer fans. What do you think?

I've only played a couple of the AC games, 4 and For Answer, but I loved them at the time. I'm also a fan of DS/ER, so I'm not sure this really makes a difference for me either way. The only reason it's not in my library yet is because I'm always on the lookout for discounts, so I'm just curious.

As a side question, about how many hours would you say this game is? 10-20 hour burst with high replayability, a 100+ hour mayhem marathon, or something else inbetween?

[[Rdog]Maljas]

Not really?

it does have some Souls DNA, that cannot be denied especially if you look at bosses. But I would not say this sits in the same genre as a Souls-like.

[Spicy Grasshopper]

Im at the last boss and number 1 in arena, and I got here in 11 hours, the extra time now is killing that boss.

[FleshyBB]

It's armored souls. It sucks if you're a long time fan of AC. Customization is awful and limited as hell.

[Rena Ichigawa]

The only "souls" it has is from being a fromsoft game. Its simplified a bit, but is nothing like dark souls.

[Striker]

This is my first armored core game but I would consider myself a veteran of the soulsborne titles and I can tell slight similarities from sekiro including the stagger stagger system which is basically breaking an enemies poise for massive damage.

But other then that it definitely doesn't feel like a traditional souls game but I can't compare it to pervious AC games, I've played roughly 10 hours so far but thats from me spending time replaying missions and spending alot of time customising my mech but I've heard that it'll take between 15-20 hours but that is entirely dependant on your skill.

Some people have already played the same as me but not gotten past the second boss so it'll be a long haul for them since the bosses just get harder.

[angelsenvy228]

It doesn't really feel dark souls to me and I've played and loved every souls game since DS1. I didn't play old AC (no playstation) but I played daemon x machina and some other mech games. I'm loving it so far. The only things kinda "soulslike" to me are the bosses telegraphing some sweeping attacks, the stagger mechanic, and having some limited heals, but they don't really feel implemented in a "soulslike" way to me at least. You are not locked in position like you are in a grounded souls game, you don't have iframes on your dodge and even if they come at you with sweeping attacks you can assault boost far away from them, you don't have to sit in their attack patterns like you do in souls. All those mechanics are also just pretty general video game mechanics that were in tons of things before dark souls. To me soulslike is respawning enemies at bonfires and iframe dodges, combined with the telegraphed movesets. I don't get all the hate even if you don't like souls games, which I do anyway.

[Reda-Ou]

I have not played old AC in forever and when i did play it I didn't play it much. But I would say this does not feel like Dark Souls AT ALL. There is 'learning the boss' and 'using tactics that will work well against the boss' but there isn't the Back and Forth Dark Souls rhythm of "Boss winds up big attack, you learn to dodge it, then you DPS him during his downtime after the attack" kind of gameplay.

In Dark Souls it is VERY easy to avoid damage, and so you're punished very hard for not avoiding damage. Get hit, you die.

In AC6, avoiding damage completely isn't really possible, just too many bullets and rockets and attackers from all different angles. In AC6 it's more about applying the proper strategies so that the boss doesn't wear you down by the time you wear the boss down.

So imo it feels completely different to Dark Souls.

[Electric Kills]

Don't believe the (anti-)hype. This isn't Souls. It's Armored Core. And thank God for that. I was worried myself, honestly.

[Wykydtron]

Its nothing like souls or sekiro, people that say its anything like that are drunk/never played any other AC game/trolls/tutorial boss owned them. Its very much like AC4A, you played it so you know how it feels.

[THE IMPALER]

This is very much not like sekiro. If it was I'd hate it. I AM SOOOO glad they didnt soulify Armored Core. Dont get the wrong idea I think the souls trilogy is fantastic, So is elden ring but I feel like that would be a betrayal from fromsoft. People seem to not remember fromsoft was a developer wayyyyyy before dark souls got them popular. Me personally I was a big fan of the Echo Night series. I hope they make a few more horror games in the future theres amazing potential.

[Satori]

Yes, 100% dark soul-ized, ignore the fanboys

[JONES]

Originally posted by Satori:

Yes, 100% dark soul-ized, ignore the fanboys

How? This doesn't feel like any Souls game I've ever played.

[Nox]

Armored Souls for sure. I swear it feels like I'm playing Elden Ring with some things reskinned. Like a mod.

[Electric Kills]

Originally posted by Killa queen:

This is very much not like sekiro. If it was I'd hate it. I AM SOOOO glad they didnt soulify Armored Core. Dont get the wrong idea I think the souls trilogy is fantastic, So is elden ring but I feel like that would be a betrayal from fromsoft. People seem to not remember fromsoft was a developer wayyyyyy before dark souls got them popular. Me personally I was a big fan of the Echo Night series. I hope they make a few more horror games in the future theres amazing potential.

You're my new favourite person in this entire community hub. Like a little diamond gleaming in a massive ♥♥♥♥.

[Menagerie]

Originally posted by JONES:

Originally posted by Satori:

Yes, 100% dark soul-ized, ignore the fanboys

How? This doesn't feel like any Souls game I've ever played.

A lot of the old AC fanbase is doing the same thing the Baldur's Gate fanbase are doing with BG3.

"This game isn't exactly what it used to be over 10 years ago so it's bad"
AC1 was great... when it came out. This is good now. It still feels like AC.