A new entry in Elden Ring developer FromSoftware’s Armored Core series has allegedly been revealed via a survey sent out to consumers.
ResetERA’s Red Liquorice shared that they recently finished a consumer survey about “a new Armoured Core game with description, screenshots and two 30 second-ish videos of gameplay – the first a boss fight and the second more in-world gameplay, a snow area.”
They were unable to share any screenshots as they are all “unique ID watermarked,” but they did share an image of the text description of this alleged unannounced game.
“Melange, an unknown substance that could dramatically advance human society,” the game’s description reads. “In the past, the substance caused a cosmic catastrophe on planet Bashtar that engulfed the surrounding star systems, and eventually its very existence was lost. Decades later, the Melange reaction was confirmed again on planet Bashtar.”
“In search of the unknown substance that should have been lost, various speculations begin to swirl. Various parties are getting involved; The government, corporations, cultists, and unknown mercenaries… The protagonist is one of them.”
The game is described as a “TPS (third person shooter) mecha action title that lets you move around an overwhelmingly scaled map that represents a unique sci-fi world with dynamic mech action.” It is also said that the aforementioned sci-fi world is created by Hidetaka Miyazaki himself.
Miyazaki, who is the director of the Dark Souls games, the upcoming Elden Ring, and even Armored Core 4 and Armored Core: For Answer, actually began his career by working as a game planner on Armored Core: Last Raven in 2004.
The description also teases a “vast field that represents a multi-layered world;” long and short-range battles with guns, blades, and shields; and a high degree of customization that will let players fine-tune their mechs to suit their play styles.
Red Liquorice continued to say that the boss fight they saw was “quite soulsy” and that the short glimpse of gameplay hinted at the possibility of co-op.
They also claim the survey listed some options for a potential name for this project.
“Most of them were Armoured Core: [Something] including just ‘Armoured Core’ and both AC: 6, AC: VI, and other subtitles I can’t remember, some of the choices didn’t include AC in the name at all,” Red Liquorice said.
Lastly, they shared a brief description of what they seemingly saw in the video and how that first boss fight looked.
“iirc the boss had a domed head and was bigger than the player but not huge,” Red Liquorice said. “If I had to guess, I’d say this was like an Asylum or Taurus Demon style early boss, obviously total speculation there, but it didn’t seem grandious or particularly impressive as an encounter. Boss had a life bar on screen (at the top of the screen iirc) – very simple but it was more red LED-styled, futuristic as you might expect, angular edges on the lifebars rather than straight rectangle.”
It’s obviously important to take this news with a grain of salt, but FromSoftware has previously stated that it has no intention of ending the Armored Core series. In 2018, Miyazaki even hinted that a new entry was in development.
With Elden Ring set to be released on February 25, 2022, it may not be too terribly long until we find out if FromSoftware is in fact planning to return to Armored Core for its next game.
Until then, be sure to check out our hands-on preview of Elden Ring and our review of the last Armored Core game – 2013’s Armored Core: Verdict Day.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.