What’s the Best Armored Core Game?

Although they were catapulted into the spotlight with juggernaut games such as Dark Souls and Elden Ring, FromSoftware was first put on the map with Armored Core in 1997. The third-person shooter mecha franchise now spans multiple decades and is packed with many great titles. With the recent release of Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon in 2023, we wanted to discuss which Armored Core we each feel is the best in the series.

Armored Core 6 is my first foray into this side of FromSoftware, so it is by default the one I like best in the series. I’ve always loved the mecha genre, but few games have ever handled mech gameplay right. Fortunately, AC6 handles it so smoothly, allowing for incredible variation and tight combat. I like that tweaking my AC for a faster build truly feels different than a slower and more powerful one. — Cody

I have to say I’m a bit biased, given Armored Core 6 is the first game in the series I’ve played. I’ve been well aware of the franchise for years and have an immense love of giant robots, especially ones with cool guns and swords. It just never dawned on me to ever pick up an Armored Core game. Now that I am playing through AC6 and slowly turning my AC into Big O, I’m really grateful I took the plunge on this one. — Arielle

I am perhaps one of the very few here who have had an earlier exposure to the Armored Core series. I started with Armored Core 3, which I later learned to be a good entry point at that time since it started a new timeline. From there, I worked my way through the rest of the PS2-era titles, culminating with Last Raven as the best one I’ve played before Armored Core VI came out. The unbeatable ending on Nexus still lingers in my memory the most, though. — Kite