Armored Core 6 Story: What is the lore and where does it fit in the timeline?

Armored Core 6: Fires Of Rubicon is an absolute blast, but there’s one question haunting the collective minds of possible future fans. Does it feature a plot akin to the more straightforward stories of Armored Cores past, or did it take a cue from the more recent hits of FromSoft and go with an intentionally obscure approach to storytelling that forces fans to resort to watching hours of YouTube videos in a futile attempt to make out what the hell is going on? Well, the good news is that even though the game provides as much of a challenge as any game in the Souls Series, its story is simple and its world is easy to get into.

Where does Armored Core 6 fit into the series’ chronology?

There’s not much continuity in the Armored Core timeline, so you can jump in immediately with Armored Core 6.

Most of the games tell a separate story, with a few even serving as full reboots for the series. Aside from a few nods, AC6 continues the trend of not featuring any story connections to the other games in the franchise. Most AC6 players likely entered the world of FromSoftware via games unrelated to the AC series, so it probably wouldn’t make sense to make it a direct continuation, anyway.

So does Armored Core 6 erase previously established lore and events? Not necessarily, but it takes place so long after V — much longer than the decade that went by between the two releases — that it doesn’t matter. Hell, AC6 even introduces the concept of interstellar travel and picks a setting far removed from that of other games in the series. New players really need not concern themselves with the plot of past games.

What is Rubicon, and what are its fires?

Rubicon 3 is the new planet on a new star system where the story takes place. The titular fires are a reference to the heavy firestorms that engulf its surface.

So why are we there?

Rubicon 3 is rich in “Coral”, a mineral that’s both essential to comms tech and somehow also a great drug. A number of companies are fighting for the control of the Coral trade, and that’s where we come in.

Who are we?

In true FromSoftware fashion, we play as a character we mostly get to permeate with our own personality. We play as an augmented human called 621 Raven, but the “Raven” in their name is only there because we adopt the identity of a downed pilot. The closest we get to a real name is 621, and what we know about 621 is that they want to “buy their life back”. How will we help 621 achieve that? Well, that will all come down to player choice, and it will result in a bunch of different endings that I won’t spoil here.

Armored Core 6: Fires Of Rubicon is now out for PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S