Armored Core 6 Mods You Need In Your Life
"Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon" has brought the cult classic mech action series roaring to next-gen consoles, reminding gamers everywhere that nobody does it quite like FromSoftware. The mix of Souls-like combat, rocket-powered mobility, and brutal economy-based upgrades and repairs has fans blasting away at the enemy and pulling their hair out in equal measure. Critics adore the new game, with SVG's review calling it "a thrilling journey that demands to be experienced."
But that doesn't mean it couldn't be spruced up in some ways, right? As with just about any major release, fans have found things to add or tweak about the overall experience in "Armored Core 6," which is where mods come in. Before the game had even been out for a day, fans were already hacking the game to add their own custom mechs and get up to shenanigans the developers never anticipated. Here are some of the wackiest mods we've seen for "Armored Core 6."
Armored Carl brings GTA to Rubicon
With the hilariously titled Armored Carl mod, pilots can fly into battle as an oversized version of Carl "CJ" Johnson from "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas." "Armored Core 6" had not yet been out for 24 hours when this mod from Dropoff and TKGP hit the internet and captured players' imaginations. Carl doesn't appear to have any special abilities apart from his usual swagger and confidence, although TKGP notes that the character is distinctly better-looking than other mechs in the game, calling this the character's "most handsome form yet!"
However, it should be noted that CJ has clearly experienced some unexpected changes during his transformation into a mech. For one thing, his arms have been elongated and his neck has essentially receded into his body, making him look more like a glitch from the "GTA" remastered trilogy. That doesn't stop him from laying waste to enemies with the turret emerging from his tank top, as seen in footage of the mod in action.
Camera Tweaks opens up your mechanized eyes
Though the people who've played it are mostly in agreement that "Armored Core 6" is a total blast-and-a-half, it's not without its flaws. Some gamers have expressed frustration with the tight camera angles in the game, which can make it difficult to maneuver through some segments without taking heavy damage. Enemies can occasionally surprise you, rushing up from a blind spot and landing a couple of cheap shots, and some of the more vertical sections of the game are littered with hazards that are hard to dodge at the last second. As Digital Trends' Giovanni Colantonio explained in his review, "With bosses constantly zipping around and a flimsy lock-on that doesn't follow them, I also need to be constantly pivoting the camera with the right stick at all times. It's physically exhausting, which alone creates a rather large barrier to entry in an already niche game."
Thankfully, there's a mod made expressly for players who are feeling worn down by the fiddly camera. Uploaded by Xylozi, the Camera Tweaks mod does exactly what it says on the tin: It expands the amount of the screen that the player can see, pulling the camera bit further back and giving a fuller picture of the battlefield. Though players have expressed their surprise that FromSoftware didn't offer any built-in options for expanding the player's field of vision, this mod has been warmly received by the "AC6" community. Some have even suggested that they'd only use the mod for a few particularly nasty bosses, then uninstall it for the rest of their playthrough, just to make those more annoying bits less of a slog.
EZ-Core softens FromSoftware
"Armored Core 6" is a lot of fun, but it's also ultimately a FromSoftware game. At its (armored) core, this a title built around encouraging players to die a lot before they can figure out the best strategies for the game's bosses. Even the best and brightest gamers tend to struggle with conquering FromSoftware titles, and there's no shame in admitting that sometimes you just wish the developer would give you a break.
That break has arrived in the form of EZ-Core, a mod that provides players with the easy mode FromSoftware refuses to program. With this mod installed, the player character becomes "stronger, faster and tougher to kill." Players make more money from victories, their weaponry becomes more powerful, and it also adds in the camera tweaks from the preceding mod, meaning fewer enemies are able to sneak up on you. These adjustments and more should make completing the game's single-player missions an absolute breeze. However, mod creator Xylozi (who also made the Camera Tweaks mod) warns, players will want to avoid running this mod during online matches, "as it will be flagged and presumably you may be banned from online play."