The stories in FromSoftware games are often considered one of their strongest points. Even when the gameplay gets punishingly tough, lore tidbits scattered throughout the environment and item descriptions can push some players forward. It’s made some ofFromSoftware’s longer games and series, especially its Souls-likes, very memorable. In the rare instance that the developer iterates on a franchise, knowing what’s happened before can help.Dark Soulswasn’t the first FromSoftware series to try this, that honor would have to go toArmored Core.
Whereas most of FromSoftware’s fantasy efforts can be safely considered one-offs,Armored Corebuilds upon itself. Even if individual titles don’t have strong narrative ties to each other, there is a definite order of events that shape the franchise’s multiple timelines. Fortunately, these connections are typically laid out up-front, and theupcomingArmored Core 6: Fires of Rubiconhas once again split off into its own timeline. While players won’t need to know anything going into the upcoming entry, learning what priorArmored Cores are grouped together can help fans divide the franchise’s different eras in their minds.
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Timeline 1 - Armored Core 1 and 2
As with allArmored Coretimelines, and a lot of other FromSoftware titles, every game is preceded by some sort of great tragedy that devastates the world. The first timeline keeps things vague, with the Earth experiencing something called the “Great Destruction” that rendered its surface uninhabitable. Massive corporations take over and beginemploying Raven pilots in Armored Coresto establish dominance, and so the series begins. The series’ chronology is very straightforward, as all a new fan needs to remember is that the second game,Armored Core: Project Phantasma, is the only entry where its real-life release order and in-universe chronological order do not align.
Project Phantasmatakes place two years before the firstArmored Core, concerning the player Raven and their ally Sumika’s battle against the shadowy Doomsday Organization and its ace pilot Stinger. After that’s dealt with,Armored Core 1occurs with a focus on the corporate wars between Chrome and Murakumo, with both falling regardless of the player’s alignment.Master of Arenareveals that both the corporations and the Raven’s Nest were created by a master AI acting throughpowerful mecha sharing the iconic name Nine-Ball. Some fans believe that the player character ofMaster of Arenais the main antagonist ofAC2, Leos Klein, but this is unconfirmed.
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Alongside the jump from PS1 to PS2,Armored Core 2leapt forward 67 years afterMaster of Arena. It also significantly changes the setting, being the onlygeneration of the franchise untilArmored Core 6that takes place on a planet besides Earth. Specifically, the corporation Zio Matrix acquires plans for an ancient Mars terraforming project. When two other companies find out, another war breaks out on Mars. Near its end, the elite mercenary group The Frighteners turns against the current government, leaving the player to save Mars’ colonists.Armored Core 2: Another Ageis the final game in the original continuity, picking up five years afterAC2. Its story is largely an excuse to make more missions, so it’s better to think ofAC2as the cap for the original era ofArmored Core.
Timeline 2 - Armored Core 3
The second major timeline inArmored Coreis entirely contained withinArmored Core 3’s generation.Armored Core: Nine BreakerandArmored Core: Formula Frontboth came out during this time, but both are non-canon. With a new timeline comes a world ravaged by nuclear war, and like inAC1,Armored Core 3begins after humanity is driven underground. The AI presiding over their shelter known as “The Controller” turns out to be manipulating the latest corporations into fighting, seemingly intent on keeping humans safe in a cultural stasis. Once the player defeats it, the complex’s blast doors open and allow people to begin reclaiming the surface after what has apparently been centuries.
Silent Line: Armored Corepicks up sometime afterAC3, and focuses on a mysterious region known as the Silent Line. The player eventually finds another underground human society guarded by AI forces, and ends the game by setting them free. Some 55 years after that,Armored Core: Nexussees corporate warfare reach a boiling point that results in the player accidentally activating an apocalyptic AI weapon system and dying in the process.Armored Core: Last Ravenresumes in the aftermath, where the remnants form two opposing groups to fight in a 24-hour war. The canon ending results in the player becoming the titular last Raven, andAC3’s timeline concludes with a fight against the last Pulverizer AI to give humanity an era of peace.
Timeline 3 - Armored Core 4 and 5
The third timeline belongs toArmored Core’s fourth and fifth generations, although connections are tenuous by some. InAC4, many citizens are forced to live in oppressive colonies, and once the corporate government splinters, the player character steps up as a Lynx to pilot their NEXT in the ensuing war. As it turns out, the Kojima particles powering NEXTs are hazardous, and the environment promptly collapses.Armored Core: For Answerpicks uparound 10 years later, with some of humanity now living in airborne colonies while others are forced to stay on the surface. After plenty of fighting, the player is treated to some of the series’ darkest endings yet. On the bright side,Armored Core 4’s protagonist shows up inAC4’s iconic White Glint NEXT, providing an awesome boss fight.
Armored Core 5is not explicitly tied to prior titles, featuring its own technology and organizations in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic Earth. Its story doesn’t amount to much, but things pick up100 years later withArmored Core: Verdict Daywhen an unspecified contamination finally subsiding and allowing humanity to expand. Discoveries of lost technology spark a three-way conflict known as the Verdict War, and the player once again pilots an unnamed Raven.
WhereArmored Core 5andVerdict Daytie back into the fourthArmored Coregeneration is with the final boss J’s mech. It uses several abilities and components that were onlyavailable inArmored Core 4andFor Answer, on top of resembling a black White Glint. Ruins from an Armed Fort called the Spirit of Motherwill also appears in a particular mission, which was destroyed by the player early inFor Answer. This seems to place the fifth generationArmored Coregames centuries after the fourth, tying up the current finalArmored Coretimeline beforeArmored Core 6reboots everything all over again.
Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubiconwill be released in 2023 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
