It's safe to say that the runaway success of Elden Ring has positioned FromSoftware as one of the most-watched developers in the industry, with all eyes focused on what the studio has in store for players coming down the pike. The upcoming release of Armored Core 6 is a welcome return to one of the developer's longest-running and most-loved franchises and promises to be a much different experience than fans introduced to FromSoftware via Elden Ring will expect. FromSoftware should arguably follow a similar approach to its next Soulsborne title in terms of providing players with a concise and focused experience not dissimilar from the studio's work on Sekiro.
Elden Ring is undoubtedly one of the most important games of a generation thanks to it representing more than a decade's worth of design ideas from Dark Souls mastermind Hidetaka Miyazaki. It's not often that a singular individual gets to see the fruition of their creative vision made real, and Elden Ring pulled out all the stops to include nearly every facet of Soulsborne gameplay that fans had grown to love, transplanting it to an open-world in the process. With an almost impossible bar to clear set by Elden Ring, it might be best for FromSoftware's next action RPG title to be more grounded.
Armored Core 6 Could Be the Beginning of a New FromSoftware Era
With Elden Ring representing the pinnacle of the Soulsborne formula in both its design and success, it's refreshing that FromSoftware's upcoming newest entry in it's Armored Core franchise isn't looking to just be "Dark Souls with mechs". It would have been all too easy for FromSoftware to rest on its laurels and simply try to replicate the success of Elden Ring in each of its subsequent titles, but as it's established in the past, FromSoftware is a development studio that plays by its own rules. The Armored Core series has traditionally been a very niche franchise that appeals to fans of strategy and customization as much as action, and Armored Core 6 appears to continue this legacy while also moving the series forward.
In taking the lessons learned from Elden Ring and the Souls series as a whole and applying it to its other IP, FromSoftware might be signaling the beginning of a new era for itself beginning with Armored Core 6's release. The newest entry in the long-running mech combat series may well be the first of a number of titles coming out of FromSoftware that are smaller, more focused titles with a mostly linear progression path. Even though the development team has stated that fans shouldn't expect Armored Core 6 to be a Soulsborne title, chances are some of the DNA from those titles will find its way into the game, potentially paving the way for whatever the studio has in store for fans next.
The Next Soulslike Developed by FromSoftware Should Skew Toward Bloodborne or Sekiro
The question remains as to what the next Soulsborne title out of FromSoftware will be like. Many fans continue to hope for a Bloodborne remaster or sequel, with other developers stepping in to fill the void in the interim (such as with Round8 Studio and Lies of P). Further, many of the combat-driven Soulsborne fans consider Sekiro to be one of the best systems to ever come out of FromSoftware. Although DLC for Elden Ring is on the way and an Elden Ring sequel would be a massive release, it already appears fans are hungry for more of the focused titles in FromSoftware's library.
Instead of a massive open-world Soulsborne title that tries to amplify all the mechanics and elements of Elden Ring, the next Soulsborne title from the studio should err on the side of brevity. Both Sekiro and Bloodborne are decidedly trimmed experiences compared to Elden Ring or even Dark Souls 3, and both are still considered two of the developer's brightest shining moments. Regardless of the direction FromSoftware takes with its next titles, fans can arguably expect the high standard of quality that has become synonymous with the studio.
Elden Ring is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
