Armored Core 6 - DF Tech Review - The Elden Ring Engine Returns on PS5/Xbox Series X/S

[@thecactusman17]

I think it's fascinating that modders have confirmed that Armored Core 6 is fully to scale with Elden Ring by importing partial AC mech assets into ER. The AC stands a little below waist high to the Fire Giant.

[@bar_bar9315]

Hearing Zelda music while reading your commeent, don't know why. :P

[@justinficiu5193]

schizophrenia? get that checked out dawg@@bar_bar9315

[@DiogoAzambuja]

It is always easier for any game studio to make things to scale. Unless it is something so absurdly huge they are forced to cheat.

[@chimeron260]

@@DiogoAzambuja yah, it's just scale is relative across different programs and engines. it's probably a bi product of them using the same tools, and possibly because it uses some of the same engine tech, even if not still in the game I'm sure they used elden ring assets during the prototype phase.

[@MLWJ1993]

​@@chimeron260Very likely, some terrain assets might still be in use (like trees).

[@DebugMenu]

"If the framerate goes below 60fps, it simply means we see the framerate go below 60" is one of the best lines ever on this channel.

[@ADa89mixus]

He's saying below the drs cap of 1512p, if the machine can't handle it it drops in frames drs between 1512 and full 4k.

[@greatwavefan397]

Hmm yes the floor here is made of floor

[@darkmegaman44]

the will buxton of gaming

[@yanceyboyz]

It actually makes sense, he's saying it will not scale the resolution back any further to keep 60 and at that point you will just start actually seeing the drops below 60fps (Vs seeing the resolution drop)

[@lynackhilou4865]

I was surprised how well this game runs on pc , on a 3070 it's almost always 90 fps at 1440p ultra , the only time frame drops occur is with big objects like the strider exploding , which i noticed was more a cpu issue

[@Dempig]

I mean it looks like a 5 year old mobile game. It should run well.

[@MaidenlessScrub]

@@Dempigyou never played a 5yo mobile game before eh

[@Mr.BananaManYT]

@@Dempig looks damn good for a 5 year old mobile game then.

[@yellowcard8100]

If every 5 year old mobile game looked like this then I would be playing more mobile games@@Dempig

[@ayaya173]

Lol it’s a 3070? Thats still considered mid to high end. I don’t get your point

[@KamalaChameleon]

Some of the backgrounds are increadibly beautiful. I appreciate whatever they decided to do.. sure they could've included ray tracing and ssao and so on so forth but what we got is just so good already

[@kevo300]

Oh they will add it later like elden ring.

[@HorseheadNebula85]

What an absolute stunner of a game. FromSoft yet again proves that art direction (not overall graphical fidelity) is what makes a game look good.

[@alumlovescake]

FS prove yet again there is no need to try when you have a zombie fanboy army

[@Mr.ClimateChange]

@@alumlovescakewhat part of this game looks like they didn’t try? Lmao it’s a great game.

[@kadoferusuraimu]

Except water reflections which really needed RT in this game. Whenever you fight in water it looks super janky. Everything else looks great so it’s a shame.

[@jimmypage1969]

​@@alumlovescakewtf you on about? It's a genuinely good game.

[@SMorales851]

@@kadoferusuraimu I'm not sure that spendinf time adding raytracing in fast-paced game is the best call

[@theelusivememe1772]

This game is such a blast to play. Gameplay is great and the story gets pretty epic. On my second playthrough now.

[@Ersanven]

I've heard there's a lot of mixups in NG+ even in NG++, you're in for a treat.

[@theelusivememe1772]

@Ersanven yea I heard about some of the changes. So far so good. This got to be one of my favorite games of the year.

[@Ryan-mn8jj]

That’s awesome. I never played an AC game but I loved Elden Ring and From games. Does progress carry over on 2nd play through? Any differences? I looooove Elden Ring but trying to replay that… just haven’t been able it’s so damn long. Not a bad thing but haha hard to replay.

[@Floodsye]

Haven't made it through my first playthrough yet, but I agree...extremely fun to play. There's actually so many games out now and coming out I have zero clue how I'm gonna get around to everything XD

[@theelusivememe1772]

@Ryan-mn8jj yes and yes. I loved elden ring too but that game is so long that I needed to take a break from it after beating it. This is my first armored core, but this game definitely has some good content to it. I'm really invested to get the other endings.

[@burningdeadman]

FromSofts artists are so on point with everything since dark souls they truely know how to make every game look like jaw dropping art even with limitations

[@extreme123dz]

Actually, they were on point form PS1 era games, you need to play some of theyre games to really understand it.

[@burningdeadman]

@@extreme123dz I understand. I was going by their beginning of the engine till now

[@fdevaa]

They're some of the best in the industry

[@are3287]

@@extreme123dz their ps1 era graphical artistry is nowhere close to the level of skill they've developed with colors now

[@SuperPowerPainter]

Yea their artistry is simply jaw dropping!

[@kulturvultur5036]

The music in this game is phenomenal. I highly suggest people listen to the OST.

[@samantha_t99]

I'm deaf

[@wchiggenbobber]

Not only that but the sound mix has the music way too quiet. I personally set Music to 10, Effects to 4, and Voices to 6 (a little low but i'm using JP voices)

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

Any theme that you recommend?

[@INSANEDOMINANCE]

OST?

[@samantha_t99]

@@INSANEDOMINANCE original sound track

[@Marine_Veteran_Vegan_Gamer]

I'm having a blast(literally) playing this game. I only need like 10 more S raks for 100%. I feel like I'm back in the ps1 days just having a good ol time.

[@MrChadLedford]

Same. I only need a few more s ranks as well. Game has been amazing.

[@ThomasVvV]

Doing the same rn. How do you get S rank in the tutorial? It seems the hardest xD

[@temuujinsukhbaatar7345]

@@ThomasVvV bro same

[@KEVBOYMUSIC]

@@ThomasVvV It seems like it's mostly about speed

[@irvinsmanjarres]

​@@ThomasVvVfor that mission I found being pretty aggressive with the sword was the answer. I assault boosted to it and hugged the plane and spam sword.

[@drace05]

It seems that each one of these technical reviews has pointed out. Developers need to target 1440p 60fps which still looks amazing on a TV with the console.

[@johnjohnson6142]

We just need more tvs in the consumer price range that offer 1440p

[@MaksKuaka]

​@johnjohnson6142 just get a large monitor

[@drace05]

@@johnjohnson6142 when it's upscaled by the TV to 4k it still looks great. At least from what I've seen. I do agree. More mainstream tvs should support that resolution as well.

[@MassiveHappyClapper]

Agreed, perhaps they could add a locked 60fps option via that route?

[@jumpierwolf]

​@@johnjohnson6142no we don't, 4k TVs are already super affordable at this point. I genuinely fail to see a market for 1440p TVs.

[@shukterhousejive]

I'd argue tanking the framerate when you explode an impossibly huge robot isn't an issue, reminds me of killing a boss in an old arcade game and it grinds to a halt processing all the cool explosions

[@martindehaij6076]

Thanks for the review Tom! Next time you mention PS4 backwards compatibility mode though, could you also mention the difference in loading/respawning time between PS4 and PS5? The game seems very difficult so respawning will happen often! 😅

[@LordRaydenTube]

The fact that he doesn’t mention it probably means it’s comparable with Elden Ring in backwards compatibility mode. The difference there was only a few seconds per load and by any means nothing to get annoyed by.

[@EinFelsbrocken]

Its not BB loading times upon its release 😂 so I think its ok

[@neamraven]

DF don't mention lots of stuff that's important. When they were comparing different versions of TW3, they said there is no pop in on PS5 while there is lots of it on Xbox. This is true, but what they didn't say was that on PS5 there is no pop in IN THE DISTANCE. Meanwhile there is tons of pop in right in front of your character that is even more obnoxious. They said nothing about that!

[@yokogoph]

You know what's fun to know: the mech and all the models are true to scale.

[@kirkkork]

How do you mean?

[@fug33]

to which scale?

[@mobius1185]

@@kirkkork that in engine, the mecha is actually 10m tall. If you had the tarnished stand next to an AC, the AC would actually be 10x taller

[@pierreo33]

​@@fug33True to scale = real life scale

[@Ayoul]

Not sure why people would be surprised by this. It's not like they're limited by materials or whatever. The best way to make something look mech sized is to scale it mech size.

[@autex2609]

I beat the game twice on ps5 framerate mode. Didn't notice any performance issues myself. Was actually consistently amazed how well it ran considering the giant environments, speed, action. What an awesome game. Can't stop playing it.

[@evilashxero]

I do notice when a stage starts, but it "seems" much more stable than Elden Ring. I can only play that in PS4 mode. This drops, but recovers quickly (most of the time).

[@sawdust8691]

I just finished my first playthrough today. Loved it. I only noticed fps drops in the opening of a few missions that had denser environments. There was probably many little fps drops, but nothing really noticeable. I also had VRR on so any little drops would be near completely invisible. Maybe others picked up on some more. Anyway, the games performance is solid enough. Plenty smooth and sharp, I really don't have any meaningful complaints. And it's just a good game all around.

[@sorubro2193]

Cool that you like it

[@King_WhiteWolf]

There are occasional hiccups on PS5 in performance priority, but they're SO rare I hardly noticed them. For reference: I'm halfway through my first NG+ playthrough. So it's not like I just haven't seen enough of the game to see any performance issues, and I am absurdly, ANNOYINGLY sensitive to frametime and framerate dips.

[@CropDudia480p]

Idk how fromsoft does it, soo many clear technical setbacks in their games and they still make the most fun games of year everytime

[@seedmole]

Waited so long for this, very satisfied on so many levels.

[@teffhk]

Excellent game that beyond my expectation for my first armored core game!

[@aaronlebeauf423]

After the first few hours of my first Armored Core, I was skeptical(I didn't know what I was doing lol). Now I'm on my 2nd playthrough with 6 different AC designs. Ate up my expectations as well bro.

[@94tegLSatMSC]

This game is such a blast, glad I picked it up on PC. I'm on a 3080/5800x and just maxed everything out at 4K and forgot about it. Plays great and looks awesome. So nice seeing a polished experience day 1 on PC.

[@mattspeer01]

Good to hear, I have the same 3080/5800X setup. I played ER on PS5 rather than PC because the PC version sucked so bad, but glad to hear I can play AC on PC.

[@stpirate89]

I'm on a 5600xt with 3600, I think I'll struggle with 1440p :( time for an upgrade, just a shame GPU prices are still so stupid high

[@williamcrms]

I feel like they could have gone with an upscaled 4k (1440p internal) resolution in performance mode. FSR 2 is serviceable at those higher internal resolutions, and it would probably lock to 60fps. Also no 30fps cap in quality mode 😭😭 why FromSoft, why

[@jsr734]

To get the game ready when the Ps5 pro arrives. Most likely, quality mode will achieve 4k 60 with the unlocked framerate.

[@Chilli_Tea]

13:22 for those who just want to see the ps4 version of the game on ps5

[@QKops]

This is what i'm looking for thx 🤍

[@pipgoesthepossum]

Could be wrong, but it seems like particle counts are more abundant in quality mode too. Purely based off your comparisons here. It's subtle, but it's there.

[@v1kt0u5]

Agree!

[@heilong79]

It is so smooth on PC I thought that the consoles would handle it easily as it seemed that from software learned a lot.

[@CosmicDancer87]

Man, devs just need to accept that the performance modes need to be 1080p/60 & 4K/30 for quality modes. Having the massive dips into the 40 FPS range is so weird. Why even bother trying to get your Quality mode to hit 60 fps? I just want to tell them, “1080p is fine y’all. It’s a great resolution and it’s going to be ok.”

[@cameronpavelic500]

God I love seeing these videos. Gaming since I was a kid 25 years ago has come so freaking far. Being able to learn about how developers implement new tech / techniques with each new generation is a joy to see, because it gets me so excited to see what the next 25 years will offer. Thanks DF!

[@51N5]

You began gaming around 1998, when 3D graphics were already in full swing. But think about the gamers, who began back in the 80's (or earlier) on stuff like Atari and NES, who've witnessed gaming evolve from 2D to 3D, to where we are today.

[@earlyriser03]

@@51N5 I feel seen. The jumps from fourth to fifth and especially the sixth generation of consoles was phenomenal.

[@aaronlebeauf423]

@@51N5You said it!! I was reading his comment thinking to myself his mind would be all the way blown if he experienced the evolution of gaming from the 80s to now.

[@coolestonions990]

Sr my bro, currently it offer many many of repetitive, soulless copy paste broken games waiting for patch and update after released game, it filled with microtransaction, forcing agenda, try to suck every penny as it can from consumer. Graphics invovlved but creativity is devolve, from soft is one of a rare case of studio still making good and completed video game, and they are not even western studio.

[@InfernalDrake117]

@@coolestonions990Bro, just look into indie games, which are absolutely booming these days. Everyone knows that triple A is almost always cancerous.

[@skdKitsune]

Hope we gonna get a PC review of the game, too

[@deus_nsf]

Hopefully you guys will talk about the PC version and the native official 120 FPS mode!

[@RyanLBC]

sadly they're not but during their last df episode one of them was enjoying it off air/internet on their pc and absolutely loved the performance on it and said he was getting a consistent 120 fps in 4k.

[@emphasize-ek]

@@RyanLBC I've got a pretty average rig (5800X3D, 3070) and I get locked 120fps at 3440x1440 on my ultrawide. Actually blew me away loading into the first mission and seeing without black bars on the sides (Sekiro doesn't support 21:9 without mods). Love the work they have put in to the engine.

[@RyanLBC]

that's great to hear as i'm having a great experience as well with a similar amd setup 5950x, evga 3090 ftw3. im on my second playthrough but first time trynig this pc setup. i actually beat the game on first playthrough on my rog ally but on low settings getting 50ish fps. it's crazy how much more fidelity this game has IRL vs youtube uploads. now i'm seeing why some people are judging the graphics the wrong way because the lower bitrate youtube videos of this game DO NOT do it justice at all. @@emphasize-ek

[@ZackSNetwork]

@@emphasize-ekThat is not an average PC. An average PC is like a Ryzen 5 3600 and a RTX 2060. This is me being optimistic.

[@hachikuji_mayoi]

@@ZackSNetwork Most popular ones are 1060, 1650, 2060 so yeah

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

Some AC tips for newcomers: - Some missles are classified as "pincers", because they pause / have an arc trayectory before hitting so you can use them for pressure tactics. The idea is that you get in range of your other weapon, trigger the pincers, charge in and slash or shoot as the pincers hit in order for them to track the pressured enemies. I used them for a while and they are definitely viable with practice. - Weapons show their "Ideal" and "Effective" ranges in the extended Stat section: Ideal is minimal chance to ricochet; the further from it you go, the chance to ricochet increases. Ricochet Hits can still be valuable though, while they inflict a minimum amount of damage and stagger they also briefly pause your target's stagger bar from draining. - In the shop, press Square to show a brief video of how a weapon fires. This will show all firing modes on any weapon. Good fast way to get an idea how long something takes to charge or how a missile will fly before you purchase it. - You can change the name of your AC on the AC Data screen. By default it is named "Loader 4".

[@MoonSarito]

I remember the best console performance experience in Elden Ring was running the PS4 Pro version on the PS5 via backward compatibility too, it's kind of ironic to see that happening again. At least it's nice to have that extra option.

[@YoshiCookie]

Hello, Digital Foundry team. Once again, a really stellar video breakdown in terms of performance. That said, could you please start incorporating Loading Time tests into your comparisons? I know that, in Elden Ring for example, the game was not optimized except for the PS5, meaning that the PC version and all Xbox versions had horrendous load times. Only the PS5 version had reasonable load times. Knowing this information is very important when deciding which version to buy. Please and thank you. 🙏

[@101phil101]

it's good to be back in a mission based game with great gameplay. In a world full of bloated open world games that never ends.

[@neamraven]

It fascinates me that people will complain about having lots of content and a big world in a game. The human brain is truly bizarre.

[@101phil101]

lots of open world games have too much repetitive stuff, boring fedex quests, reused content... how is it interesting?!? Not everybody wants to sink 5000 hours in a game btw.@@neamraven

[@Hatemx1]

​​@@neamravenWhen said open world is filled with repetitive content, then no, open world games and their "content" are not welcome!

[@neamraven]

@@Hatemx1 Funny, because AC6 is not open world, it's tiny, yet it's also filled with repetitive content! Same as Sekiro! Whaddyaknow!

[@Hatemx1]

@@neamraven Sekiro wasn't repetitive.

[@elec123]

I play it with locked 45fps on the steamdeck. I can really recommend it. Its not very high settings but still pretty.

[@kilikilio5321]

great game. great art direction. ingame-feels like looking a concept art

[@lyconxero457]

I would hope that within the next few years we see From Software somewhat overhaul their engine when they likely drop last-gen support for their new games. I can understand both Elden Ring and Armored Core 6 having the same issues because clearly they would've been working on these games at the same time and likely just shifted resources over to Armor Core 6 once Elden Ring was finally done to get it over the finish line. I'm hoping that future future games that we'll likely see in the next year or two find ways to better optimize things like dynamic resolution so that their games that hold frame-rates easier on all hardware that it launches on.

[@yanceyboyz]

For sure!! The jump of Bloodborne when they finally focused purely on the PS4 was outstanding.

[@SweetKingTanner]

While I agree that I want better running From games, I’m happy for people with last-gen consoles who still get to enjoy these wonderful experiences 🥹

[@Schizm1]

Honestly the artstyle of From games is so strong that I don't mind at all some technical drawbacks like lack of some hight-tech stuff or dated looking npc models.

[@linhza501]

Good art direction trumps raw technical prowess anytime.

[@echinas0908]

I think the big problem with their games is more about the framerate, looks wise they've been great since Bloodborne

[@Ayoul]

But especially with their success now, why not both? I'm glad they focus on art style no doubt, but I still think we should expect more from them.

[@spiderjerusalem8505]

@@Ayoul, because that would take valuable resources and force them to takes less risks. And we can't have that. They should continue with less high-budget games, it works great for them.

[@MoonSarito]

Even 1080p at a lock 60fps looks pretty good for me.

[@FungeHucker]

This game is a GOTY contender or at least deserving of nominations in several areas. The feel of the game is so deliciously smooth and responsive 🤤 some of the environments have incredible, natural scenes and industrial megastructures. Sets the tone of Armored Core perfectly!

[@djayjp]

Only one goty this year: BG3.

[@Supermjmt11]

This game ain't winning or nominated for GOTY lil bro

[@coolbrotherf127]

​@@Supermjmt11It'll probably be nominated, but it's pretty obvious that Baldur's Gate 3 is winning this year's GOTY.

[@darthmatoro]

Bg3 and totk are the biggest goty condenders so far with the w leaning towards bg3 tbh

[@trblemayker5157]

Its Sekiro Mecha Souls. What makes it innovative for GOTY?

[@anabang1251]

Excited for the PS5 Pro. Running it in Quality Mode at 60fps will be a blessing

[@PuuberZ]

I'm playing this on series S and I haven't had a single moment where I've complained to myself about the framerate dipping. I'm very happy with performance on that machine.

[@ogremair803]

I am happy that the PC port offers the best experience, especially with its Utrawide support and 120 fps. Immaculate.

[@robovinefilms1811]

There is distinct separation starting with Sekiro. Darks Souls 3 you can run back and forth from the Abyss Watchers to the closest ruin bonfire and watch Textures pop to life.

[@Mr.ClimateChange]

I love the one ladder in profaned capitol where you can see the texture below you change while sliding down.

[@yewtewbstew547]

I'm guessing the Strider death animation and similar drops during explosions are the result of a CPU bottleneck. Elden Ring had the same issues with things like dragon breath attacks and that big Cannon of Haima mausoleum thing.

[@matthewjalovick]

I like how Tom accidentally knocked over the trees when trying to get video of the shadows for Series S 🤣

[@Kenjitsuka]

Always a pleasure to get a Tom video! :)

[@MrRonski]

It is nice to have 4k mode since the moment you get Ps5 Pro or Ps6 the game will instantly play better at higher quality. This is why every game should have unlocked frame rate option.

[@riaz8783]

Sure as an option, but that should not be at the detriment of the experience today, which is an inconsistent experience on all consoles.

[@MrRonski]

@@riaz8783 of course. But if a game is solid 60fps they should also try to have a unlocked mode for 120fps.

[@mbsfaridi]

@@MrRonski 120hz is bliss.

[@_Chris390]

Good info, thanks. Happy to see it's not suffering as badly with frame rates etc as other FS games.

[@akhilgigu]

We need the Baldur's Gate 3 PS5 analysis.

[@kid_thegamer]

Is there a human inside the mech? And how he get up in the cockpit? An elevator, right?

[@tHeWasTeDYouTh]

yep, human inside I have checked the concept art but sadly it doesn;t show how the human pilots climb inside. previous AC games had shown this sometimes in the concept art and art books of the games,.

[@lunarblackstar1]

The sense of scale and verticality in this game is just jaw dropping... absolutely amazing! 😍🔥

[@aceofhearts573]

I love this game so much. I am so happy so many people have bought it, I hope there is a resurgence of mech games because of the siccess of AC6

[@ouederninizar5422]

JEDI SURVIVOR PATCH 1.7 IS NOW STABLE 60 FPS ON PS5,SERIES X ! RT DISABLE ON PERF MODE :)

[@xtr.7662]

Maybe if ff16 does the same

[@SE-fq4gf]

I still don't get why the framerate modes on this and Elden Ring didn't just target the PS4 pro settings with improved texture quality it seems like it would have been a good way to help lock down the framerate.

[@JellyJman]

I don’t know either, I guess they just wanted the graphic settings lol. But tbh there really isn’t too much of a difference in the frame rates of framerate ps5 and the ps4 pro on an actual gameplay level with the human eye

[@deskmanatee]

This game is incredible, just got the platinum a couple days ago and wish it didn't end. Highly recommend the title

[@CaveyMoth]

That giant strider battle reminds me of some of the gigantaur bosses in the VR game 'Jet Island.' I have never seen such massive bosses in a game.

[@GaminylGames]

Well I mean, God of War though

[@VulturePilot]

Fromsoftware is the best. Love that they brought gameplay back to an industry that had caved to “hold stick forward to slowly advance through the small crevice” sections and games that are mostly movies that play themselves for too long

[@valentinvas6454]

My only complaint is that when big explosions happen performance can really tank. My Ryzen 5 5600 and RX 6900 XT can easily hold 120 FPS at 1440p most of the time but as the strider collapses for example it can drop into the 40s... ouch. But similar things also happen in Elden Ring.

[@tHeWasTeDYouTh]

get a 4090

[@johnpalmovis6256]

I wish the title was ”has From’s Software improved”! Ah, what a lost opportunity. 😩

[@lobsterthepigeon8349]

Great tech review, as always. One thing I wished you would include in the future: the HDR implementation. Many games are still released with broken HDR

[@MetabolicFrolic]

This is my GOTY. Yes, it's that good.

[@curbthepain]

It's insane that this is the same engine and they managed 120 fps. I guess the maps are small but still. This game looks amazing and was great even on release. Only a few issues. Unlike all the other games these days.

[@Core2]

I'm absolutely loving the game!

[@JustS0meK1dd]

I'm honestly surprised that the consoles are struggling to maintain 60fps in AC6. It runs pretty flawlessly even on my last gen midrange PC (3070, 5600x). I'm running on max settings 1440p and swinging between 80-120fps being closer to the 100-120 bracket most of the time. It performs significantly better than Elden Ring ever did on my PC, so before seeing this I assumed that it would be a breeze for the PS5/XSX this time.

[@e2rqey]

Yeah consoles are definitely gonna need a mid-gen refresh. I'm running a 5900X and 3080Ti and at native 4K, I'm getting 100-120FPS with a mix of ultra and high settings.

[@fabolousjada5070]

Whats surprising is that their avoiding to put up starfield and go this in detail ..: super suspect

[@ronthorn3]

Note: Your running it at 1440p, the consoles are running it at 4k.

[@JustS0meK1dd]

@@ronthorn3 As the video mentions/shows, the framerate mode (50-60fps) on PS5/XSX dynamically scales at 1512p-4k depending on the situation and uses lower graphics settings. The 4k native mode runs at 30-40fps with higher settings. My PC can still run at 4K native and stick closer to 55-70fps at all times, so the consoles are running quite a bit slower than they should be in comparison to PC even at the same resolution. The 3070 is 40-50% faster than the PS5/XSX GPU, but it seems to be running even faster than that in this game specifically for some reason.

[@SE-fq4gf]

​@@JustS0meK1dd Well maybe it favours Nvidia's tech and combine that with your CPU and GPU being more powerful than the consoles is why your getting far better performance on the PC.

[@johnaldridge83]

I've put about 20 hours into this game. I've never noticed and FPS drops. It does really well and keeping them from noticed.

[@specters_art]

On PC it is surprisingly stable. Only had 1 hard crash with no noticeable bugs yet with about 10 hours of play. Compared to Elden Ring on launch which was crashing about every hour and had tons of bugs, many of them effecting gameplay. Glad they seemed to actually have polished this one much more than their past PC ports.

[@mohammadsaleem5990]

Elden ring had bugs? I've got 200 hours in and the most I got was stutters in fixed places. And I don't even have a high end rig. Just a laptop with an rtx 3050.

[@specters_art]

@@mohammadsaleem5990 yeah well documented bugs and performance issues even by the channel you’re on right now. No need to fanboy and excuse From. Look on the bright side they seemed to have turn it around for AC6 and that is something you should be celebrating.

[@piensluc7444]

Armored Core 6 with my series X and my LG c1 65 inch with VRR made in heaven !

[@Kaptime]

It was baffling to me that the ER engine runs so well here and on PC. On my Ryzen 7600, ER uses 60-70% on a couple of the cores to get 60 fps, but AC6 uses

[@-TriP-]

it even runs really well on Steam Deck, I guess having much smaller areas and less detail to render than ER goes a long way

[@ttghhgg1918]

it looks like a ps3 game ofc they run well

[@TruTrae]

​@@ttghhgg1918you're giving the PS3 too much credit.

[@Kaptime]

@@ttghhgg1918 Nothing to do with the graphics I'm talking about CPU load, the raw simulation without graphics took a lot of CPU time in Elden Ring.

[@InMaTeofDeath]

Probably has to do with the size of the world, the maps in AC aren't small but no where near the size of ER.

[@vandammage1747]

50-60 fps is perfect for freesync/VRR. Looks great except for the shadows in performance mode. A slightly lower resolution with better shadows would look better I think. But this game looks much better than the dissapointing Starfield.

[@AlikanAlmeida]

Watching the PS4 Pro version with checkerboard, I came to the conclusion that I like checkerboard way more than something like FSR. It may lack the same level of details in still shots, but the artifacts does not look that bad in comparison to the disocclusion artifacts FSR have.

[@vandammage1747]

100% agree, it's much better especially at 4K60

[@SE-fq4gf]

Yes I too miss just locked resolutions or checkerboard rendering, I find it so much cleaner, both Horizon games, God of War, Ghost of Tsushima and Shadow of the Tomb Raider all used checkerboarding and they all look far cleaner than any game that uses FSR2. Games like RE4R or RDR2 do show that it can look bad if not done right though.

[@mbsfaridi]

Amazing how fast the game was released after its announcement.

[@PCgamingbenchmarktime]

Uggh i was hoping for a pc tech review

[@uum6]

I've got a love-hate relationship with FromSoft. I love Sekiro, AC6, and always Quality Mode, but hate how they always literally half-ass their optimization. Consequently, most FromSoft fans likely love to hate me, while I hate to find I love them.

[@Demanufactur3r]

Looks awesome! Is the music used in this video from the game as well? Excellent review as always (:

[@Taipan278]

yeah it's all from the game.

[@MetabolicFrolic]

It's all from the game. The music is absolutely incredible. It's hardcore Blade Runner style.

[@Demanufactur3r]

@@MetabolicFrolic awesome, even better!

[@Demanufactur3r]

@@Taipan278 good to read!

[@АндроидБишоп]

​@@MetabolicFrolicWhat exactly is Blade Runner about it?

[@the_kovic]

I bet that the reason why From Software keeps shipping games unlocked to 60 FPS that never hit 60 FPS, sticking to the 30-40 range, is so that they don't get criticized for mucking up frame pacing for 30 FPS lock.

[@krono5el]

To have a mission based game to just replay and have fun with the missions was so sorely missed.

[@Togster]

my 24" monitor and ATH headphones doesn't do AC6 justice. The music and cinematography is just epic

[@affa5908]

played Armored Core 2 and 3 back in the day... thought it was revolutionary lol its great to see this series reboot in such a fun way.. its challenging AF, story is alright, but the gameplay/customization is AAA

[@zomg346]

Don’t understand why devs don’t just use 1440p for that 60 fps the oled lg and qled Samsung will do it’s job upscaling it to 4k

[@JKSmith-qs2ii]

Another excellent video Thomas! Thank you! PS4 version on PS5 it is, just like Elden Ring.

[@gangreen1985]

Yeah, I’ll be doing the same, just like elden ring. Hopefully ps5 pro can lock it at 60fps with ps5 versions.

[@Deapher]

You should not need a pro next gen console to run a game at 60 fps.

[@xtr.7662]

Its still better than elden ring that never quite reached 60fps on ps5 or series x

[@Deapher]

@xtr.7662 Well I mean compare the worlds of each game and that should make sense lol Elden Ring runs fine on my PS5. Plus they're made by the same company so not sure what you mean. I'd expect AC with its world to run better than Elden Ring. But in this modern day of gaming there shoudlnt be a single game that struggles to run at 60 fps. Elden Ring included.

[@JKSmith-qs2ii]

@@xtr.7662 the ps4 pro version of Elden Ring on the PS5 is pretty much a locked 60fps. There are some traversal loading stutters but the frame rate is solid.

[@SotNist]

When there's a Quality Mode with an uncapped framerate, I'd like to see more attention paid to minor differences in visual quality between Series X and PS5, because I sometimes buy based on an idea of future proofing. ie: Sekiro on PS4 Pro and One X is locked 60 on PS5 and Series X, but the higher native resolution of the One X version made it the better backwards compatible version in the end.

[@MassiveHappyClapper]

Nice one DF. Would it be feasible for them to add a mode and lock the res to 1400p and use an upscaler? To try and hit 60fps more evenly. From Softwares games are excellent but it shouldn't excuse unoptimised or poor performance.

[@schwartzy65]

And to be fair they dont even look like next gen game imo

[@MassiveHappyClapper]

@@schwartzy65 They don't look particularly current gen either.

[@oo--7714]

@@MassiveHappyClapperit does, ps3 games aren’t this large or filled with effects

[@MassiveHappyClapper]

@@oo--7714 No one spoke of ps3. Current gen is PS5.

[@jamescole3143]

Thank you DF!

[@thepushback9614]

Love all the df reviews but Tom's is always the cleanest and straight for the throat. No bs,just the deets. Great review Tom

[@Floodsye]

The thing about FromSoft games is...they don't need to be graphically cutting edge...because they are excellent games, period. Elden Ring is graphically more impressive, but also primarily uses methods that have been used for many years. Actually, Starfield's another great example of a game that opted to not use cutting edge raytracing techniques and is better for it. I feel that many raytraced attempts lack that polish of meticulously crafted baked and rasterized lighting solutions. It's more realistic, but there's something lost in most games with it and I'm glad FromSoft is sticking with their tried and true methods of rendering. The stylistic choices to keep to simplified geometry for AC6 may not being for everyone, but the vastness of the level design is universally impressive.

[@wh5027]

Starfield is much better than people realize. It isn't mind blowing at all graphicswise, but runs well and gets better the more you play.

[@seriousstuff8887]

It probably won't get a game of the year nomination, but it deserves it .. this is one of the finest games of this generation tbh !

[@IMZ44]

FS has a track record of poor opitmaztion with their games. Folks let them slide on it, so it doesn't matter in the end.

[@perpetualcollapse]

Great video as always 👍

[@S_F_S]

Great review Thomas!

[@Reiveth]

Really wish fromsoft could get their act together on performance modes, it really wouldn't be that hard to make elden ring or this have two distinct modes with 60 and 30 baselines without much drops, the framerate modes need less resolution and the quality modes need frame caps and everything would be nice and dandy. That being said having played For Answer a couple dozen times and getting used to sub 20 fps ac6 is like a dream in comparison haha

[@bltzcstrnx]

Japanese developers somehow don't put that much care on performance. This is how it has been done since the beginning.

[@leonic458]

​@@bltzcstrnxye it's also less work to deal with for them. 30 is okay, cause it gives more sense of speed and realism. People didn't even complain about Ff16 frame rate when it first show its gameplay trailer. Cause motion blur makes it smooth. Though I would prefer object motion blur to 30fps games how Re5 did

[@justinp9170]

​@@bltzcstrnxso true. And I don't know how long the fighting game community has been asking for rollback netcode for online play before Japanese developers finally gave in lol. It always takes them a while to get to the curve, but when they finally do we get a handful of jewels (some jpn devs still drop the ball)

[@bltzcstrnx]

@@leonic458 FF16 performance mode is awful. I locked it to 30 FPS using quality mode on my PS5.

[@yotube155]

Finished Verdict Day on PS3 right before hoping into 6, so now 6 feels buttery smooth lmao

[@jonmurrs7068]

Agreed the performance mode is a must in this game on ps5… I wish devs would give us a locked 40 option more often. Not sure if that would feel good enough on armored core, here, tho

[@YourGoodTwin]

I agree, or locked 45. It's no 60 but it looks so much better than 30.

[@thilankavithanage1891]

Easily the best mech game ever

[@firstlast-kk6bz]

It's funny to me how much people are gushing over it. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but it's only a step above AC:4A from 15 years ago, which tells me I really haven't missed out on much with all the games I've skipped out on in the last decade. Gaming really hasn't advanced much other than graphical fidelity, and has degraded in so many ways. I'm very glad this bit of nostalgia didn't get tarnished and was even improved on, and equally glad that I didn't waste my life on the vast majority of AAA shovelware.

[@keir92]

you neglected to talk about how the performance mode fps range overlaps with the vrr windows of the two consoles.

[@SimonVaIe]

Typical vrr window starts around 45hz, so you'll mostly be fine

[@keir92]

@@SimonVaIe on ps5 it’s 48-120 and on series x it’s 40-120. would have been nice to get a confirmation that doesn’t or rarely drops below these windows in performance mode.

[@CheckmateStallioN]

On PC at 4K max settings this really shines except for the trees and some buildings. No shader compilation stutters, no traversal stutters, and no framerate drops either. It is very well optimized on PC unlike ER which to this day is still a stuttery mess. I like how they went with more vivid colors

[@Dieg0frc]

This is the one I was waiting for.

[@CodyHimselfXI]

I love this game

[@robertlawrence9000]

They should have just made quality mode with RT an option in the garage even if the game is set on performance mode during gameplay instead of it only being available when quality mode is selected.

[@HaloinfiniteEternal]

Quality mode on Xbox Series X could actually be decent considering the XSX has LFC which allows Vrr to have a range of 20fps to 120fps which means even if the frame rate is always between 30 to 60 in quality mode it’s still gonna be a smooth experience with LFC enabled Vrr……. Sony needs to push a firmware update if possible to enable the LFC on PlayStation 5 as it would be much appreciated since there’s quite a few game’s which would benefit greatly

[@thanksbetotap]

Well that’s true, but LFC is also a last resort option because it just ends up repeating double frames. VRR can’t really keep things smooth below 40 fps, but just makes it less horrible. Don’t think Sony can add LFC support unfortunately. That’s an inherent tradeoff with their implementation.

[@blackmy01]

​@@thanksbetotapLFC is already in many First Party Sony games. It's not system level like Xbox, the developers need to implement it at a software level.

[@HaloinfiniteEternal]

@@thanksbetotap that’s definitely not true man as I’ve played several games on Xbox Series X with LFC enabled and it worked exactly as intended, and Elden Ring is a great example because when it first released it was dropping into the 30’s and if you played the unlocked quality mode which was between 30 to 60 it was perfectly smooth, and I know that’s only one example but there’s many others where LFC works very well as it’s the same as standard Vrr but the range widens between 20 to 120

[@hazmifly]

The game run extremely well on RTX4090 4K Max Setting 120fps lock with more headroom to spare.

[@jjboonzaier]

I would fucking hope so

[@brandon_nope]

No 30 fps cap on Quality Mode is unforgivable. If only they at least implemented a 40hz mode for Performance Mode.

[@v1kt0u5]

I prefer 35-45 in a VRR TV. And in Frame-Rate mode it runs close to 60fps, so 60-120z is much better than 40. And we also have to consider the input-lag. Why would anyone play this game in "Quality" mode, when the image difference is so small VS the benefit of higher more stable framerate with lower latency? 🤔

[@yourlocalhuman3526]

Once you experience high frames, refresh rates there is no going back. That's one of the main reason's I can't go back to consoles

[@MrChadLedford]

Most people are just going to play this on performance mode. It's a fast-paced action game. I'm so glad they included 120 FPS for PC!

[@FungeHucker]

​@@yourlocalhuman3526Not true in my case :) I can do 30fps fine, it's just the jarring switch between and letting your eyes adjust. Most games these days I just use the 'quality' modes - rarely if, if ever, do I use performance modes unless they're exceptionally close in IQ, like God of War:R

[@icybillythekids6670]

30 FPS cap would probably give you bad frame-pacing so I’d rather have a unlocked frame rate

[@mikedelgrande5296]

Prof Fromsoft knows how to make a perfect game. 10/10

[@v1kt0u5]

Ok, it was a purely technical review! Very well done, Tom 🧐 It would have been nice to analyze-report the issue with the HUGE inner deadzone of the right stick. Me and friend agree on this, with PS5 & XBSX gamepads on both consoles and wired to PC (with overlays disabled). It plays much better with K&M. EDIT: Tbh I expected more comments with the issue, but well, at least many gamers are already complaining about it on Reddit and Steam. In both sticks the fkn DZ is about 40%, much larger than the Souls and Sekiro games. Worse than ever specially for this type of controls. Inadmissible from FROM ;(

[@phant0mdummy]

This needs a patch.

[@Reiveth]

I saw someone fix this in the steam controller settings, by default it seems to add a large deadzone for no reason.

[@temporaltomato3021]

I'm so glad someone mentioned this. M&k would probably still be better regardless, but that massive dead zone makes what could be a smooth experience feel twitchy and unresponsive.

[@simonealcazar816]

It tends to be difficult to get contact with From about tech issues but usually sending trouble tickets through Bandai’s Support service seems to get through to them. So I would recommend addressing that with that method.

[@thealgerian3285]

@@phant0mdummy It's been like that since at least Dark Souls 1, FromSoft just love their deadzones. People only notice in AC6 because they never try to just walk in Souls games.

[@webbo654]

Not sure if it was being carried by VRR but in 55 hours i never noticed any significant drops whilst playing No bugs or anything Unbelievable quality

[@ItchHeSay]

Even though I have a few critiques of AC6 (mostly how easy it is to discover busted builds that trivialize the game. I didn't need to go online to figure out how effective dual Zimmermans are.), I can't get enough of it. The combination of its action, customization options, art direction, and story makes this one of my favorite AC games. I hope we don't have to wait another ten years for another one of these, because I have a feeling the next game could be a perfect AC game.