Does Armored Core VI have New Game Plus?

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon officially released this week, bringing explosive mech action to Xbox, PlayStation and PC. Described as the most ambitious entry in the franchise to date, it’s estimated to take about 20 to 30 hours to complete your first playthrough of the game, which is split into five chapters. Of course, as this is a FromSoftware game, playtime can vary because of the difficulty. But once you do complete the main story of Armored Core IV, what’s next?

Does Armored Core VI have New Game Plus?

It is confirmed that Armored Core VI does have a New Game Plus mode for when you complete your first main playthrough. But it’s not just an amped-up version of the missions you just played. Armored Core VI’s New Game Plus will add new missions and contain other secrets for players to uncover. Even missions that you played in your first playthrough will be altered or changed, resulting in additional story elements and branching paths that could ultimately lead to a new ending.

Game director Masaru Yamamura even confirmed in an interview that players are “expected to play repeatedly with different endings.”

In this sense, Armored Core VI’s New Game Plus will encourage players to complete the game at least three times, and each time should result in a different experience based on the decisions you make.

When you do complete the main story a first time, you’ll be launched into the main menu. Your second playthrough will allow you to skip the prologue, taking you right into the second mission. You’ll retain everything you had at the end of your first playthrough, including OS upgrades, parts, Arena battles, etc. You can also expect the difficulty of combat encounters to be ramped up as New Game Plus.

If you’re looking to fully 100% complete the game, it sounds like you’ll need to play through Armored Core VI multiple times, adding up to more than 60-plus hours of game time.