Forget Elden Ring DLC, we need Armored Cores unleashing mayhem in the Lands Between

You’ve seen how big most of Armored Core 6’s mechanical monstrosities are in comparison to the Tarnished, but now a video from modder Dropoff has shown us all just how fun it could be if an AC took the place of Elden Ring’s protagonist.

It seems like we’re all very much on high alert for any morsels of info on the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, no matter how difficult to read into they might be, but it’s nice to see people still managing to find fresh ways to blend the stuff FromSoft has already provided us with together. Even if it does look like this particular combo might ruin the challenge presented by the big bads in The Lands Between.

Making use of the fairly well-publicised fact the two games share the same engine, Dropoff’s recently ported some portions of Elden Ring’s map into AC 6 (thanks, PC Gamer), seemingly in order to re-emphasise how big the player’s mech is in comparison to them. What they’ve really done, though, is demonstrate just how hilarious it’d be to fly around The Lands Between blasting the baloney out of bosses.

Sure, having the ability to rain down fire from afar with a Zimmeman or two would almost definitely obliterate the difficulty curves everyone from Mogh to Malenia - if seeing a mech shaped like CJ from GTA: San Andreas (yes, Dropoff made THAT mod) didn’t lead them to die of shock on the spot, but it sure looks pretty entertaining. A number of sections of the video have a distinct ‘cat walking over a model train set’ vibe to them and I can’t quite explain why it appeals to me so much.

Maybe it’s just seeing structures you usually view from the perspective of a tiny mite reduced to things a mech can casually jet over the top of as though they’re low-lying garden walls. Or maybe I’ve always wanted to treat a gothic amphitheatre like it’s a bowl in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, no matter how ill-equipped for kickflips an AC might be.

And hey, there’d at least be a substantial challenge in finding a way to squeeze your bulky tank tracks into a cave or two. Maybe that’s the future - an AC having its cockpit slapped about by Malenia while its little legs stick out of her hideout as though it’s gotten stuck trying to plug something in under a desk.

If you’re currently replaying FromSoft's open-world baby in regular, non-mech form in anticipation of digging into some DLC soon, make sure to check out our array of guides to everything from beating the Draconic Tree Sentinel to how to get every ending you could want.