The usage of the track Steel Haze (Rusted Pride) in Armored Core 6 might make it Fromsoft's greatest musical accomplishment

Originally posted Sep 1, 2023

Perhaps in a desire to make Armored Core 6 more welcoming to newcomers, Kota Hoshino's soundtrack is more muted than past entries, relying on nonintrusive ambient synths. Armored Core is already a mechanically overwhelming game, perhaps they didn't want to overwhelm your other senses with Hoshino's usual brand of maximalist verve. There's still a handful of standout tracks but on average, it's probably not my favorite soundtrack in the series.

Luckily it introduces the character V.IV Rusty and his theme song, "Steel Haze."

This post will contain spoilers for Armored Core 6's "Fires of Raven" ending. I'll mark again where the real spoilers begin.

Callsign Vesper IV Rusty is a member of the Vespers, a group of elite AC pilots sponsored by Arquebus, one of the primary belligerents in the game's conflict. Despite your disparate allegiances in the war waged on the planet of Rubicon 3, Rusty enjoys the role of being an Ace Combat character transplanted into an Armored Core. He's friendly, recognizes your potential, calls you his buddy, and most importantly, holds a certain worldliness that only comes from being a fictional character in a Japanese game who believes in Ideology with a capital I.

It's important that Rusty is a believer in something because one of Armored Core 6's central beliefs is that true freedom is having the ability to leverage your power toward any goal. That to have power is to inherently have the responsibility to use it toward a greater good. "Nothing is graver than power without purpose," as Rusty puts it. Despite your amicable relationship, Rusty starts wondering about you. Surely, something must drive you.

LATE ARMORED CORE 6 SPOILERS. IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED THE GAME JUST LISTEN TO THE COOL SONG AND LEAVE. MAYBE CHECK THE GAME OUT, IT'S GREAT.

One of the things you can choose to fight for is a greater good of monstrous proportions. Late in the game, your mission control Handler Walter reveals to you that he's a survivor of the Fires of Ibis, the manmade apocalyptic event that ignited Rubicon 3. He tells you the grim truth of Coral, the planet's unique super resource. The very resource that has turned you into an inhuman AC piloting monster. The resource responsible for some of the most heinous fighting the planet has ever seen. Handler Walter believes that as long as Coral exists, the corporations will continue to wage war over it and that its proliferation will only lead to conflict across the galaxy. He presents the most severe solution possible: burn the coral. Feed the fire, let the last cinders burn. Deny Coral to humanity.

Practically, what he's asking you to do is finish what the Fires of Ibis started. He's asking you to set the entire world ablaze. That this accursed substance may never taint the rest of space.

Rusty is revealed to be a native Rubiconian and a double agent working for the Rubiconian Liberation Front, the planet's domestic military resistance. He became a member of the Vespers to leak Arquebus' advanced technology to the RLF, hoping to gain an edge in their war to oust the corporate invaders. To maintain his cover, he's killed scores of his fellow countrymen for the sake of his own greater good. That by playing the role of hired killer, he might gain a chance to strike at the true source of his home's suffering. Despite the actions he's committed, he's never lost sight of his original goal; saving Rubicon 3. He cannot allow you to wipe out the planet. For all intents and purposes, Rusty is the true hero of Armored Core 6's story. You, Augmented Human C4-621 Callsign Raven, are the villain, driven to dark extreme by Handler Walter's revelations.

This culminates in a duel with your buddy-turned-rival Rusty, in the skies above Rubicon 3. The strength of your respective ideals will decide the fate of the planet. Playing in the background to this climactic final confrontation is a remix of Rusty's theme, aptly named "Steel Haze (Rusted Pride)."

I CAN FLYYYYYYY
I FLY HIIIIIIIGH
WATCH THE SUUUUNRIIIIISE
IIIIINTO DAAAAAWN

It fucking rips. Two comrades forged in the fires of battle, pitted against each other one last time. Like the distorted lyrics of the song imply, Rusty has never felt more sure of his purpose. He's here to save his home from a second apocalypse. "Someone has to put an end to this injustice," he says. He will do everything in his power to ensure we see another Rubiconian sunrise. And the worst thing? Rusty barely holds an ounce of hate in his heart for you. He hates that it's come to this, he hates that you proved his worst fears true, but he knows that you didn't make this decision lightly. That to have hardened your resolve to this extent, you must have also lost something to this heartless planet. "You found your purpose didn't you, buddy?" he asks.

"I won't stop! I'll chase the clouds from over Rubicon. Only I can fly high enough!" These are some of Rusty's last words, determined to pursue his goals to his dying breath.

"You flew just out of reach...buddy." Still a buddy, even on the doorstep of Armageddon.

People, myself included, love the austere sense of mystery that imbues the world of Fromsoft's recent work. You feel like a stranger in a strange land, where half the fun of exploring them is discovering the mysterious nature of the tragedies that befell their now lifeless worlds. Armored Core 6 represents a different strain of Fromsoft storytelling, that shows how much their unique brand of apocalyptic tragedy can benefit from more familiar conflict and characterization.

A character like Rusty could never exist in Dark Souls. Not even the amicable Solaire or Eileen the Crow could evoke the same melodrama as Rusty. The nature of how those games are constructed preclude this kind of characterization. It's the type of compelling earnestness you can only get from a narrative that genuinely believes in its own bullshit.

Despite never seeing his face, Rusty works as a character because he has tangible goals driven by a tangible ideology. He's not here to link the fire or seek the paleblood. He'll debase himself and murder his countrymen to kick out the imperialistic corporate barons who've turned his home into a desiccated husk. His pride may be tarnished, but it's never lost its true shape. Self deprecating awareness and shallow quips would only undercut the operatic nature. Armored Core 6 is closer to Metal Gear Solid or Ace Combat than Elden Ring. And that's great! More game stories should wholly embrace the artifice.

It's not the best boss fight Fromsoft has ever made, it's not even the own game's best fight. But as a sequence? A moment in time? The payoff is so perfect I'll never forget it. Armored Core 6 eschews a lot of things people have come to associate with Fromsoft in the last decade. In exchange, it's maybe the coolest 5 minutes they've ever managed to craft.

#mecha #armored_core #video_games #soundtrack_thoughts