Armored Core 6’s Rusty is the hero we need

It’s hours into the events of Fires of Rubicon – Armored Core 6,You will feel warm before. Until the mission “Operation Wallclimber,” you are nothing but a number, nothing but a hired gun on the other end of barked orders.

In the cold steel garage that is your home on the desolate planet of Rubicon, you are referred to as “dog,” “hound,” and “merc.” Even more dehumanizing nicknames await you later. The closest identities that your character, C4-621, has prior to “Operation Wallclimber” are “Raven,” the identity you’ve stolen, and “Gun 13,” a designation foisted upon you after you killed the guy who would’ve used that name.

But everything changes when Rusty of the Vespers arrives and calls you “buddy.”

[Ed. note: This story contains spoilers for Armored Core 6.]

Rusty Armored Core 6.’s most crush-worthy AC pilot. He’s effortlessly cool, and he’s introduced with appropriate panache: At the Wall, Rusty swoops in riding his Steel Haze mech, and the camera pans up his spindly Nachtreiher AC legs to showcase his emblem, a muzzled wolf. Unlike the rest of the game’s characters, Rusty treats you with respect and camaraderie in your first battle together — during which he also genuinely seems concerned about your well-being. Afterward, he shares private details about that mission as a warning about the corporations’ intentions for you, making Rusty the first character on Rubicon who seems trustworthy.

FromSoftware/Bandai Namco

What ever impressive feats you manage to pull off Armored Core 6., no matter how many slo-mo exploding boss battles you walk away from, none of it will match the earned coolness of Rusty saying “I won’t miss” before he skewers your shared opponent with a railgun during the battle against the Ice Worm.

The players love Rusty because they see him as the rebellious, dashing pilot that he is. We never actually see Rusty’s face in Armored Core 6.Every piece of fan artwork of Steel Haze’s man appears to be 100% accurate, at least according to my eyes.

FromSoftware’s dialogue for Rusty is crafted to make you fall in love with him. He boosts you up (“Walter knows how to pick ’em”; “Glad you’re on my side”; “Stay cool, buddy”) and gives you something to aspire to.

“There’s no graver threat than power without purpose,” Rusty tells you during a mission in which he’s tasked with disposing of 621 under the command of his corporate handlers at Arquebus. While Handler Walter can compel the player to perform missions for his clients, and Ayre can nudge them toward doing the right thing, it’s Rusty who offers 621 a path toward redemption, toward that “purpose,” toward something more than just another job. In the cold world of Armored Core 6., that’s a uniquely humanizing thing.

FromSoftware/Bandai Namco

It’s not until much later in the game, when the reality of two AC pilots working for competing interests comes to a head, that Rusty’s true importance — and true intentions — emerge. Through Armored Core 6.’s story, those intentions are telegraphed in dialogue and combat logs. Like other FromSoftware games, Rusty’s role in this story isn’t transparent at first, but it’s ultimately revealed that he’s a secret agent working for the Rubicon Liberation Front.

Rusty will appear in Steel Haze Ortus near the end of game. He has a unique emblem. The wolf is unmasked this time, and depending on certain mission choices and which playthrough players are on, they’ll either fight him or fight alongside him once more, with the force of the Rubiconian resistance behind Rusty and 621.

Rusty’s fate at the end of the game is unclear, as it should be for a man of his cool factor. It doesn’t matter if Rusty lives or dies. Armored Core 6., he’s the one who walks away clean. He’s the hero of this story — not just for his convictions and actions, but for transforming the player into a hero, too.

Rusty: Stay calm.