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Overview: Armored Core 6 is more like a work of art and the experience is tailored with a specific audience in mind. It is not for the faint of heart (both in terms of the story and the difficulty curve) and not everyone will enjoy it. With that being said, I'd say it still has one of the best stories/campaigns out of most games I've played within the last decade. This is also my first experience of any Armored Core game.

Gameplay/Mechanics: 9/10
What I've been looking for in the Mecha genre was a game where actions were more deliberate and attacks feel like they have weight to them. The melee weapons definitely fit that role and require proper setup to be most effective. In fact getting the most damage out of any weapon is usually accomplished by first stunning/staggering the enemy through ACS buildup. This stun bar is a new mechanic to the series and not everyone is a fan of it, but I don't see much of an issue with it outside of multiplayer/network lag.
The movement speed is generally fast paced, but avoiding damage often requires precise timing and is essential to not dying horribly in this game. Certain enemies/bosses are definitely bullet sponges, but having the right loadout can make a big difference in both difficulty and how you play. My only real complaint is related to technical limitations or the game's netcode along with the requirement of a mod to play the campaign mode cooperatively with friends. Certain missions may also contain bugs and performance issues which may occasionally require you to restart the mission.

Difficulty: Lego Yoda Death Scream/10
The difficulty is not so much of a curve, but a series of brick walls at certain points in the game. The first one being a heavy attack helicopter designed for the express purpose of systematically removing game journalists from the gene pool along with my sanity. To be fair this is debatably the 3rd or 4th hardest boss in the game (due to the fact that your starting loadout is dogwater) and they decided to make it the tutorial boss. I am currently petitioning the local government to provide humanitarian aid in the form of MANPADS.

Story: 10/10
War is hell. Also wow cool robot!
The game has many interesting characters. While choices you make will significantly impact what happens to the world, many people are simply destined to die regardless of your choices. This game can occasionally hit you in the feels so I wouldn't get too attached to anyone (stop hurting me FromSoft). There are multiple endings. Not going to say too much else here to avoid talking about spoilers, but overall you can tell they put a lot of effort into making this game.

Soundtrack: 9/10
"Please stop saying dumb things! You're not even making sense-"
HIGH AND DRY
I FLY HIGH
WATCH THAT SUN RISE
IN THE DAWN

Most of the soundtrack goes for a more atmospheric feel as opposed to earlier Armored Core games, but there's a few really good songs in there ("Rusted Pride", and "Contact with You" for example).

Slight Rant About Video Games and "Curated Experiences":
My criticism of many mainstream "AAA" games these days is they try way too hard to fit into a trope of "interactive storytelling" or attempting to be a "unique cinematic experience" to the point where it feels forced. A lot of publishers also tend to forget about the whole "video game" aspect of the media they are trying to produce. As a result of these trends (along with all the other monetization/marketing tactics which plague modern games), things often feel superficial because everyone is in the industry wants to appeal to a wider audience.

"Finally Some Good ****ing Food":
AC6 is pretty much the exact opposite in every regard. It is unapologetic about what it is and who it is made for. The game is only supported by its own merits alone without all the various marketing gimmicks, monetization schemes, or live service battlepass seasonal nonsense which publishers use as a crutch to determine success. People were asking FromSoft to make a new Armored Core game for years and AC6 was made with this specific target audience in mind. AC6 does streamline some of the systems to make it more accessible for new players (at least from what I heard), and somehow managed to make the much sought after "cinematic experience" that other games wish they had. I was expecting a game with giant robots where the universal solution to most problems is the Pilebunker, not one of best singleplayer/cooperative campaigns since Halo 1 and 2.

Note on Multiplayer:
To be fair, I have not really tried the competitive multiplayer modes and mostly play cooperatively with a friend instead. While I cannot comment specifically on the PVP multiplayer, the Cooperative play mod essentially runs on the same logic as Elden Ring, where people can invade your missions unless you disable the feature. In my experience, 3 missions do not function as intended but only 2 of them require you to play solo. You may occasionally need to restart the "Prison Break" escort mission because sometimes the AI can bug out and fail to trigger specific objectives.