Does Armored Core 6 have a pause button?

Normally, whether or not a game includes a pause feature wouldn’t even be a question. But when a FromSoftware game enters the conversation, then all of a sudden, it does become a question. Famously (or infamously depending on your perspective), FromSoftware’s games from Demon’s Souls onward typically omitted the ability to pause, partially due to them usually incorporating online features into their experiences. Since Sekiro didn’t include online elements in the campaign at launch, that game served as one of the few exceptions to the rule. And considering Armored Core 6 has a similar focus on single-player action, does it follow in Sekiro’s footsteps by incorporating a pause button?

Can you pause in Armored Core 6?

Fortunately, Armored Core 6 does indeed let players pause the action at virtually any point while playing. So if you find yourself in a tense firefight while someone, say, rings the doorbell outside, you don’t have to worry about losing substantial progress while answering the door.

Notably, the inclusion of a pause button is the exact reason Armored Core 6 is able to have a photo mode, one of the very few FromSoftware games to do so. Although not as much of a standard feature as pausing, photo modes have nonetheless become both common and incredibly popular in recent years. With the inclusion of both a pause feature and a photo mode in Armored Core 6, players have more ways than ever before to appreciate FromSoftware’s art design.

From what I’ve seen, the only caveat is that Armored Core 6 still doesn’t let you pause when in the middle of a PvP match. Of course, this doesn’t come as a shock considering how disruptive such a feature would become for the other players in a game. It’s incredibly rare to see an online game that allows you to pause mid-match, so it’s hard to really criticize FromSoftware for not letting you do this in Armored Core’s PvP mode.

Screenshot: PC Invasion