Bungie’s Marathon held my attention for less than three days. Then, Arc Raiders swooped in with an unbelievable trailer alongside a playtest that has already stolen my heart.
There’s so much I love about it already: the sound design is immaculate, so it sounds like you’re playing Marathon underwater with foam stuffed in your ears; the casualness of Arc Raiders’ extraction gameplay is also more like an adventure rather than some intensely sweaty head-tapping; and, this is the big one, it made my heart race in a way that I’d forgotten games were capable of.
Arc Raiders is a third-person extraction shooter that follows a typical formula: head into a raid, collect loot, then extract. It’s a simple premise that has made games like Escape From Tarkov cult classics. However, Arc Raiders steps away from the genre in some key areas. While it might appear that the game is set in a typical post-apocalyptic wasteland, there are robots that patrol the battlefield, an underground sanctuary, and “the topside”, where most of the action takes place.
Actually Something Different
I was a little concerned when I saw Embark Studios, the team behind the well-loved but slightly underrated The Finals, was going to release an extraction shooter. With Marathon, Bungie’s own take on the genre, also breaking cover at a similar time, I couldn’t help but think we had a bunch of studios jumping on the bandwagon due to the ongoing success of Escape From Tarkov. I’m happy to say that Arc Raiders is more than a copycat.
The AI-controlled robots that patrol the battlefield – the Arc themselves – are a brilliant addition. They’re much more than an annoyance. Not only do they sound oppressive- the sound design is seriously good – but they’re also dangerous. The Bastion, the large, crab-like boss Arc, will shred your shields. The Wasps shock you. The ticks jump onto your head like something out of Alien. And you can use the Arcs to your advantage. Chuck a Lure Grenade at your enemies to cause the Arc to descend on them.
The rounds come thick and fast in Arc Raiders. There’s very little downtime between raids and a fairly casual load of loot to trawl through at the end of every game. If you die and go broke, you get a free loadout to roll into a game with. The addition of a ‘safe pocket’ means you can store a few items that will head back to your base with you, even if you die. Because you get into a new raid so quickly, sometimes it’s perfectly fine to drop in, grab some loot, and immediately extract. I’ve managed to build up quite a nice pool of resources by doing exactly this.
Note: This game also runs very well. I’ve got a good PC – 4090, i9, etc – but I’m able to run this game at Ultra and get close to 200 frames. Some friends with slightly lower specs have found frame rates to be stable at various graphics settings. Strong performance in a game that looks this good is very impressive.
Tactical Combat
Despite Arc Raiders being a slightly more casual extraction shooter than Hunt: Showdown or Escape From Tarkov, the combat is highly tactical. Even in solo play, your use of utility items – like impact grenades and stuns – are crucial. You can dip in and out of fights, healing with bandages and shield rechargers. Some of my best fights have lasted for several minutes, across multiple different environments, as one player or the other is chasing, pushing, or running.
When you head into the trios squad mode, you need to communicate. The map design is clever because in almost every location I’ve fought in there are multiple angles of approach. It’s mind-blowing how much time has clearly gone into level design, as each space and environment feels specifically engineered to enhance the chaos of your fights, rather than the sort of large, blank, filler spaces you find in other modern shooters – I’m looking at you, Marathon.
Arc Raiders is an intense experience from start to finish. Even casual players will jump in and enjoy the journey of each individual raid. The atmosphere – from the screeching robots to dense fog and rain – is excellent. It’s a pretty special experience and, to be honest, I wish I wasn’t writing this now, and I was playing the game instead. I don’t say this lightly: Arc Raiders might actually be the next big thing.
ARC Raiders
- Released
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2025
- ESRB
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m
- Developer(s)
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Embark Studios
- Publisher(s)
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Embark Studios
- Engine
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Unreal Engine 5
