Arc Raiders devs had ambitions for “boss fights in that same arena of Dark Souls, Monster Hunter” but quickly realized the Arc are too unpredictable

by

During the creation of Arc Raiders, the developers at Embark Studios initially planned challenging boss battles that would require players to learn enemy attack patterns, similar to games like Dark Souls and Monster Hunter. However, the powerful robots in Arc Raiders were too erratic and unpredictable to make this type of boss fight function properly.

In a behind-the-scenes documentary about the creation of Arc Raiders, technical designer Nora Silow explained the challenges of designing enemies for the game. She noted that because the game relies heavily on players recognizing patterns, many design ideas – particularly for enemies – were hard to implement effectively.

Pattern recognition in games simply means learning to predict what will happen next. For example, in a game like Dark Souls, you might notice a boss making a specific movement – like raising their weapon – that signals they’re about to perform a certain attack. With practice, you’ll learn to recognize these patterns and figure out how to defend against them.

“That’s what games like Dark Souls, like Monster Hunter kind of rely upon,” Silow continued. “And we had this ambition to have boss fights in that same arena of Dark Souls, Monster Hunter, having all of that compelling pattern recognition.”

Embark quickly discovered that the dynamic nature of Arcs made predictable boss fights impractical. Games rely on players learning patterns because specific actions usually lead to consistent results. However, Arcs, with their unpredictable movement – like a scarab on a slope or an unexpected player attack – broke those patterns, making scripted encounters unreliable.

Silow puts it succinctly: “You’re not gonna have the pattern that you thought.”

Read More

2025-12-06 19:10