ARC Raiders Leak Reveals Next Map Condition After Cold Snap

by

The recent ‘Cold Snap’ update for ARC Raiders is still underway, but details about the next major map event have already surfaced. According to a post by @TheRooster on X (formerly Twitter), the upcoming Trials season will introduce a ‘Toxic Swamp’ condition, likely working in a similar way to the current Cold Snap.

On December 16, 2025, the game ARC Raiders received the Cold Snap update, which introduced a new weather condition and gameplay features that make exploration more challenging and rewarding. When Cold Snap is active, maps are covered in snow, making it harder to see and causing players to slip on frozen surfaces. The update also added a Frostbite mechanic – if players get too cold, they’ll slowly lose health unless they find warmth or use healing items. The upcoming Toxic Swamp area is planned to have similar environmental challenges, but it’s expected to launch roughly a month from now.

ARC Raiders Toxic Swamp Map Condition Will Seemingly Follow Cold Snap

A user named @TheRooster shared that they learned this from i40R0NA. However, players curious about the game ARC Raiders can test it themselves. By changing the date on their Windows computer to December 22, 2025, or any date after that, while playing the game, they can see future content early. This trick was previously used to check stash values before the first Expedition in ARC Raiders, and it seems to still work. Now, it’s revealing content like the Toxic Swamp before it’s officially released.

ARC Raiders’ Leaked Upcoming Schedule

  • Trials Season 2 begins on December 22, 2025
  • Cold Snap Trials include “Search frozen Raider containers,” “Throw snowballs at Bastions,” and “Throw snowballs at Rocketeers”
  • Cold Snap may conclude the week of January 12, 2026
  • Toxic Swamp appears to begin the week of January 19, 2026
  • Toxic Swamp Trials include “Deliver thermal rocks”

As a big fan of ARC Raiders, I’m excited to share that changing the in-game date to December 22nd, 2025 will kick off Season 2 of the Trials! Then, we can move the date forward each week to unlock all the challenges, leading up to January 19th, 2026. Before that date, we’ll get some fun, winter-themed challenges related to the Cold Snap event – things like searching frozen containers and even throwing snowballs at enemies! But here’s the interesting part: once you set the date to January 12th, 2026, the Cold Snap challenges will switch to a Hidden Bunker challenge, which suggests the winter map condition will end that week. It sounds like a really cool progression system!

ARC Raiders’ Toxic Swamp Map Condition May Begin on January 19, 2026

Once January 19, 2026 is reached, the Toxic Swamp map will become available in that week’s Trials, featuring the challenge to deliver thermal rocks. Currently, players can only see this far in advance, but it’s likely Toxic Swamp will then be included in the regular map rotation for the following month, similar to how Cold Snap is expected to be.

Okay, so here’s the cool part: if you fast-forward the in-game date to December 22nd, 2025, it unlocks info about Season 2 of the ARC Raiders Trials. And it shows off the rewards! Basically, the more you rank up, the more stuff you get. The big reward this season is an outfit called the Alpino skin, and it looks like you can customize it with different colors and accessories. It’s hard to get a good look from the tiny preview image, but it seems like it’s designed for hanging out in the mountains – comfy, casual wear, you know?

What ARC Raiders’ Toxic Swamp Map Condition May Add

Given the name “Toxic Swamp” suggests challenging conditions similar to those introduced with the ARC Raiders Cold Snap update, players can probably expect the new maps to function in a comparable way. While Cold Snap added new movement options and gameplay mechanics, Toxic Swamp will likely do the same, but with a focus on a poisonous, rather than freezing, environment. We can anticipate encountering pools of damaging toxic liquid and possibly poisonous gas that slowly reduces health, mirroring the Frostbite effect from Cold Snap. And, just as Cold Snap increased the value of loot, Toxic Swamp maps will likely offer the same benefit.

Embark Studios hasn’t officially confirmed these details yet, though they can currently be found in the game. We expect the developers to announce their plans for ARC Raiders in the coming weeks, which should provide a clearer picture of what’s next.

Read More

2025-12-19 13:04