Get Ready: ARC Raiders Could Redefine the Extraction Shooter Genre!

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After games such as “Escape From Tarkov” and “Hunt: Showdown” have achieved significant success, extractive shooter games are becoming increasingly popular among upcoming shooting titles. Alongside Bungie’s “Marathon“, “ARC Raiders” is one of a select few high-profile new entries into the extraction shooter subgenre from a team with an impressive track record. “ARC Raiders” hails from Embark Studios, whose founders are seasoned veterans from Electronic Arts and DICE who have contributed extensively to the “Battlefield” series. The studio has already demonstrated its ability to utilize new technology effectively to create distinctive shooter experiences, as evidenced by the critically acclaimed “The Finals“. Our initial hands-on experience with “ARC Raiders” suggests that the studio may be striking lightning twice.

In advance of the upcoming public test for the game ARC Raiders, Game Rant got an extended sneak peek, playing through the initial tutorial, multiple maps, and both single-player and team modes. Although it’s evident that ARC Raiders still needs more development before its full release, the elements we experienced during the preview suggest that this game could become a popular extraction shooter, appealing to fans of the burgeoning subgenre due to its features. Furthermore, with a detailed crafting system and in-game market, ARC Raiders seems to straddle the border between a PvPvE extraction shooter and a sandbox survival game.

ARC Raiders’ Pulpy Sci-Fi Setting and Atmosphere Give It a Unique Visual Identity

Set in a far-off post-apocalyptic Earth, ARC Raiders places players in a treacherous landscape rife with danger from both human and non-human sources. The titular ARC refers to a robotic race that mercilessly roams the planet’s surface while humanity takes refuge in subterranean cities. However, vital technology and resources on the surface are crucial for humanity’s longevity, compelling a band of scavengers called “Raiders” to frequently venture to the surface with aspirations of improving their lives underground. Given the scarcity of these resources, rivalry among Raiders is common, making it just as possible for one Raider to stab you in the back and steal your loot as it is for them to join forces with you against the ARC.

In the narrative and ambiance of ARC Raiders, a somewhat grim futuristic perspective is reinforced by an aesthetically pulpy sci-fi design, lending the game its own distinctive visual style. At first glance, the cities that were once gleaming with human advancement are now teeming with retrofuturist technology reminiscent of the depictions of progress from ’70s and ’80s science fiction films such as Ridley Scott’s Alien or Blade Runner. Beneath, the few remaining human outposts are makeshift settlements that repurpose the sophisticated technology above to construct rudimentary tools for survival. These include homemade weapons and gadgets, making each trip to the surface more rewarding with these kit-bashed items.

The Finals demonstrated that Embark Studios could transform a conventional shooter game into something extraordinary by employing exceptional and distinctive art direction and visual flair, and they’ve managed to do it again with ARC Raiders. The game’s visual themes evoke the covers of vintage sci-fi novels and magazines, or the futuristic, imaginative science fiction from before the collapse of the Iron Curtain. However, the ARC resemble the machine rulers depicted in James Cameron’s Terminator films, and they are just one of many perils that players must confront during their risky expeditions to the surface in ARC Raiders.

PvP Dominates the PvPvE Equation in ARC Raiders

In terms of its gameplay mechanics, ARC Raiders will be reminiscent for those who are acquainted with the extraction shooter genre. Whether playing on your own or as part of a team, you’ll find yourself in your base – an underground city where humanity is battling to endure – readying for a mission. This involves crafting essentials, enhancing skills, customizing loadouts, and accepting tasks from the assorted inhabitants beneath. Once prepared, you pick a destination on the map and travel up via the “Tubes”, a system of pneumatic highways linking humanity’s last city to the surface. You scavenge for supplies, combat enemies, and eventually return underground through cargo lifts that progressively close off within a rigid 30-minute time frame. The longer you spend on the surface, the higher the danger level is, but this also offers the chance for better rewards, and making decisions based on the balance of risk versus reward is crucial in advancing in ARC Raiders.

In games like Hunt: Showdown, sound and noise are crucial to your success on missions to the surface. Every action you take can create noise that attracts unwanted attention, including searching containers or firing weapons. The ARC encompasses a wide range of forms such as flying drones, mobile flamethrowers, sentry turrets, massive quadrupedal tanks, and more, but they’re not your biggest concern regarding noise. The real threat lies in the other players, known as Raiders, who are also on the surface. Almost anything you do will reveal your position to them. During our playtime of the current build, it was the human threats that proved to be the most dangerous, rather than the PvE aspect of ARC Raiders’ PvPvE combat.

ARCs are generally solitary creatures and not difficult to neutralize, usually moving alone. With proper cautiousness and skill, they can be easily avoided. Contrastingly, human enemies, or Raiders, are unpredictable. Encountering another Raider during solo play or in a team scenario could lead to an unwanted dice roll with potentially lethal outcomes. While it’s possible to rely on other Raiders and continue your looting and robot-slaying spree, they often open fire without warning, stripping you not only of the current expedition’s loot but also potentially all the equipment amassed for your loadout until that moment. Fortunately, the game economy and crafting system in ARC Raiders allows for a swift acquisition of a new loadout should one be lost.

ARC Raiders’ Crafting and Economy Show Plenty of Promise for Different Classes or Builds

Beyond just being a Player-versus-Player-versus-Environment extraction shooter, ARC Raiders also incorporates a substantial amount of sandbox survival elements. Resource gathering and crafting are crucial aspects of the game’s advancement system, with each expedition to the treacherous surface offering potential for progressively valuable rewards that enhance survivability in riskier zones teeming with even more lucrative loot. At this stage, ARC Raiders is quite generous with the resources required to craft essential weapons, ammunition, or shields, enabling players to swiftly return to the action following a harsh defeat and the loss of all gear.

In ARC Raiders, the gathering and creation systems are strengthened by merchants and a skill tree. Although not all merchants had items during the preview, their premium goods were affordably priced, usually only requiring recycling one or two uncommon materials to gather enough credits for purchase. Loot gathered on the surface is categorized by color-coded rarity levels, with the rarest and most valuable tiers offering significant worth in a single item, not to mention an entire stack. Moreover, almost every action taken on the surface in ARC Raiders grants experience that accumulates into Skill Points, which can be invested in a versatile, multi-branched skill tree. The distinct branches — Mobility, Conditioning, and Survival — correspond to various playstyles, potentially enabling teams to combine their strengths to compensate for individual weaknesses or vulnerabilities.

Initially in ARC Raiders, I mainly focused on playing it low-key, gathering resources, and scurrying back to safety underground. But once I had amassed enough resources for some serious loadout upgrades and invested points into my skill tree, each return trip to the unforgiving world of ARC Raiders was thrilling beyond belief. This newfound confidence allowed me to challenge rival Raiders and even dare to face off against some of the game’s fearsome ARC threats.

However, things started looking up when I got the opportunity to team up with others, discovering that we could each assume a unique role within our squad and reap substantial rewards together. That was, until we met our match in an enemy squad who were better-equipped and used their teamwork and positioning to pick us off from afar, leaving us defeated and empty-handed.

What Comes Next for ARC Raiders

In anticipation of the public Tech Test 2 for the game “ARC Raiders” on April 30, it’s evident that the title is gearing up to deliver an engaging amalgamation of sandbox survival games and extraction shooter elements. The continuous allure of chasing greater rewards and the exhilaration of the danger in procuring them remained enjoyable throughout our 3-hour playtime. Solo gameplay was a nerve-wracking, solitary journey that effectively conveyed the sensation of being a lone survivor confronted by overwhelming odds, but it initially offered some brief and unproductive sessions while gathering equipment. On the contrary, teaming up in “ARC Raiders” shows promise as a potential highlight, particularly when collaborating with a tactical and strategically minded group using voice chat.

In terms of technical aspects, ARC Raiders performs smoothly and boasts a visually appealing design. Fans familiar with Embark Studios’ game, The Finals, would appreciate the high level of polish. With insights gained from the Tech Test 2 and further adjustments to the game’s equilibrium, ARC Raiders may emerge as one of the most captivating and promising shooter games this year. Its progression system and economic structure for items are already established, making its survival and crafting elements potentially attractive even to players who typically shy away from the intense and challenging nature of an extraction shooter game.

ARC Raiders is currently in development for PC with an open alpha playtest starting April 30, 2025.

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2025-04-29 18:15