ARC Raiders Wields Gaming's New Standard

ARC Raiders had me curious the moment I saw the trailer. Embark Studios has a history of crafting gritty survival games, but this one felt different. Less about solo survival and more about scrambling with others to grab loot before machines or other players rip it out of your hands. I’ve played enough extraction shooters to know the drill, but there was something fresh in the visuals and the way the machines moved. I decided to give it a shot and track my thoughts through the first 20 hours of gameplay.

Hour 1: First Blood

ARC Raiders

Embark Studios

PC (Microsoft Windows), Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 · Shooter

Oct 30, 2025

ARC Raiders is a multiplayer extraction adventure, set in a lethal future earth, ravaged by a mysterious mechanized threat known as ARC. Enlist as …

87OC

87IGDB

Boot up and hit play, and you’re instantly thrown into a desolate wasteland. The opening mission drops you near a derelict refinery, the sky choked with metallic shards from the ARC threat. The controls are intuitive, but the chaos hits fast. You’re scavenging for basic tools while a horde of ARC drones buzzes in, slicing up anything in their path. The first thing I noticed was the weight of every move. Each step feels deliberate, like you’re navigating a minefield where both the ground and the air are dangerous.

Combat is frantic but satisfying, with a mix of close-quarters gunplay and the need to dodge robotic limbs. Multiplayer matches are small, around 10 players, and there’s a strong social contract you quickly pick up on. People trade gear when you’re both low on resources, but there’s always that nagging fear someone will betray you the moment they get the upper hand. The extraction system is clever too. You need to gather rare components to activate a teleporter, but it only works if your team’s health and armor are above 50%. It forces cooperation, but also creates tension when someone lags behind.

Hour 5: The Good and the Ugly

By hour five, I had a better grasp of the systems. Crafting becomes essential, but the UI is a mess. Juggling your inventory, blueprint upgrades, and resource rarity is like solving a puzzle while getting shot at. It’s easy to accidentally use a rare part for a weak weapon, then curse when it gets crushed by an ARC tank. The game’s pacing also feels uneven. Early missions are short and punchy, but later zones drag with repetitive scavenging loops. You’ll find yourself grinding for a single upgraded component just to survive the next wave of machines, and that’s where frustration creeps in.

Still, the multiplayer interactions keep things interesting. I teamed with a player who had a knack for sniping drones from a distance, letting me focus on melee combat up close. We developed a rhythm, but then a third player joined and stole our loot during an extraction. It was the first time the game’s social mechanics felt unfair, like the betrayal wasn’t part of the design but a loophole. That said, the randomized loot and component drops add variety. Every match feels different, and there’s a thrill in seeing what new weapon you’ll craft next.

Hour 20: Why I’m Still Playing

Twenty hours in, I’ve cycled through rage-quits and all-nighters. What keeps me coming back isn’t the gameplay itself (which is solid but not groundbreaking) but the community and the way ARC feels like a living enemy. The machines learn from your tactics. Drone swarms start hitting at different angles, and boss ARC units adapt to your weapon types. It’s not just random patrols; there’s a rhythm to the attacks that makes you feel like you’re fighting an AI with a personality. The extraction mechanics also evolve. Later in the game, you can deploy decoy teleporters to mislead rivals and machines, turning the map into a psychological battlefield.

What really impressed me in hour 20 is the attention to detail in the world. The ruined cities have layers of graffiti and makeshift shelters that hint at the pre-ARC civilization. There are moments of quiet beauty too, like scavenging through the remains of a library or a music store, where scattered books and broken instruments feel like a eulogy. The game doesn’t hand you lore. It lets you discover it, which makes the world feel more real. I’ve even stopped caring about loot drops after a while, focusing more on perfecting the right build for each mission. It’s the kind of game where you’ll want to play again just to see how a different strategy fares against the same zone.

You Should Know

If you’ve played Dark Souls 3 or Apex Legends, you’ll recognize echoes of their mechanics in ARC Raiders. Like Dark Souls, it rewards persistence and smart play, but it lacks the same dark, mysterious atmosphere. The extraction system feels more aligned with Apex’s objective-based matches, but ARC adds a unique twist by having machines and humans both compete for loot. Where it truly shines is in execution. It blends survival crafting, co-op chaos, and a relentless enemy AI in a way that feels cohesive despite the parts being slightly overfamiliar.

The Verdict

ARC Raiders isn’t perfect, but it’s the kind of game that makes you care about the chaos. It’s not going to replace your favorite multiplayer shooters, but it’ll give you hours of messy, unpredictable fun. If you like the idea of surviving a post-apocalypse where the world itself is trying to kill you, and every other player might too - this is worth your time. The UI could use a polish and the loot system could be more consistent, but for now, it’s a thrilling mess that rewards patience and cleverness. Just don’t trust anyone, especially yourself when you’re knee-deep in crafting menus.