Arc Raiders

ARC Raiders raises the bar for extraction shooters pretty much across the board, with an incredibly gripping progression grind, tense fights against NPCs and other players that make for memorable matches, and loot that feels completely worth all the work and stress it takes to obtain it.

For Arc Raiders to ride the wave of human sociability all the way to the bank, while also being so contemptuous of the thing that makes us social animals in its own workflow – carving up human voices and reassembling them like a digital Victor Frankenstein – demonstrates a lack of artistic integrity that I find impossible to ignore. However smartly designed Arc Raiders is, I cannot recommend it, because Embark does not value the thing that makes it special.

By sanding down some of the roughest edges of the genre, Arc Raiders delivers an extraction experience that manages to be approachable while still being palpably tense, incredibly dramatic, and occasionally kinda heartwarming. If you're new to the genre, this is the place to start.

The people of Speranza aren't living in dystopia under a brutal dictator. It's not dog-eat-dog, winner-take-all. They haven't lost their humanity; they're clinging to it. It's the one thing ARC can't take from them. To see the game's community come together and, without prompting, continue in this tradition is a fascinating case of game design meeting world design by way of emergent, player-driven outcomes.

As much as I've already tried, Arc Raiders keeps pulling me back in for reasons I can't always explain. It's fast, punishing, and unpredictable, yet it never forgets to be fun. Its world feels alive in a way that makes every step Topside matter, every run tell its own story, and every narrow escape feel like something worth bragging about.

After spending some time in the Rust Belt, I can say with certainty that ARC Raiders is a great step for the extraction shooter genre. Beyond the incredible atmosphere of the maps lies in-depth systems to explore. Although simple to pick up, some may find it frustrating along the way. But, if you put in the effort, the mechanics ARC Raiders has available can make for a stellar time topside.