There’s a rare experience with video games when an entire genre just for you. A moment when the appeal makes sense. Crawling onto an elevator with a backpack full of loot, hastily initiating the extraction sequence with seconds left to live, Arc Raiders did exactly that. It let off a firework in my head. ?
Arc RaidersDeveloper: Embark StudiosPublisher: Embark StudiosPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out 30th October on PC (Steam, Epic), PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Arc Raiders is, simply put, a third-person extraction shooter. It is a factory that mass produces tense moments, by its own nature a source of intense anxiety: high stakes, devastating losses, rapturous victories. Pulling back, it’s a game of gradual self-refinement, both of your inventory full of resources and your characters abilities, and likewise your own know-how.
The game is set in a world that’s already fallen to a dominant AI called Arc, which constantly surveys the world with a seemingly infinite army of drones and giant robots. Their initial purpose seems to be killing you viciously while your backpack is full of loot, but Arc also appears to be changing, subtly. There’s something afoot, and it’s up to you and fellow raiders to figure out what’s going on while stuffing your pockets with springs and apricots.
The loop is thus. You start off in Sperenza, a hub of surviving humans that acts as your home base below ground. There you equip the weapons and equipment you need and pick up any quests that may be available from a handful of vendors. You then head topside, either alone or in a squad, to a variety of different maps. Here, you battle against Arc and other players in the hunt for loot, for quest completion, or for the love of the game. If you can, you head home via an elevator or raider hatch, the latter only accessible if you have a key.