ARC Raiders

Humanity's definitive Character Arc

The topic of extraction shooters is usually met with low interest, and the discussion about how the genre has very few big hitters that have really sold to a mass audience. Sure, there has been some success with the likes of Escape from Tarkov or Hunt: Showdown, but the genre hasn't really felt accepted by both the casual and hardcore player base, leaning far more toward the latter.

Take Bungie's upcoming release in Marathon, for example. Despite the acclaim Bungie has had in the past with Halo and Destiny, Marathon’s early impressions show that their take on the extraction shooter genre could be dead on arrival. Even Ubisoft took their shot with Rainbow Six: Extraction, and while some players are still keeping that game alive, it's currently on life support with less than a hundred players supporting it, concurrently on Steam.

Embark Studios, founded in 2018 by former EA executive Patrick Söderlund, released The Finals to a pretty decent response, due to its snappy gameplay and unparalleled destruction in its environments. However, prior to its release, at The Game Awards in 2021, Embark Studios revealed Arc Raiders, a post-apocalyptic take on the extraction shooter with massive environments, gigantic robotic threats, all wrapped in a PvPvE package that visually was beyond anything the genre had seen. And, now that it has been released, it has easily become the beacon the genre has needed, shattering Steam records and becoming the biggest surprise of 2025.

Arc Raiders is a PvPvE extraction shooter that takes place in a world where machines, known as ARCs, have driven humanity underground to the city of Speranza. While the idea of humanity struggling to survive isn't anything new, nor by an opposing force that has driven them away from their homes, few games in this genre really sell the idea of doing whatever is necessary to survive, such as the act of turning on your fellow man, or showing compassion for a stray survivor, only to have them gun you down in a vulnerable moment. Love it or hate it, that is where Arc Raiders shines, even at the cost of some asshole ruining your run.

Arc Raiders wasn't a title that really was something I was really looking forward to; in fact, it was barely on my radar. However, watching Kinda Funny’s Andy Cortez play it, as well as the few hours I spent via its Server Slam Beta, absolutely sold me on it. I've loved it, and I wouldn't change a single thing. Well, that last part is not true, but we'll get to my nitpicks shortly, because, as a live service game, my opinion of the game will change from one moment to the next. 

Scoring a live service game is difficult. Do you wait for some meaningful update, or do you score the delivered day one product? So while there is a score attached to this review, that's how I feel about the product as of right now, ahead of some content drop that could have arrived at the time you've stumbled upon this review. It is what it is, and it makes reviewing a game like this rather hard. However, what does alleviate some of the difficulty is that Arc Raiders is not free to play, so there is some research some players are going to tackle to ensure the product is right for them, hence this review, and hence my score.

I've spent around 25-30 hours with Arc Raiders so far, between this and the server slam beta,  and while I'm not at the appropriate level to undergo its “Expeditions”, a feature that allows you to reset your character for specialized loot and rewards, the act of prestiging your character hasn't interested me in the likes of Call of Duty, and likely isn't going to be something I have any intention of doing here, not at the cost of my entire character, and everything I've built with them. That concept may wet the appetite of some folk, but it's a bitter taste to me that isn't worth the bite.

Part of what makes Arc Raiders so enticing is not knowing what is around each corner, across the parking lot of an abandoned facility, or high atop a tower that is classified as having some high-end loot. Will you find another group who is more of a shoot first, ask questions later, or a group of allies who want to team up, taking down larger robotic monstrosities that they can’t take down themselves? It also invites both the worst and best of humanity in these moments, and is something that organically can make or break your experience with the game. It’s a coin flip if you will be gunned down by a supposed ‘friendly’ team or if your trip to the elevator to extract will be met with cooperation at its finest. 

While 21 players will occupy the map, consisting of essentially 7 teams of three, these unknown players around the world are not your only threats to take down, or to form a partnership should the scenario call for it. ARC robots in the forms of various types occupy the entire map. You have survey drones called Snitch’s that look to detect movement, Hornets and Wasps that are fast and nimble as they soar through the sky, smart enough to track you despite your ability to hide, to Rocketeer’s that can wreck your whole team if you are not careful. This is on top of ground-based threats in spider-like Ticks, rolling threats in Pops, Fireballs, and Rollbots, to turrets that are placed in places you least expect. 

Eventually, as you start to explore more and dig into the additional maps, you encounter giant ARCs in the forms of Leapers, who are astonishingly fast and agile, to the bulky and more firepower-focused threat in the Bastion. And while I haven’t personally encountered a Queen, which is the holy grail of the ARC threat, their presence is certainly felt after seeing various trailers and footage of teams looking to take one down. Eventually, I’ll join in to conquer one, but for the moment, I’m fine not having seen one yet. 

Arc Raiders has you construct your raider from a fine enough character creator. It's not particularly deep, but additional hairstyles will continue to add via its version of a battle pass called Decks, which is entirely free and uses currency you earn for completing challenges. You'll go through a brief tutorial that has you mugged and left for dead. You eventually find your way to Speranza and meet Shani, the head of security. She'll give you a few tasks to complete, and eventually you'll find a room to call your own. 

If I had to criticize Arc Raiders heavily, it would be the lack of Speranza feeling like anything more than a menu. Having a Destiny-like tower space to run around in, see the gear of other players, or even allow the ability to meet up with people, in your living spaces, would have been a way for this last bastion of humanity to feel alive. Don't get me wrong, the ease of use and presentation of what we do have is slick, easy to use, and flows nicely from tab to tab,  but it nonetheless just feels like a menu instead of a place we are fighting for. While expanding this city is on the docket for a future update, it's about the only aspect of Arc Raiders I can really complain about, at present.

The loop of Arc Raiders is simple: you head to the surface, gather what you can, and then extract and bring those goods back to the city. There are traders to deal with, workstations to build and upgrade, and even a rooster named Scrappy who gives you some materials each time you return back to him. You can even buy him new hats or new, fresh looks. And why wouldn’t you?

Workstations are where you'll craft bandages, shields, ammo, and various tools, guns, and items that will make survival a bit easier when you return to the surface. Workstations can be upgraded by collecting more rare parts, and those that belong to numerous ARC threats, such as Wasps and Hornets, in which you'll need to salvage their Drive Cores. Each upgrade to the workstation provides better gear to construct, more durable shields, better health items, and more powerful guns. The more you find, the stronger you are. That is, if you can extract with it.

Each Trader will eventually have quests. These are usually based on tasks that feel genuinely Important to the narrative. From repairing satellite dishes, communication devices to studying the ARCs themselves. Feats, which provide Deck currency, are more based on killing X amount of enemies, Raiders, or extracting from a specific location.

Rewards for quests are worth it. From cosmetics to guns, to new gear and rare items, these objectives are certainly worth your time. As gear is built around rarity, earning some of these rewards can help in advancing several different systems. And, should you have plenty of those items, nearly everything can be broken down into their base materials, such as wires, electrical components, or plastics. Everything you can earn, find, or recover is almost always crucial to your cause.

Achieving everything you can as a Raider also benefits you as you level up. Skill points are rewarded and spent via three skill trees: Conditioning, Mobility, and Survival. Conditioning revolves around how you interact with the environment, such as making less noise, as well as interacting with danger, as how your stamina is affected when your shield is busted. Mobility is exactly what you think it is: how you move around the environment via stamina, vaulting, and how your dodge roll and crawling are faster and use far less stamina. Survival rounds out the three and is more built around loot appearing faster as you search through dressers and containers, making less noise when you are critically hurt, to earning more loot or even carrying more. While this skill tree system is visually well represented, I wish there was a cursor to move around it, as it isn’t an intuitive system to really use quickly. 

Weapons become a huge point of the game due to their impact, ammo type, and, of course, how fast they can decimate your opponent, whether they be an ARC or another Raider. Weapons follow under your most basic needs: light, medium, and heavy. This is more or less how they function. You'll have light machine guns or submachine guns in the Kettle, Bobcat, and the Stitcher, respectively, which are fast and good in a pinch. Assault rifles are solid for something powerful and fast, with good recommendations in the Arpeggio or the Rattler. I opted a lot for the Ferro, a battle rifle that is a single-load round. It packs a punch, but the reload speed could be better. 

Eventually, you'll start to branch out to more advanced guns, those that come with leveling up, via earning rewards, or even pocketing the goods of a downed Raider. The battle rifle that is certainly one to check out is the Renegade, something you'll earn a bit into your Raider career. You'll find a good selection of pistols and sniper rifles as well, just keep in mind you cannot go prone. Aside from some additional heavy weapons and specials that use laser or launcher ammo, there is a good selection to put to task here that also benefit from weapon parts and upgrades. Keep in mind that should you die, you’ll lose that gun. 

Dying does mean losing everything on your Raider, except for anything you put in your safe pocket. Now, with a standard pack, you'll have one safe pocket slot. Better packs, which you'll craft or purchase as you level up various workstations, will feature more slots. The highest I've been able to tackle as of now is a pack that has two safe pocket slots. Keep in mind that if I die with that, I'll lose the pack but keep the items in the safe pocket, no matter how my demise has occurred.  

What Arc Raiders does that is so interesting is that you can head to the surface with a free loadout that contains healing items, a shield, and a gun with ammo. If you extract with those items, you get to keep them. The catch, however, is that everything is as basic as you can get, and you'll have no safe pocket. But, keeping the items is a bonus, especially since you can reap the rewards for future expeditions and even sell the items if you need some quick cash.

When it comes to the gameplay, the moving, the shooting, the act of taking control of your character, Arc Raiders is simply sublime. From launching into a slide from a sprint, or the ease of swapping shoulders on a controller, to switching weapons, or anything the game throws at you, it all feels good. And, as you build up your stamina through the skill tree, the sprinting and movement starts to let you breathe a bit, especially when you are trying to run away from something. While a small gripe, having search as the same button as reload sort of sucks when you are hiding in a house next to a dresser when you are trying to reload your gun as a Wasp zones in on you and your character is suddenly attempting to loot. 

Now, you can't talk about Arc Raiders and not mention the gorgeous environments this extraction shooter takes place in. You'll start with the Dam Battlegrounds. This is a nice map to learn the basics and take in what this game offers. It houses the more manageable ARC threats, while also having a wealth to explore. As you push through round after round, you'll then unlock the Buried City, the Spaceport, and the Blue Gate. While Unreal Engine 5 has produced some gorgeous games, Arc Raiders is simply on another level, even on Xbox Series X. 

Each level has a wide range of buildings, complexes, destroyed homes, and countless underground tunnels to explore. Loot can be easily picked up, but most containers will make noise as you pry them open with your makeshift crowbar. You'll randomly spawn in a map with 7 other teams of 3, or the rotations of those playing duos or solo, and then look to go about your business. From staying hidden to avoid the gaze of a Snitcher, or staying out of sight of Hornets, Wasps, or the more menacing threats like Bastions and Leapers, each map is a spectacle due to some outstanding art design. Some maps have the remains of once active ARC Queens, decimated and weathered through the years. 

The game has an outstanding draw distance, allowing you to see Raiders or ARC far off in the distance. And, as Raiders fall in battle, they will fire off a flare, allowing other teams to either know the location of the rest of your team, or if they hear the gunfire of a Bastion, that they should avoid that area all together. I never once experienced a poorly designed location, or an area that felt like it was lacking something. Each map tells an engaging story in its design and the decay that has transpired since the ARC forced mankind underground. Combine that with some of the best audio design this year, and the world just feels alive around you. 

Occasionally, you'll see the good in mankind and be assisted by other players. These moments are great when they happen. Either solo or with a team, we've been assisted when a group of Hornets were swarming in, or the other team distracting a Rocketeer to allow us to escape. The times we've entered into the elevator to extract and other players running in, or crawling in, has been in the dozens. Sure, you do get players that shoot first or take advantage of you, but when you don't, Arc Raiders suddenly becomes something special.

While Arc Raiders is not free to play and has a $40 USD price tag, it does feature cosmetic items as part of a paid store. While the Battlepass system via Decks is part of an in-game currency, you can buy a variety of cosmetic outfits with real money. Thankfully, they are not out of control at this moment in pricing, and factor in about the same as you’d see on Fortnite or Marvel Rivals. What is interesting about the Decks is that while free, you can unlock some of this paid currency freely, so you can always use that to pony up for an outfit you may want down the road. 

My last note on why I really enjoy Arc Raiders is the comparisons the game has to The Division. This feels like a massive evolution of the Division's Dark Zone, its extraction mechanic that saw players attempting to extract new weapons and items in a secluded section of the city. From the third person view, to the tight shooting, there are traces of what I loved about the Division here that is hitting all the right notes. It's certainly a very different game, but I can't help but think of The Division 2 without explaining why Arc Raiders is such a fantastic experience for me.

Arc Raiders is going to continue to grow, evolve, and become a beast of its own as the team is set on providing a wealth of engaging content. Players will obviously play to what they want from it, and that means either fighting alongside some random Raiders, huddled around the elevator as threats emerge from all sides, or taking on those intent on gunning you down. Its opening barrage of maps is outstanding, and the loop is wildly addictive. Embark Studios has easily released the new measuring stick for the genre and released one of the best games of the year in the process. 

Developer - Embark Studios.
Publisher - Embark Studios. Released - October 30th, 2025. Available On - Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC. Rated - (T) - Blood, Violence. Platform Reviewed - Xbox Series X.
Review Access - Review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.