Arc Raiders Review

Survive a Lethal Retro-Future

The Extraction Shooter genre is often avoided by casual gamers for good reason. The threat of losing your hard-earned gear is a strong deterrent when you are looking to unwind. But what would a more casual extraction shooter look like? Well, after around 250 hours in Arc Raiders, we feel we may have found it.

Let’s get into it then. What is Arc Raiders about? Is the world just pretty, or is there real depth to be found? How does the experience change between squads and solo play? Is the game heavily PvP, or does it center more on PvE survival? We’ll cover all of this and much more in this review.

Story and Concept

Arc Raiders is set in an alternate version of Earth in which most of humanity has fled the environmentally devastated planet to outer space in a great exodus. Those left behind struggled to rebuild with scraps of lost technology until the arrival of a new, unprecedented threat from orbit: Arc. Named for the distinctive “Arc” created by their drop through the atmosphere on a radar screen, these intelligent machines come in a variety of forms, but all share the same basic directive: Hunt down and exterminate humans.

It sounds like something out of a Terminator movie, but the future here isn’t quite so bleak. After the arrival of the “First Wave” of Arc, a brave group of survivors banded together to fight off the machines and even managed to drive them out for a time. But before long, a second, more dangerous wave of Arc returned in force and drove them back underground.

With the surface hunted by swarms of deadly drones, humanity now lives in vibrant but strained underground settlements connected by a series of pneumatic tubes built during the exodus. But supplies are extremely limited, and survival down below is a struggle. Brave individuals calling themselves Raiders have begun risking travel to the surface to scavenge for supplies and complete tasks in exchange for resources and reputation among the powerful factions.

You are a Raider. You join the settlement of Toledo after a powerful storm forces you to seek shelter, ending up in the neighborhood of Speranza, which is known for its famous Raider population and efforts during the First Wave. Now you’ll need to risk your gear in raids where you’ll battle arc and rival Raiders for supplies and contracts on the surface.

Aside from this and a few story cutscenes the player can unlock, the story of Arc Raiders is currently pretty stagnant, lacking any meaningful way for the player to interact with it. Additionally, what story-based quests do exist are especially tedious, but we’ll dig into this further when we talk about Gear and Progression.

Graphics and Atmosphere

Visually, Arc Raiders presents an incredibly impressive series of maps with a remarkable level of both detail and depth. Not only does each different map offer a dramatically different environment, but the weather and even time of day can change between and during raids. Wind can kick up dust and make smoke hard to track, rain and fog can obscure vision, and if the raid starts at dusk, it will be nearly nightfall by the time you return home.

When it comes to immersion, we have to admit that Arc Raiders feels like a masterpiece. This is one of those games that is absolutely worth wandering around with the HUD off to enjoy the incredible visuals the world has to offer. That is, assuming you’re seasoned enough to avoid wandering Arc and hostile Raiders. There are also numerous map conditions that can completely shift the landscape, from lethal Night Raids to snowy Cold Snap conditions to the most recent Hurricane Events that drastically affect both the environment and gameplay.

The sound design is just as fantastic, with realistic, distinct weapon sounds that make gunfire equal parts satisfying and anxiety-inducing. Learning to sift through the buzzing soundscape can help players identify enemy types, loot opportunities, and most importantly, player positions.

Combat and Survival

The combat of Arc Raiders is bound to Third-Person Shooter gunplay, lacking a true ADS (Aim Down Sights) option for all but a single weapon. There’s a solid variety of guns, gadgets, grenades, and utility items to allow for lots of different playstyles, and the feel of each weapon is pretty unique overall. Guns are snappy and loud, grenades feature realistic pops, and machines spark when they take damage. In all, gunplay is extremely satisfying.

One title Arc Raiders likely took a lot of inspiration from is Generation Zero, so if you’re familiar with the machine combat in that game, you’ll see a lot of similarities here. To defeat the armored enemy Arc, players will need to target vital components like weapons, thrusters, or unarmored joints. Destroying Arc isn’t just for stress relief either; each enemy has their own unique parts that can be salvaged and used in crafting or as improvised weapons in some cases.

Raids are typically 30-minute matches in which players are dropped into maps and allowed basically free rein to search for loot, complete quests, battle arc, hunt each other for sport, play instruments, and take on puzzles. Not all players will spawn right at the start of the raid, which can be frustrating and continues to be a point of contention among players who find all the good looting spots already cleared out. In typical extraction shooter fashion, all players must extract from the level to keep anything they find and anything they brought with them.

Gear and Progression

Loot is the heart, soul, and lifeblood of Arc Raiders. There are plenty of goals to pursue topside, but ultimately, it all comes down to obtaining and using loot. From guns to valuable trinkets to the myriad of technological parts, everything has a purpose, and finding that purpose will make you stronger. Every object can be scrapped into parts that can be further recycled or used in crafting whatever you need to survive the surface.

The player starts out able to craft only the most basic items, but as you complete raids and acquire loot, you’ll begin to build and upgrade workbenches and uncover lost blueprints to unlock new and powerful crafting recipes.

It’s no stretch to say Arc Raiders tends to trigger hoarding tendencies in its players, as you never know when you might need that one spare part you almost tossed out. Every item and piece of scrap has its own sound when moved or used, and honestly, it’s such an effective way to give the player that hit of dopamine when they sift around through their hard-earned stash of goodies. The scrap and crafting system is probably one of the best we’ve seen from the genre.

In addition to leveling up your gear, players will also earn experience that will net them skill points to spend on unlocking a number of useful talents in the skill tree, though some players argue these skills don’t have enough impact on the game as a whole. Admittedly, it is rare to see players craft unique builds using this system, as some skills are just objectively better than others.

The game also features numerous quests with a variety of rewards, from scrap to powerful weapons. Unfortunately, these quests are probably the game’s weakest point, and are mostly some variation of “Go here, hold the interact button, and maybe extract with an item if you’re feeling spicy.” These fetch quests are bland and often tedious, relying on the player to use subtle clues and seek out hard-to-spot interactions while fighting off arc and other players.

Ultimately, we have to admit that endgame content (and lack thereof) is easily Arc Raiders’ greatest weakness. After unlocking all available upgrades, players are left with the choice to focus on finding their own fun or partake in the game’s optional wipe. Every few months, a window will open to allow players who have completed a series of objectives to clear their profile of all loot, levels, and blueprints to earn additional skill points and a few other bonuses for when they restart from zero.

Multiplayer

Arc Raiders is a PvPvE game, meaning that when you encounter another player in the world (which is frequent), you can never know exactly how things will go. Some players play purely PvP, attacking any other Raiders on sight. Others prefer the friendly approach, banding together to take down powerful boss Arcs or trade resources. Ultimately, it’s this uncertainty in every interaction that gives the game its remarkable tension.

But we said this could be a more casual extraction shooter, and with the advancement of Aggression-Based Match-Making (ABMM), you are much more likely to be paired with like-minded players. If you tend to deal a lot of damage to other Raiders, you’ll be matched with others who do the same. If you tend to avoid hostilities in most games, you’ll be matched with more cautious players.

However, there is a significant divide between the experience for solo queue and squad players. In solo matches, most players are more cautious, and encounters will be largely based on how you react. In duos, players will be more confident, and hostile encounters are more likely to occur. In squads of three, it seems that most players are looking for a fight and can quickly devolve into all-out warfare.

Final thoughts on Arc Raiders

While we won’t say Arc Raiders is the game for everyone, it does appeal to a much larger audience than typical extraction shooters tend to do. The inclusion of important PvE elements, alongside the ever-present possibility of PvP encounters, creates a truly unique and wonderfully dynamic experience that kept us addicted for months.

With that said, those looking for something with a juicy story or heavy character building may find the world lacking in variety and depth. While we wish the story and worldbuilding would take a more central role in the game, Arc Raiders provides a truly remarkable world to explore, and we can only hope Embark Studios continues to improve on their formula and tries out new concepts. For now, we’ll say it’s a flawed game, but a damn good one, so get started!