ARC Raiders Review: A Sublime First Impression
The highly anticipated ARC Raiders review begins now: It doesn't come along very often that a game finds its claws in me as deeply as ARC Raiders did recently. Embark Studios had a small technical playtest, and while the "honeymoon phase" is most certainly still securely in effect, it's hard to shake the feeling that the devs have something incredibly special on their hands.
They quite obviously put a tremendous amount of effort into the fundamentals, and it pays handsome dividends.
Initially revealed as a free-to-play PvE shooter in 2021, the game was deliberately delayed so that the studio could focus on The Finals. ARC Raiders, as reported by Embark in May 2023, would transition to become a premium PvEvP extraction game (or, at least, its monetization plan is TBD). The game has seen extensive testing and refinement with feedback since then. As of today's date, we still do not have a release date confirmed, although late 2025 appears probable. The latest playtest was limited access but both PC and Xbox/PS5 consoles were represented, providing invaluable information to the development team.
A Note on This Review: This ARC Raiders review is based on an extensive technical preview of the game.
Why This ARC Raiders Review is So Positive
Let's get the elephant in the room out of the way first: this is an extraction game. Some people enjoy them; others do not. Although there's a big market—particularly on consoles, where Hunt: Showdown takes up space—no game has come close to matching the market dominance of a game like Escape from Tarkov. ARC Raiders might be the key, and here's why the game works when others usually don't.
Nailing the Core Fundamentals
The very first thing that greatly impresses in this game is the way the basics are done first and then the extraction mechanics added. The basics include:
Outstanding Presentation: Somehow, Embark has managed to ship an Unreal Engine 5 game with massive maps that not only look graphically beautiful but also play perfectly. Even players on older PC setups reported playing the game at max settings with stunningly smooth frame rates, avoiding the typical stuttering in most other UE5 titles. Lighting and general mood are terrific; it is as if a complete universe has been laid waste by centuries of robot murder machines.
Immersive Audio-Visuals: The sound design is very good, with intense atmosphere and ambient audio systems—faraway shots to the weird mechanical sounds of the enemies. The third-person animations also top-notch, particularly in the movement and navigation of the characters through the environments, like seamless transitions from sprint, slide, to climb.
Intuitive Input and Response: Input and response time are excellent. Gun control is responsive and intuitive. Players do not feel like they are fighting the game engine. General movement is very smooth, including a very impressive amount of detail within the traversal/parkour system.
Progression That Respects the Player's Time
Yet another ginormous reason this game is positioned for success is its new player progression system that eliminates a major source of frustration for players of the extraction genre.
The core mechanic remains: dying in a raid means losing all contents of the backpack and items equipped, but ARC Raiders adds a global, persistent stat system via XP gained.
That is to say, even if your game is great—you defeat a giant robot boss, find exotic components, and reach 29 minutes alive—but get cut down heading toward extraction, it wasn't completely for naught. The XP you receive from doing those things can then be applied on the stat screen to level up attributes in a permanent manner (e.g., increasing your endurance by 1%). This offers constant forward progression and advancement, which is one of the biggest reasons so many players are otherwise otherwise let down by the genre.
Solo-Player Experience and Proximity Chat
ARC Raiders offers a surprisingly bountiful experience for solo players:
Freedom of Gameplay: You can enter a raid with a specific quest or mission and essentially play the game like a solo game. As long as you remain stealthy and vigilant, you can essentially ignore other players and AI, get your thing done (looting a specific cupboard, killing a specific enemy), and exit safely.
Solo Prioritization: First and foremost, when you're playing solo, the game prefers to match you with other solo players. This is a vital design consideration which most contemporary games lack.
Emergent Gameplay: The introduction of proximity chat transforms potential bloodbaths into emergent social encounters. Bumping into lone player characters, you typically can chat them up, giving way to conversation, loot sharing, temporary alliances, or, on occasion, a hard-earned shootout. This social element creates marvelous, improvisational play moments.
The Unpredictability of the ARC Raiders AI
The AI here is truly formidable. These opponents are super varied; they have weak points and cooperate with one another to fend for themselves against players.
The last playtest often had the players fight against another human team only to have the ensuing chaos draw the attention of AI drones. The drones would then proceed to stun you or blind you with flashlights in an effort to reveal your position to the other human team. The situation results in the players having to deal with several threats simultaneously.
The AI can be anything from small drones to massive boss monsters, like the Queen, that requires group damage and has various attacks, such as incinerary mortars and crushing attacks. Plus, there's a high probability that Embark is employing Machine Learning to power some of the enemy behaviors.
Looking through a 2021 article, Embark discussed using machine learning to create physics-based creatures that interact with the environment, attempting to balance themselves and continue moving even when they lose an arm. Applied to the current build of this technology, it would come as no surprise that the AI of ARC Raiders appears so realistic and unpredictable—they may have learned how to survive on this virtual world. Fighting the AI is not only frustrating; it is fun, interesting, and can profoundly impact your game.
ARC Raiders review: A Great Platform, But Questions Remain
ARC Raiders is leaving an absolutely fantastic first impression. Embark has absolutely nailed the fundamentals: the game looks great, sounds great, plays great, and feels great to play through to finish actions in. The PvEvP cycle, the constant progression, and the rich environment all leave me eager to play more.
But there are a few very, very significant questions to ask at launch:
Are the game's cheaters going to beset it?
Is the live-service model going to lead to pay-to-win ideas?
Will the emphasis on third-person perspective reduce its longevity?
Will the devs perform season-long "wipes" resetting the new permanent individual stats?
Time will show. It's safe to wait for an open beta before shelling out any cash, but the fundamental experience is a truly high-quality PvEvP game for 2025. Now it's up to Embark to take this great foundation across the finish line.
