Arc Raiders Review: Your Next Extraction Shooter Obsession

The first time I stepped Topside in Arc Raiders, I barely made it ten minutes. One moment I was sprinting across an open desert, the next, I was being shredded by a machine I didn’t even see coming. I should’ve been frustrated, but instead I sat there staring at the screen, heart still pounding, realizing how alive the world felt even in failure. That’s when I knew Arc Raiders wasn’t just another extraction shooter trying to cash in on the trend, because I wanted to keep going, and keep going, I did.

Over the next thirty hours in Arc Raiders, that feeling never went away. I learned the rhythms of the world, the sound of danger closing in, and the strange mix of trust and paranoia that comes with meeting other Raiders in the wild. Somewhere along the way, Arc Raiders stopped feeling like a game about survival and started feeling like survival itself. That’s the experience I want to unpack — why this world works as well as it does, and why it might be one of the best extraction shooters I’ve ever played.

Arc Raiders Builds One of the Most Convincing Worlds in the Genre

One of Arc Raiders‘ most defining qualities is its palpable sense of immersion, and much of that comes from its indelible and frequently jaw-dropping world brought to life by its narrative and lore. The game takes place in a far-future, post-apocalyptic version of Earth, where the surface has been overrun by a mysterious mechanical threat known simply as ARC. These machines have devastated human civilization above ground and forced survivors to retreat into subterranean cities. One of those cities, Speranza, acts as a hub for the remaining society, as well as the game itself.

Because of the machine-dominated “Topside,” as Arc Raiders calls it, what’s left of humanity cannot freely live or operate above ground. The only way to obtain the resources needed to survive is for a group of specialized scavengers known as “Raiders” to risk life and limb, travel to the surface, extract as much loot as they can, and then return underground before time or the ARC threat overwhelms them.

Players step into the role of one of those Raiders. They get a raid together, head Topside from Speranza, enter the hostile surface, and face not just the ARC machines but also other human Raiders who can choose to either help or betray. After each mission, the Raiders return, sell loot, upgrade skills and gear, and then prepare for the next outing. This loop makes up the extraction-shooter gameplay of Arc Raiders and its PvPvE elements, and it also ties into the game’s narrative and worldbuilding.

To put it simply, Arc Raiders is an incredibly immersive experience, and quite possibly one of the most immersive extraction shooters out there — but none of that would even be possible without the game’s respect for and attentiveness to its own lore. This is a world that actually feels like what it says it is. Every trip to the surface is rife with tension from the threat the other Raiders pose to each player’s run, but perhaps even more so from the ARC machines that patrol each zone, their targeting systems ready to engage without prejudice.

Playing Arc Raiders, it didn’t take much for me to be convinced these machines truly did take over the world. They are menacing, unforgiving, and even frequently irritating in large numbers. Many of them can deal enough damage to drain shields and health bars in a matter of seconds, and some of them are so massive and daunting you don’t want to get close enough to see how dangerous they truly are. Embark could have made ARC less daunting on the surface to balance out its simultaneous PvP gameplay, but it’s design choices like this that make Arc Raiders such a riveting experience.

That experience is heightened by Arc Raiders‘ current four maps, each of which has a unique landscape and infrastructure that tells a different story. The change in scenery with each one helps break up monotony, and even then, they’re all so large that it actually takes plenty of hours to become familiar with them. Some of the interior designs are noticeably similar, but even something about that choice makes sense when considering the context of said designs. Residential apartment buildings have identical room layouts on each floor, and the commercial buildings are all fairly alike as well. Even so, this world feels alive and real, even though it’s actually dying due to the machines.

To top it all off, Arc Raiders‘ sound design is excellent and some of the best in the industry, especially in the extraction shooter genre. Not only is the sci-fi soundtrack deeply engrossing, and it fits the tone of the game perfectly, but the environmental ambience and directional audio cues from both players and ARC make the world feel truly alive — like it will move on without you if you ever slow down. In fact, hearing is almost everything in Arc Raiders, as I even attempted to play a round with the game on mute just to see how important its audio is, and doing so only highlighted how clean and masterful its soundscape truly is. That impeccable sound design enhances Arc Raiders‘ weather system as well, and in turn, increases the game’s immersion all the more.

Back at Speranza, players can meet and interact with several different traders who help bring the world to life even more. While their primary purpose is to sell players various items and materials they might need for their journey Topside or to upgrade their workshop, Arc Raiders‘ many quests are also offered via these traders, and their unique personalities and genuine interactions make them feel like much more than mere quest-givers and merchants. Even simply hanging out in the Traders tab of the lobby for a while, players can get a glimpse at what life is truly like in Speranza, as a multitude of NPCs make their way through the square and occasional announcements from the intercom occupy the airwaves.

Arc Raiders sticks to extraction-shooter tradition in its gameplay, applying the same risk-reward format the genre is known for. Players go Topside with gear, hunt down loot and complete objectives, and if they die before extraction, they lose any loot they had on their person at the time of death. Back at Speranza, they can sell loot, upgrade skills and perks, craft gear, and prepare for their next raid. Additionally, per tradition, Arc Raiders is a PvPvE game, which means players are not only threatened by ARC on the surface, but also by other players — unless those players choose to cooperate.

While it does stay true to the extraction-shooter formula at its core, though, it still evolves it in many ways. For starters, every run in Arc Raiders is fast-paced and tense, with the stress-inducing design of its world playing a major role in that. Many extraction shooters fall prey to the well-worn creeping and camping gameplay loop, but Arc Raiders emphasizes fast and fluid traversal with slides, grapples, and movement momentum, primarily due to how threatening the world already is even without enemy players in the mix.

If the clock isn’t enough pressure on players to keep moving, then the environment itself certainly is. ARC machines patrol the surface in unpredictable patterns, storms can roll in and obscure visibility, and limited extraction windows force players to make quick decisions under fire. The number of available extraction points also diminishes throughout each 30-minute round (assuming players get matchmade at the beginning of a round), and if they aren’t paying attention to each point’s timer on the map, players might find themselves stuck at the opposite end of the zone than the only extraction point left near the end of the round. Every moment Topside in Arc Raiders feels like a countdown, and it’s that sense of constant motion that separates Arc Raiders from the slower, more methodical pacing that often defines the genre.

And if that still wasn’t enough, trying to be both quick and quiet is a constant challenge in Arc Raiders. Any amount of noise can attract ARC machines and bloodthirsty enemy players, and that includes attempts at making an extraction. In order to get back to base, players must first call an elevator or metro, triggering a very loud alarm system in the process and potentially drawing both AI and human Raiders to the same location. It then takes what often feels like an eternity for the doors to finally open, and even then, there’s no telling when another player might turn on you and kill you for your loot before you have a chance to get in the elevator or train and close the doors.

Ahead of its release, Arc Raiders has been described as a more accessible extraction shooter than most, and it’s safe to say that is mostly true. It’s especially much easier to play Arc Raiders solo than it can be in other games in the genre, both due to the fact that solo players are matchmade with other solo players and because the game’s wide variety of enemy AI puts enough pressure on solo players that I found many other players would rather not risk a firefight with you and prefer to team up instead. During the roughly 35 hours I’ve spent with Arc Raiders already, most of that time was spent going it alone, and I don’t regret it one bit.

Arc Raiders solo round with another player

Playing with a group in Arc Raiders does seem to make PvP encounters more likely, while playing solo, I found, is an easier route to avoid the game’s competitive component. While in a solo round, players can generally avoid confrontation by calling out to others with emotes like “Don’t shoot!” and “Team up?” There is proximity chat in Arc Raiders, but emotes like this make it easier for those who would rather not be on a mic to effectively communicate with other players. Not only that, but there is an apparent unspoken honor system in Arc Raiders solo play, making those emotes even more effective working as intended.

But while even that is going to make Arc Raiders more accessible for solo players and casuals, the game is otherwise an accessibility machine. I would argue that Arc Raiders is the perfect introduction to extraction shooters, for those who have either tried other games in the genre and failed or have never had the guts to brave the possibility of getting killed by other players before making any headway. Smooth performance, intuitive UI, and responsive controls make it easy to learn, while forgiving early progression and balanced matchmaking ensure that even defeats feel like progress.

And speaking of performance, Arc Raiders is an exceedingly smooth ride and has clearly been optimized, as I encountered a neglible amount of frame rate issues and absolutely zero bugs. Needless to say, it’s quite impressive, especially considering how captivating Arc Raiders‘ visuals are. Given the amount of detail in its world — the realistic environments, lighting, and weather effects — as well as the size of its maps, the amount of action that can take place within them at any given time, and the fact that the game is always online, performance of this caliber is an increasingly unfamiliar but entirely welcome experience in the industry today.

Arc Raiders’ Progression System Turns Risk Into Reward

Arc Raiders player on top of a structure

Arc Raiders‘ progression makes it a highly rewarding game to play consistently long-term rather than in spurts, but it all depends on how players approach the game. Playing things too safe during each round will offer only minimal progression, whereas getting out there and taking some big risks can net a significant amount of XP. There is a bit of a learning curve in Arc Raiders (I’ll never forget how cautious I was during my first match), but once players get over that hump and learn the most efficient way to handle any situation, things get a lot easier. If nothing else, Arc Raiders tends to reward players for their effort more than for achieving perfect runs, so any time spent playing the game makes it all feel worth it.

The initial fear players might feel upon jumping into Arc Raiders likely comes from taking weapons and items into a round only to lose them upon death. However, the game offers a way to reduce that risk with its Free Loadout system. Arc Raiders‘ Free Loadout system grants players a randomized set of the essentials (weapon, shield, bandages, etc.) upon heading Topside, although it does come with the downside of not being customizable. Even so, it makes the game even more accessible than it already was. Furthermore, players have a helpful companion named Scrappy who automatically retrieves important crafting materials while players are on the surface, once again rewarding players for effort more than excellence.

Arc Raiders player aiming at other players

Players primarily earn XP during runs in Arc Raiders for completing quests, defeating enemies (both AI and players), and looting and extracting. Hence, the more aggressive they play, the faster they’re going to progress. Of course, playing more aggressively can attract unwanted attention, but as long as players are attentive with both their ears and eyes, and they put in the time to learn each map, surviving and thriving can become second nature if they want it to. I found that the easiest way to earn a ton of XP in Arc Raiders was to defeat as many ARC machines on the surface as I could during a run and to successfully return to base with as much loot as I could hold.

With that XP, players can unlock skill points in a persistent skill tree. This tree has three main branches: Mobility, Conditioning, and Survival. For example, faster climbing and vaulting in Mobility, stamina and endurance in Conditioning, and stealth and resilience in Survival. Plus, the level cap in Arc Raiders is apparently 75, and with a Skill Point awarded at each of those levels, players can better build the Raider that suits their playstyle best.

There are a lot of different things to unlock in Arc Raiders apart from new skills — like different Workshop stations for crafting gear, new maps, and even a prestige system. Upon reaching Level 20, players can send their Raider on an Expedition, which causes them to permanently lose that Raider before starting a new one. However, it costs an abundance of materials to do so, and, like me, it’s doubtful many players will be ready to prestige at Level 20. The benefit to performing an Expedition in Arc Raiders, though, is increased XP gains for the player’s next Raider, extra Scrappy materials, increased weapon repairs, and more stash space.

After spending around 35 hours with Arc Raiders, my Raider managed to hit Level 32, and I have yet to be brave enough to send them on an Expedition. I know the benefits that await me when I finally decide to go through with it, but for now, I’m finding it difficult to let go. Nevertheless, Arc Raiders is my latest obsession, and I don’t foresee that fire dying down anytime soon.

Arc Raiders Redefines the Thrill of Survival

arc raiders embark studios unrealistic skins comment

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. The sound design, traversal, and enemy AI all come together to create a rhythm that’s equal parts chaos and control, and it rewards players who learn to move with it instead of against it. After more than thirty hours, I’m still discovering new ways to survive, new risks to take, and new reasons to go back.