Har(c)ken to me, defenders of Speranza! Embark have just announced their plans for ARC Raiders updates over the first four months of 2026. The extraction shooter’s next season is called Escalation, and its offerings range from new maps and enemies to new Raider decks, changes to existing maps, and more Expeditions. The headline attraction is surely the “new large Arc” coming in April. I wonder how big Arcs can get. Perhaps an Arc the size of a map, like Cronos in God Of War 3? But, you know, metal?
Let’s break it down. The roadmap, I mean, not the new large Arc, though yes, definitely that too. Coming up in what remains of this month, there’s Headwinds, an update package that introduces a new matchmaking option for players over level 40, a new minor map condition, and a new player project. February brings Shrouded Sky, which encompasses a new map condition, Arc threat, player project, and raider deck, together with a map update and another Expedition.
March is the time of Flashpoint, which includes a new map condition, Arc enemy and player project, together with an update for Scrappy the weird junk-attracting chicken. April, finally, is the month of Riven Tides. There’s another new map and map condition, a second Expedition, and the aforesaid “new large Arc”. Always good to end the season with a respec grind, though Embark have said they’re trying to make Expeditions more varied in future.
Good news, fans of frostbite: Embark aren’t done simulating winter just yet. “The Cold Snap has passed, but its danger casts a long shadow,” the devs write in closing. “Extreme weather will continue to test Raiders as they scavenge the surface for the resources that keep Speranza running.” As if that wasn’t harrowing enough, the developers have suggested elsewhere that one particular enemy indigenous to the new Stella Montis region might eventually find its way to the other maps.
