Arc Raiders’ one-time-only event, ‘Locked Gate’, is already the stuff of legend

Maybe you’ve put in hundreds of hours into Arc Raiders since the immensely popular extraction shooter launched at the end of October, but I’m almost certain you haven’t played the game’s rarest map event. That’s because for one hour only, on Thursday, Nov. 13, the Blue Gate map had an event called Locked Gate. That was the one and only time it was seen.

“A clandestine group has activated the Gate’s emergency shutdown protocol,” reads the in-game flavor text. “Four key cards need to be obtained to override it, and uncover whatever they’re hiding.”

It sounds like one of the more interesting events in Arc Raiders, but unfortunately, there’s no way to play it right now. The events we often see are things like Lush Blooms, which increase the chance of finding natural resources such as apricots and lemons; Harvester, which means the Queen is available to fight; and Uncovered Caches, which spawns crates full of gear throughout the map. Rarely, if ever, do we see an event that has a specific objective, with Hidden Bunker being the only other one of these in the rotation currently.

Some people did get to partake, though, and there’s footage of it available on YouTube. Gamers Heroes’ attempt at it, embedded above, shows the four key locations spread out all over the map at Raider’s Refuge, Reinforced Reception, Pilgrim’s Peak, and Ancient Fort. Of course, with Arc Raiders being a PvP-enabled game, collecting four keys from around the map is a tricky task, especially if you attempt it solo.

Why was Locked Gate removed, and why hasn’t it returned? The former question has an explanation, as per a few different players such as Intivico on Twitter and Whitegold101 on Reddit: the tunnel you open with the four keys, supposed to be full of loot, was empty. It’s safe to assume that was a bug, so the event needed to be disabled to let the team patch that. The video embedded below, from YouTuber KpShamino, shows footage of a group of players exploring the tunnels but finding next to nothing.

As to why we haven’t seen it since, that’s a good question. Arc Raiders doesn’t receive updates all that frequently, usually a few weeks apart. Perhaps the fix is taking longer than expected, or maybe Embark Studios is hanging onto the map event for the next major update, rather than dropping it in a minor one? We know the Cold Snap update is coming on Thursday Dec. 17, introducing a snowy map condition, so perhaps Locked Gate could return alongside it?

I hope it does, but equally, if you were one of the very few players to successfully complete Locked Gate while it was active only to receive no loot for your troubles, you’ve got a theoretical badge of honor right there. If there’s any way for Embark to determine who did manage that, an exclusive cosmetic to commemorate them wouldn’t go amiss, I reckon.