Extraction shooter Arc Raiders is officially an acceptable substitute for summer holidays thanks to the new Riven Tides update, out today, which adds a new coastal area with a collapsing hotel, some luxurious tennis courts and an actual slide for you to slide on. As ever, the price you will pay for accessing all of these things is getting murdered by robots – or humans who want your Assorted Seeds.
There’s a new Arc enemy, the aerial Arc Turbine, which looks like an upside-down pyramid and is chillingly described as “calm, docile, quiet”, with powerful defensive abilities. “Nobody knows quite what it’s doing, but if you try to interfere, you best be ready for a totally unique fight,” explains developer Embark’s announcement post. “Its defensive abilities are brutal, posing a new challenge to Raiders and demanding skill, patience, and nerves in equal measure.”
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Bolshy skytents notwithstanding, the Riven Tides map is a lovely place. Did I mention the slide? There are also ballrooms and a big dockyard area. Oh, and a new minor map condition, Beachcombing, which sees you scavenging a Dockmaster’s Detector in order to pluck booty from the sand. You’ll be more vulnerable while beachcombing, of course.
There are a couple of new items for getting down from high places in a hurry. One is a throwable, inflatable crash mat, which significantly mitigates fall damage. You can even throw it while you’re falling if you’re quick-witted, or a massive show-off. I’m not sure whether people can shoot and burst the crash mat before you land on it, but I hope that’s the case, because it would be really funny. The Powered Descender, meanwhile, is a foldable hoverglider. Unlike the crash mat, it’s good for more than one use, but to craft it, you’ll need a component from one of those pesky Arc Turbines.
There are new emotes and cosmetics, including a Solare Set for the “ceremonial” Arc player and a Rachetta set for more flamboyant raiders. And there are some new activities, including a five-stage Avian Alarm project, which sees you placing cages to trap birds to detect earthquakes or something, and a Last Resort event, which is about collecting model ships. Aww.
Seasoned Arc players may be less interested in all this than the accompanying balancing changes, and especially the revised weapon durabilities. In general, Embark feel that the game’s weapon economy is unbalanced, commenting in the latest changelog that “players engaging in heavy PVP have to make a lot of difficult decisions around their weapons while the most friendly players have ended up in a chronic state of weapon accumulation”. They want to rearrange things to ensure “all players are challenged by weapon attrition, as well as introducing new ways to combat it”.
To whit, upgrading weapons will now repair 25% of max durability, which is designed to offer “more ways to repair low durability weapons and elevate the upgrade loop”. The devs acknowledge “clear frustration” about how expensive higher-tier weapons are to maintain; as such, they’re rebalancing the arsenal so that higher tier weapons lose less durability per shot.
They’re throwing PvP enthusiasts a bone by reducing the durability loss on weapons when you knock the owner out. And they’re trying to encourage people to venture into the depths of each map, by reducing how often weapons spawn outside high tier areas and locked rooms. You’ll also be more likely to find weapons with higher durabilities in locked rooms.
Probably some or all of this will make the Arc playerbase mad. There’s more in the full changelog. Playing much Arc Raiders at the moment? I have to say, I’ve drifted away, but I’m going to install the update purely so I can have a go on that slide.
