| ARC Raiders | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Release Date | Gameplay & Story | Pre-Order & DLC | Review |
ARC Raiders Review Overview
What is ARC Raiders?
ARC Raiders is an online multiplayer extraction shooter by Embark Studios and Nexon that’s set in a mechanical dystopia. Forced to live underground to hide from the mechanical menace of ARC, humanity must rely on its raiders to scour the surface for resources and return to their great cities underground.
ARC Raiders features:
⚫︎ Branching skill-tree
⚫︎ 6 unique maps to survive and escape
⚫︎ 3-player, squad-based gameplay
⚫︎ PvPvE shooter combat
⚫︎ Internal, crafting-centric economy
| Digital Storefronts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Steam |
 Epic |
 Playstation |
 Xbox |
| $39.99 | |||
ARC Raiders Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 The Prettiest Extraction Shooter Ever Actual Narrative Weight Unique Mechanics for an Extraction Shooter Inoffensive Battle Pass |
Console Users are at A Disadvantage |
ARC Raiders Story - 8/10
ARC Raiders surprises with a deep and well-thought-out setting and narrative in a genre that generally thrives on tropes and mindless carnage. Embark bothered to build a world around the basic shell of an extraction shooter, and it weighs more than just "getting out". I didn’t know it was possible to do such a thing, yet here we are.
ARC Raiders Gameplay - 8/10
ARC Raiders’ gameplay is equal parts iteration and innovation, sticking to what works and adding in a few experimental touches that set it apart from the snoozefest of a genre that is Extraction Shooters. Minor base-building, strong PvE combat, and a branching skill tree all make up something worth experiencing yourself.
ARC Raiders Visuals - 10/10
I am not being hyperbolic when I say that this is the most beautiful extraction shooter I’ve ever seen. The graphics are great without being too taxing to run on most systems, and the visual style is evocative to boot. Supported by a strong art direction reminiscent of Metro: 2033, this game makes me not want to leave, despite its premise.
ARC Raiders Audio - 8/10
Though not as breathtaking as its visuals, ARC Rairders’ audio is by no means a joke. Combining atmospheric music, crunchy weapon sounds, and more-than-decent voice acting, this soundscape’s one for the gamer headphones.
ARC Raiders Value for Money - 7/10
Though somewhat less valuable for console players due to the tax PlayStation and Xbox have for online multiplayer, ARC Raiders is still a pretty good buy at a very respectable $39.99. Considering its AAA graphics and high replayability, even console players are bound to get their money’s worth before long.
ARC Raiders Overall Score - 82/100
ARC Raiders is the unlikely scion of cinema and extraction shooters–beautiful and bombastic in equal measure, with just enough innovation to be interesting in an otherwise tired genre space.
If its fast-paced, out-of-the-box mechanics don’t charm you, its sights, sounds, and — surprisingly — its story, surely will. Maybe a bit less if you’re on console, but this is still a shooter you’ll hesitate to extract from.
ARC Raiders Review: So Good You’ll Stall the Extraction
I don’t imagine it’s too much of a hot take to say that most shooters, particularly of the modern variety, look the same nowadays. That’s not to say that nobody’s tried to break the mold, mind you, but your general shooter is more likely to have dull earth tones with mechanized exoskeletons nowadays than it is something new.
The oversaturation of extraction shooters is an adjacent plague of a different kind, posing more of a problem of crowding a genre rather than overstating a style. When I first heard of ARC Raiders, it sounded like some unholy matrimony of both—another of each problem just waiting to live and die in hype within a week, just like the rest.
I was wrong. This game subverts every expectation, though it isn’t without its hiccups for a very specific set of people trying to experience it. Still, it’s not the problem I thought it’d be, and might actually go the distance. Let’s dive right into this review and see how an extraction shooter, of all things, managed that.
The Great Underground City of Speranza
The first way ARC Raiders set itself apart from its kin is the fact that its devs actually bothered with a story. No, I don’t mean some military-adjacent, non-specific power struggle between massive institutions. I don’t mean a dangerous escape from some battleground of equally-abled killing machines either. No, ARC Raiders is a story of survival.
Set in a world where machines rule the surface under the flag of ARC, this game tells the tale of a human society forced to an underground lifestyle. Luckily, there happens to be a vast network of tubes and elevators criss-crossing under the surface, and human ingenuity knows no bounds.
This combination of happenstance and indomitable human will birthed the underground city of Speranza, where traders and civilians gather to carve out a life, such as it was, during this machine-borne apocalypse. There is another class of citizens living in Speranza, however: Raiders.
Taking on the dangerous task of scavenging from the surface, Raiders are intrepid thrill-seekers who ride the tubes topside to get more parts, food, and general supplies for the people of Speranza. Not for free, of course, not when they’re fighting automated defense systems the size of airplanes, but it’s a necessary living for humanity’s survival. Resources are scarce, of course, so raiders have taken the habit of fighting each other. But as long as something makes it to the buried city, all is fair upstairs.
Now, this is already very high concept for a shooter, much more an extraction shooter. This game definitely gets major bonus story points for trying and succeeding in something new, but that’s not the only instance of it achieving that.
Dystopian Dumpster Diving
So, moving on to gameplay now, how does ARC Raiders play? Well, it’s fairly standard in that front, borrowing the high-risk, high-reward loadout system popularized by Arena Breakout: Infinite. You kit yourself out before the mission, hoping to get better gear and get home to help with the next one.
Once you’re on the field, you’re dropped in with two other raiders and must scavenge the various ruins of the map before trying to get home. There are many points of interest for you to explore and much loot awaiting you in each, but the tricky bit is getting there.
Apart from other raiders who’d rather shoot on sight for fear of losing their loot to you, there are also PvE mobs for you to take down, the process of doing which is likely to attract more raiders to your location. These mobs, which mostly appear as mechanical ARC Drones, aren’t too hard to take down, save for a couple of monstrous ones, but one errant gunshot is all it takes to announce to the whole map that you’re looking for trouble.
If you do manage to get to these scavenging spots, you’re likely to find new gear, ammo, crafting materials, and valuables to fill out your inventory. You can also find special raider keys, which are needed to extract from certain parts of the map that open up sooner. You won’t need them for the other extraction points, but those are loud and easy to spot, making other raiders stealing your only ride home a very likely ending for your excursion.
If you do get home, great! You’ve got better loot for your next run and a bunch of valuables to sell for even more loot as you need them. You also get parts to use for your room and its various buildables. Yeah, you read that right. There’s a building mechanic in this extraction shooter, and it’s the least surprising mechanic it has.
Unexpected, But Welcome Mechanics
Okay, it’s closer to a crafting mechanic, considering there are no placement rules, but it’s equally surprising. Basically, you can trick your room out with various stations to upgrade your guns, craft certain supplies, or even just earn supplies passively. Keeping in mind that trader prices are generally unfair, this game’s internal economy thrives on crafting your own things and rounding out your inventory with purchases.
Arena Breakout: Infinite had a gun crafting mechanic that this doesn’t have, but it certainly doesn’t have a visually updating room you can upgrade. It also doesn’t have a skill tree, but ARC Raiders does.
Yeah, an RPG skill tree in an extraction shooter. Nothing can surprise me now. Every level up grants you points to allocate to this branching skill tree, granting you new passives and improvements. It’s nothing too crazy—certainly not Path of Exile 2 levels—but it's plenty for a game like this.
There’s also the fact that it’s a third-person shooter, which is uncommon for its kind. We also can’t forget the Expedition Project, which is accessible when you reach level 20. This event lets players reset their progress and unlock powerful metagame bonuses. No spoilers on that end, but that’s something I’ve never seen in an extraction shooter before.
The game also has loadout kits, which are lootable items you can find on the map that modify the slots in your loadout. These usually specialize you toward a particular playstyle for your next run, with combat kits having more weapon slots but fewer inventory spaces, and looting kits being the opposite. There's also just a plainly free kit you can use if you didn't manage to extract in one piece 10 times in a row like I did.
It’s clear that this game isn’t afraid to use what works, but is even less afraid to try new things. Not categorically new things, mind you, just things new for their genre. Considering how stale said genre’s been getting lately, though, even this is commendable.
Speaking of commendations, I’ve yet to give my biggest ones because only now are we reaching the game’s highlight.
Easily the Most Breathtaking Extraction Shooter Right Now
ARC Raiders is a sight to see, and it’s genuinely not something I expected. This game’s visuals are phenomenal, and not just in terms of graphical fidelity, though it does have much of that too. Eschewing the overused modern military shooter aesthetic I alluded to earlier, ARC Raiders looks more like something out of Metro: 2033 or Dying Light than Call of Duty, mixing dystopian weapon and armor theming with a general disarray of the world around it.
The biomes aren’t just ruined buildings and sprawling military complexes; they’re vast deserts, sweeping forests, and monumental buildings you can actually traverse. And Speranza itself, though existing as little more than a menu screen, still sells the steam/cyber punk aesthetic this dystopian future’s got going on through sleek transitions between UI screens.
It’s quite simply a visual treat across many facets, and not at the cost of any of the game’s other aspects either. Quite the opposite, it works hand-in-hand with its unique setting to weave a narrative that’s more than just set dressing for your dystopian dumpster dives. Sadly, this is where the accolades end for ARC Raiders. Great as it is, even the best of its kind still bares the same scars as the rest.
Another Battle Pass, But A Bearable One This Time
Such is the curse of live service. Even ARC Raiders wasn’t safe from the grip of the dreaded Battle Pass model, but at least it’s much less offensive to the common consumer this time around. As the game subscribes to a strict aversion to Pay-to-Win mechanics, the Battle Pass—or the Raider Deck, as they call it here—is completely optional, and easy to fill out to match.
It’s basically just another layer of progression, one that belches out a cosmetic for you now and then, and nothing more. Not scummy at all, all things considered.
Keeping in mind that the game doesn't really have an player-made internal economy—something that's expectedly hard to achieve for a game with a price tag—everything you need to continue playing is already there. And if you ever run out, the free loadout kit picks you back up to rebuild.
Console Players Won’t Enjoy It As Much
Sadly, even surprisingly good games are bound to not to as good in some parts of their make. In this case, it’s less of the game’s fault, and more of its platforms’. As you may know, PlayStation and Xbox require you to fork over some extra cash to play online multiplayer on their platforms.
I can’t blame ARC Raiders for this, but it’s still a fact of its existence that console players need to understand when buying it. Have a bit more cash saved for that PlayStation Plus subscription, and tell your friends to do the same. Otherwise, just play on PC, where you just need to pay the price on the tag.
There’s also the matter of crossplay, which the game allows across all its platforms. Again, not the game’s fault, just a fact of the game’s nature, but don’t expect to have as easy a time hitting your shots as the PC players. At least you can turn it off if it becomes too much of an issue. That online multiplayer tax, though, isn’t so easy to ignore.
No Right to Be This Good, Yet It Is
ARC Raiders really is a surprise gem in a genre of forgettable stinkers. It’s just as, if not more, fun as the rest, and has a few extra innovations to boot. It also has a surprisingly high graphical and narrative accolades to boast despite not having the AAA price tag to match, so it’s basically surprisingly good on two fronts.
I never thought I’d end up recommending an extraction shooter, but October is the month of spooks, and what’s a better jumpscare than a more-than-decent extraction shooter?
Is ARC Raiders Worth It?
Yes, But Less So For Consoles
ARC Raiders comes in at a surprising $39.99. I honestly thought this was an AAA game when I saw the graphics, but fortunately for everyone, we won’t have to pay that premium. That’s a good thing too, considering that the whole squad will each have to buy a copy if they want to play together. Paying seventy bucks three times is surely going to stop you from suggesting what to play next time.
That said, this value is less potent for console players, who need to add an extra couple of bucks for PlayStation Plus or Xbox Game Pass if they want to play the game on console. Not the game’s fault, but nonetheless something the consumer has to foot. Just keep that in mind when buying, and there shouldn’t be any problems.
| Digital Storefronts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam |
Epic |
Playstation |
Xbox |
| $39.99 | |||
ARC Raiders FAQ
Does ARC Raiders Allow Solo Expeditions?
Yes. Players can choose to queue up as a squad in groups of three or as solo raiders. According to the game’s developers, its matchmaking system prioritizes pairing each option with those who opted for the same queue.
What is the Queen in ARC Raiders?
The Queen is a massive ARC Construct and one of the game’s more difficult mobs to encounter while on an expedition. Although finding a Queen usually ends with a swift defeat, according to the game’s developers, the Queen can be beaten by capable raiders.
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ARC Raiders Product Information
 |
|
| Title | ARC RAIDERS |
|---|---|
| Release Date | October 30, 2025 (PC, PlayStation, Xbox) |
| Developer | Embark Studios, Nexon |
| Publisher | Embark |
| Supported Platforms | PC (Steam, Epic Games) PlayStation 5 Xbox Series X|S |
| Genre | Action, Shooting, Multiplayer |
| Number of Players | 1-3 |
| ESRB Rating | ESRB T |
| Official Website | ARC Raiders Website |
