I thought I’d only play five or six hours of ARC Raiders on launch day before I sat down to write this initial review, but after a few games I suddenly couldn’t put it down – and before I knew it, I’d played for 10 hours. This is without a doubt the most engaging extraction shooter out there (and I’ve played a lot of them), with neat and tense gunplay, a progression system that’s been incredibly satisfying so far, and loot gameplay that has me sweating over what to put in my backpack and what to leave behind. I still have a lot of things to do and see before I can draw any final conclusions, but whatever To have played, it made an incredibly good first impression on me.
ARC Raiders follows the usual extraction shooter formula of dropping you into a zone where you can defeat NPC enemies and fight for loot, all while looking over your shoulder for rival crews who would like nothing more than to smash you like a meat pinata and take everything you’ve collected. From what I’ve seen so far, ARC Raiders hasn’t done much to iterate on these fundamentals, but it absolutely backs them up, and that’s harder than it might seem – for example, a big-budget effort like Battlefield 2042’s Danger Zone mostly failed, and the Bungie Marathon alpha landed with such a bang that it was delayed indefinitely.
One of the main ways to achieve success is through stressful gunfights, where the guns only have a few bullets in each clip, take a long time to reload, and the robotic NPCs are either much faster than you or can rain down rockets to obliterate you in one shot. This means that I usually feel like a rodent, sneaking food and supplies around the world before sneaking back to base – but when combat breaks out, it’s charged with a delicious sense of anxiety due to the high-risk, high-reward situation that comes with knowing that you’ll either lose everything you fought for or grab some amazing gear from the corpses of those you’ve defeated. This applies to both AI-controlled players and humans, as both can be encountered and fought in the world, though it’s best to avoid either unless you know you have the equipment and skills required for combat with you. This is because firing a shot has a high chance of attracting all robot enemies and loot-hungry players to your position, taking advantage of your vulnerability to deal as much damage as possible.
All four maps I’ve seen so far have a very frigid and distinct atmosphere, from the broken shell of a swampy dam to a city buried in red sand. It’s a good thing they’re so fun to look at, because you’ll spend a lot of time wandering back and forth through them looking for loot. I still feel like I haven’t seen most of these areas even though I’ve played them for dozens of games, but they’re starting to feel a little familiar to me. I hope they still have secrets to discover, which will extend the amount of time I’m willing to spend on each of them.
As I work to explore every last zone, I’m still on the lookout for an enemy combatant that I haven’t encountered yet (apart from the huge tanks, which I’m simply avoiding at this early stage). Most of my NPC combat encounters have been against compact, mobile bots and flying drones, which are fairly straightforward to destroy, and my fellow players have been the only proper challenge so far. I’m looking forward to the point where I’m powerful enough to seriously engage some of the tougher enemies, but it would still be nice to have a wider range of low-level AI fighters to shake up the early game a bit.
Fortunately, even when the maps and enemies started to feel familiar, it didn’t diminish my desire to play just because of how good the loot and progression systems are. Every run, win or lose, excites me at the opportunity to return to the cozy sanctuary of Speranza, where I can chat with vendors, turn in and take on fresh quests, upgrade my facilities that allow me to craft items and access fresh upgrades, customize my character’s appearance, and spend skill points that make me slightly better at things like remaining still while browsing loot during matches. There’s so much to do and unlock that I really feel like I’ve only just scratched the surface in this regard, which keeps me glued to the controller and can’t wait to dive into fresh matches.
Either way, there’s still a lot to do and work to kill, so as soon as I’m done writing, I’ll be heading back out into the wilderness for more. You can expect a full, scored review early next week!
