To summarize, extraction shooters are a completely fresh genre in gaming. Escape from Tarkov was one of the first and is still one of the most popular, but it is also by far the most hardcore game and may discourage fresh players. War in the gray zone is another similar game with the same newfangled, realistic themes, while other extraction shooters lean more towards the fantasy realm, such as Hunting: Gameplay Or Darker and darker.
Enter Archers. With its futuristic Earth setting, the latest entry in the genre straddles the line between realism and fantasy, offering plenty of recognizable weapons and loot, but pits you against enemy drones and robots that we haven’t seen before quite seen in real life. But while the scenery is intriguing – especially Speranza, the underground city you return to after each visit to the mountain – it’s so accessible Archers creates a typically unforgiving genre that keeps me coming back for more.
It’s a bit amazing that no one has managed to utilize this approach in an extraction shooter before. Other teams have certainly tried, but where Escape from Tarkov has a harsh, extremely punishing side of things closed, Archers he is ready to sit atop the throne on the less solemn side. Think PUBG vs FortniteBattlefield vs. Call of Duty or Gran Turismo vs. Forza Horizon.
It doesn’t mean that Archers is revolutionary, but during my four-hour preview session it quickly became clear: this isn’t a game where expeditions into hostile environments will last for hours. At best you spend 20 minutes, maybe 30 on one attack, looting as much as you can and then rushing to the nearest extraction point.
While there are plenty of buildings and places worth exploring, each map consists primarily of enormous, comprehensive terrain. Again, to compare this to a ponderous pace Tarkov where every step could alert another player’s ears. Instead, Archers encourages movement, running from one piece of cover to another.
This is partly because you don’t want other players sweeping their line of sight with sniper rifles, but also because non-player enemies – the arc robots that patrol the map – are brutal. There are many types, from the flying Snitch, which does no damage but will call for backup if it detects you, to the powerful Bastion equipped with massive armor and a minigun.
Way Archers its approach to non-player enemies is a huge part of its appeal. If you want to take on bigger enemies, you need to be equipped; standard infantry weapons and gadgets won’t cut it. After equipping the Hullcracker – an epic anti-Arc launcher – and a Wolfpack grenade that explodes into homing shrapnel towards Arc enemies, my three-man team easily took down two Rocketeers and a Leaper. However, with such massive weapons, we were between a rock and a demanding place when we came across a firefight between multiple different squads and we couldn’t assist ourselves.
We then entered the next match, equipped with sniper rifles, took up position on the ridge and picked off two full enemy squads before they had a chance to fight each other. We moved in, looted their bodies, and escaped through the manhole in less than 10 minutes without a scratch on us. But did we accidentally stumble upon the Arc drones that we so easily disposed of in the last round? We would have been fried if we hadn’t escaped with our tails between our legs.
However, even seemingly elementary Arc robots can cause problems for many reasons. First, their pathfinding is impressive. During our first match, several Wasps – lightweight combat drones that usually travel in packs – followed us into a huge warehouse and then managed to trap us in a doorway so we had no choice but to fight them. However, this poses a second problem: fighting them may bring in more Arc enemies or tell other players exactly where you are. Doing this indoors is a bit less of a problem, but if the squad sees gunshots and flailing drones being destroyed, you better believe they’ll be on your trail.
There’s a lot to fall in love with Archersand the fact that it is uncomplicated to jump in and out of so I can’t wait for the full release tomorrow. I’m a little concerned that it will suffer the same fate as many other multiplayer shooters, where it’s only enjoyable until the most dedicated players figure out the inevitable metagame, but if I can avoid that and I can convince a few friends to get in on the action, I’ll be back Archers for a moment.
