I'll be the first to admit that I'm susceptible to a certain form of gaming hype – a form of hype that's generated in droves Arc Raidersone of 2025's biggest multiplayer games. Specifically, I was drawn to the community-grown parts of Arc Raiders amazing reputation: it never felt like a game shoved down our throats by corporate marketing teams, but spread organically by real players, with real experiences to share.
With so many players singing Arc Raiders' praise (including our own team at GR who give it a perfect result), I was ready to no-life Embark Studio's ambitious project like everyone else. When I first jumped into the game, I remember being captivated by its strong shooting and movement mechanics, as well as its quirky post-apocalypse world, which felt unique despite having shades of Fall-out, Mad Maxand the like. Sadly, Arc Raiders lost its luster for me shortly after just a few runs, and Steam tells me I've only played about 5 hours of the game. Sure, I'm pretty busy, but that didn't stop me from putting in over 20 hours Battlefield 6 at launch (or 80 hours in Hades 2but that's another story). So, what gives? I feel left out Arc Raiders party, and maybe you do too.
Arc Raiders is cool, but it hasn't sunk its teeth into me yet
The extraction shooter gameplay loop can be boiled down to the following process: enter a hostile zone with other players, collect loot, return to base with loot without getting killed, or lose everything. Now, I love difficult games, but the massively high stakes of the extraction shooter genre have always been a little too punishing for me. I get that's the point – high risk, high reward and all – but it's just not a style of play I find particularly fun.
There are many possible reasons for this, but one that comes to mind is the skill gap between newcomers to the genre and veterans. As the old saying goes, “there will always be a sweatier player,” meaning there will always be a more intense, dedicated shooter in the PvP lobby, ready to interrupt your run just as you learn the ropes. In other multiplayer shooters, you can just restart and try again, but in an extraction game, death is much more impactful, sometimes resulting in the negation of hours of work. And that's probably the main reason why I can't fully enjoy it Arc Raiders: it feels like work. Looting and narrowly escaping a session is satisfying, but everything before it feels sloppy, routine and bland, all while a ceremonial, devastating loss hangs over your head.
To Arc RaidersThanks, it's taking steps towards being more accessible to newcomers to the genre, with freeloads being a prime example of this. But to me, such features feel too much like a compromise; they undermine the satisfaction of high stakes and cross-run progression that the game is built on.
In addition to all this, Arc Raiders is a live service game, designed to be played and developed indefinitely. But I want to play a game with a beginning, middle and end. I want an experience that I can look back on and smile about. I don't want a game that feels like clocking in at a job and grinding for resources that could otherwise be bought with real money; at its core, the live service genre is designed to keep drawing you back. To this end, live service games are usually not designed with lasting satisfaction in mind.
My experience with Arc Raiders has been an unexpectedly introspective one. I hold no ill will towards the game, and I actually appreciate many aspects of its world, art design, and moment-to-moment gameplay, but I've come to realize that this type of “play forever” game isn't my cup of tea. It sometimes feels like it should be, as live service titles never seem to go out of style despite gamers the world over declaring the business model dead, but it's a hassle. One day I might open my eyes to the brilliance of Arc Raidersbut right now it feels like work to start it up.
- Released
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30 October 2025
- ESRB
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Teen/violence, blood
