ARC Raiders Hands-On Preview: Scavenge, Survive, Thrive

In a world that has been ravaged by hostile machines known as ARCs, survival is pretty rough. The few safe places there are see thousands of people packed into tight underground settlements, relying on the bravery of a few Raiders who venture up onto the surface to scavenge for resources, weapons, and more.

That is the gist of the setup of ARC Raiders, a new extraction shooter from The Finals' Embark Studios. It's an interesting enough world. Not one that'll grip me with an overarching narrative, but a satisfying excuse to throw you into some broad maps and have you kill robots as well as other players.

After a brief tutorial, that's what we got stuck into during our time with ARC Raiders, playing some solo and squad matches. What strikes you immediately as you jet off onto the surface is how visually striking the maps are in ARC Raiders. For parts of a ruined world, they can be quite pretty, but even when they're showing the ugliness of a desolate world, the visual fidelity is still very strong. The game's performance was consistently solid, too, throughout our time with it. Interiors and exteriors performed similarly, and even under heavy gunfire we didn't notice frames dropping too much.

While the maps were pretty to look at, though, they lacked a feeling of life, especially in solo play. The Dam, Spaceport, and Buried City were each aesthetically different, but in terms of gameplay remained the same. Find a place, walk to the place, try and get some loot in the meantime. Perhaps run into a robot or another player. There is a good sense within the gameplay that you are a very small fish in a large pond. ARCs are deadly, no matter their size, and some of them are so large and intimidating you just hope they don't notice you as they trundle by. While the ARCs being strong certainly fits in with the narrative Embark has created, it means that when you've just got starting gear, you're stuck in an awkward position. You want better stuff, but to get it and keep it you'll have to head to deadlier places, which will see you fight against ARCs you can't beat.

Gunplay against ARCs and players is fun enough, with a variety of weapons that each prove fun in their own way. The Kettle rifle looked like a weird paintball gun, and was a personal favourite for just how cheap it was to craft. As we couldn't get much loot with our meagre gear, heading back home to speak with a rooster that crafts items proved to be essential between runs. Making use of his expertise, you can craft all sorts of items to take with you out into the maps.

The overall impression with ARC Raiders remained lukewarm throughout the game's solo aspect. I can't claim to really get extraction shooters, but then again they've also failed to pull me in so far. Well, I should say that was until we started squadding up in some team play during the latter half of the session. Myself, another journalist, and an Embarker known simply as Hoodad (who shall forever remain in my memories as giving us the ultimate carry job) set off to gather resources and fight other players together. When people were playing with others, they were bolder, leading to more action between squads, which instantly devolved into gunfights.

Using the in-game communication tools, as well as a few bits of proximity chat to yell at enemies before knocking them out, I quickly grew to understand what makes games like this so fun for so many people. The squads experience for ARC Raiders feels like the true way to play the game. You can take on ARCs you'd never dream of bringing down alone, and can wander the map without feeling like you need to extract after a few minutes.

It didn't necessarily feel like much progress was being made, even in squad play, but that didn't really matter during the times where we got to team up with other players. Running around the maps, gathering what you can, taking down ARCs, and getting into gunfights with other squads. It all feels like the excitement has been doubled when you have a team by your side. As a solo experience, perhaps more loot or fuller servers when the game goes live will help improve that aspect, but there was still plenty of excitement left to be found in ARC Raiders. The die-hard extraction shooter enjoyers might find the game to be somewhat of a different experience, but if you're just looking to have some fun with your friends, then you might want to keep an eye out for ARC Raiders when it arrives.