Arc Raiders delivers rich PvE combat and boasts an unusually warm player base, making it a more approachable extraction shooter than most. Still, Embark Studios’ continued dependence on AI voice generation leaves a blemish on the game’s public image.
Arc Raiders is, at its core, about people scrambling for survival among the ruins of a ruined Earth ruled by machines. Yet what it really asks you to do is gamble your virtual life for a handful of apricots, all to satisfy the world’s pickiest chicken. On one such mission driven by poultry needs, I caught sight of three figures cresting a rise near a sand dune—fully armed, no hesitation.
With numbers against me and little room to breathe, I braced for what felt like the inevitable end. But rather than getting hit with a wall of gunfire, I heard a casual “Hey dude,” and the panic deflated immediately. As the trio passed by, the final one grinned and said, “We’re on the hunt for lemons!”—another fruit obsession shared with our feathered overlord.
Those kinds of moments sit right at the heart of what’s helped Arc Raiders become the standout title of the season—an actual cultural talking point, largely thanks to its extraordinary community. In this harsh landscape where everyone’s trying to grab what they can, you’ll often see genuine attempts to calm things down, brief ceasefires, and even friendly teamwork.
This isn’t the first game to deliver that contrast; survival shooters have included flashes of decency since DayZ. Still, Arc Raiders stands out as one of the first in a long while to put our best habits on display, and it may be the game where that conduct shows up most often. In fact, the game has reached a point where friendly players have started scolding aggressive ones for playing in a way that matches the rules—an odd, but noteworthy, turn.
How did this happen? Some of it is probably down to luck, with Embark Studios benefiting from a broader shift toward cooperative play over the past few years. There’s also a simple difference in behavior: players heading in solo often come across as more agreeable than groups do. But in the end, it’s built into Arc Raiders’ design.
In structure, Arc Raiders follows the standard extraction shooter formula. You form teams that can be solo players or trios, working across large maps to pack their backpacks with valuable loot before making it out to Speranza, the underground city, via elevators, subway stations, and shafts. Once you’ve secured those items, you use them to craft and/or buy better weapons and gear—then the whole loop starts again.
During your roughly thirty-minute battles on the surface, the world keeps humming with the risk of violence. That tension comes partly from the possibility that other players are nearby, but mainly from the Arcs themselves. These machines show up in many shapes and sizes, from armed drones to massive mechanical spiders. Either way, they’re all dangerous—up through even the smallest variants are capable of wiping out careless raiders in seconds.
The Arcs are clever not only in how they work individually, but also in how they operate together. The Wasps and Hornets make up most of the Arc forces, and they challenge the idea that airborne enemies are tedious to fight. Their convincing durability, clearly signaled attacks, and unpredictable reactions when you hit them make every encounter feel like a high-stakes, lethal choreography. On top of that, the rolling explosives hidden inside buildings act like roaming hazards—either detonating or spitting flames—so exploring indoors becomes especially risky, particularly when you realize half the map has already heard them blow.
It’s really the combined pressure of the Arcs that makes them so dangerous. Any sound could put an Arc on alert—gunfire, activating an extraction point, or even a heavy drop can catch the attention of a patrolling wasp. Some Arcs are also designed to do even more damage than the usual variety. Catching sight of the red searchlight of a bucket-shaped Snitch is an instant trigger for a frantic dash to destroy it before reinforcements arrive.
Because Arcs add constant danger, they also make fights with other players more complicated, forcing you to think carefully about what you do. And some of the larger Arc types—like the Leapers, Bastions, and the intimidating Queen—are difficult to remove without backup. As a result, cooperation is gently pushed, reinforced by Arc Raiders’ most recognizable voice line: “Don’t Shoot!” It’s an easy button for breaking the ice, even for players who prefer to avoid voice chat, helping cool things down and creating an opening for an alliance.
This is how Arc Raiders builds a more cooperative extraction experience. Of course, I should stress that this unusually friendly vibe wouldn’t matter much without the antagonists. Every player who’s ready to shoot you in the back, take you out from range, or rig traps at an extraction point is just as vital to the game’s ecosystem as the allies—though I’ll never forget their names, because I’ll probably hate them forever.