The Extraction games genre has become quite popular over the past few years due to the thrill of finding goodies and the constant pressure of losing them. There are several extraction games available, and each one offers a unique experience with the same thrill and intense situations. Whether Escape from Tarkov accidentally started this genre or not, it certainly brought a new experience for gamers to cherish. With the rising popularity of extraction games, Embark Studios revealed its extraction game back in 2021, and it looked very promising. Fast forwarding to five years later, after the reveal, I personally think that it is the best extraction game out there that anyone can play and enjoy. The setting, content, enemy engagements, loot variety, world, and overall combat all feel the way they should. This is our review of Arc Raiders, a highly anticipated extraction shooter from Embark Studios.
The review copy of Arc Raiders was provided by the publishers.
Arc Raiders is set in a post-apocalyptic Earth where a machine invasion known as the ARC took place. Humanity had no choice but to retreat underground to escape the threat and build a city beneath the Earth’s surface. Speranza is a subterranean city built by remaining humanity, and it is humanity’s last place. The city echoes the vibe of a resistance stronghold through and through as it operates as a hub for missions, upgrades, and social interactions. The survival hinges on scavenging the Surface, the Topside filled with ARC units, loot caches, and environmental hazards.
To strengthen what’s left of humanity, players take the role of Raiders to go back out on the Surface and scavenge anything to bring back to Speranza. Raiders can work together, in a group of three, or completely alone, to get anything they can get their hands on.
Arc Raiders is a third-person PvPvE extraction shooter where players venture into the Surface to scavenge resources, fight enemies, and extract safely back to Speranza. The gameplay offers tactical combat, looting, and survival experience in a dynamic, machine-infested environment. Unlike most extraction games, Arc Raiders places you in a brief tutorial at the start, giving you small details about the core mechanics of the gameplay. Once you have familiarized yourself with the whole situation, you reach Speranza, the main player’s hub.
As you begin your first raid to the Topside, you will get to witness the ARC units, other raiders, and various looting zones. Your main goal is to scavenge anything valuable to you or your gear. It can contain materials, consumables, trinkets, weapons, ammunition, ARC parts, and more. While you are scavenging through various landmarks, you have to be careful of the roaming ARC units and other raiders. You can use the in-game emotes like “Don’t Shoot” to point out that you are friendly and mean no harm to join other raiders to increase your safe extract chances. However, you can run into some raiders who do not want to team up, and you will have to take the fight to them. It is a part of the game to engage in combat with other players. This is what makes it an extraction shooter.
Another element of extraction games that you must keep in mind is the raid time. The maps have a total raid time of 30 minutes. You can join a raid that has just started or one that has been going on for some time. Whatever the case, you must be quick on your feet to loot, shoot, and extract safely back to Speranza. As the time ticks down, explosions will occur on the Topside, and the final explosion will take you out, leaving you with nothing. Each map has several extraction points, but some of them require a key. Such extraction points are safer than the main ones because they don’t have a group of ARC units guarding them. The main extraction points are usually filled with ARC units and sometimes a potential ARC threat like a Rocketeer or a Leaper. You can either sneak around them or bring a key to extract safely.
The hub area includes various traders, who are also the quest givers. Complete the quests for them to get potential rewards and learn more about the Topside. Sell and purchase various types of items from the traders. Use the materials to level up the workshop, which will help in upgrading weapons and crafting better equipment. It is best to track the necessary materials for the upgrades before going on the raid to find the corresponding materials easily, especially for Scrappy, your Rooster. Scrappy is an ally of every raider. He gathers various resources and seeds for a player for every raid. Whenever a player returns from a raid, whether it was successful or not, Scrappy provides them with random resources, which come in handy for crafting bandages, ammunition, shields, and more.
With every action you perform during a raid and complete, you gain XP. Passing through the threshold of XP levels up a player, granting them a Skill Point. The Player can use the Skill Point into three different types of Skills, including Mobility, Survival, and Conditioning. Mobility focuses on movement speed, weight capacity, and traversal efficiency. Survival branch focuses on recovery, stealth, and resilience tools. Lastly, the conditioning branch focuses on stamina, health regeneration, and endurance. As you play more and increase your player level, the better your character will become. You can build your character the way you like. You can build them more resilient, tougher, and stealthier.
The sound design of Arc Raiders is exceptional. Every sound of the ARC unit, footsteps of other raiders, and the environment stay crystal clear throughout the raid. It is very easy to hear what’s happening around you. However, you must stay vigilant at all times to deal with encroaching dangers. The visuals of the Topside are very refreshing. It is way too good-looking for an extraction shooter, and surprisingly, it does not affect the overall performance of the game. On every map, the game plays smoothly, and the chaos happening around does not affect it.
Arc Raiders stands out as the best extraction game, period. Not only is it the best extraction game, but genuinely a good game overall. It is filled with chaotic and beautiful moments, depending on how the players pursue it. The variety of moments that this game can have for you is limitless. It will make you happy, excited, thrilled, surprised, sad, and angry, as each raid is a unique experience and you never know what type of raiders you might engage.
Arc Raiders is now available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
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