ARC Raiders

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ARC Raiders
DeveloperEmbark Studios
PublisherEmbark Studios
EngineUnreal Engine 5
Platforms
ReleaseOctober 30, 2025
GenreThird-person shooter
ModeMultiplayer

ARC Raiders is a 2025 third-person extraction shooter developed and published by Embark Studios for PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X/S. The gameplay is PvPvE (player versus player versus environment) and can be played in teams of three, two, or played solo. The game uses the Unreal Engine 5 game engine.[1][2] It has received generally favorable critics reviews.

Setting

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ARC Raiders takes place in a distant future on Earth (in a post-apocalyptic Italy[3]) where mysterious and deadly "ARC" robots have taken over the surface, forcing humanity to live underground. Some residents of the underground city Toledo in the District of Speranza, known as "raiders", choose to go above ground, also known as "the topside" to collect resources to sell, trade and help the community of Speranza thrive.

Gameplay

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ARC Raiders is an extraction shooter played from third-person.[4] Players leave the underground base and search for items on the planet's surface for 30 minutes. During the raid they will encounter hostile NPC robots (known as “Arcs”), along with other human players. When a player is killed, they will lose any equipment and materials they have collected, except loot stored in a safe pocket, and return to base. Players can escape via extraction elevators and metro stations or alternatively use raider hatches (Safer extraction points that require keys to be opened) to return to base when they are done collecting loot.[5]

After returning to the underground base, players can sell items, upgrade their character perks and skills, buy items, or craft weapons and items such as gadgets and armor to prepare for the next raid.[6]

When entering a match alone, the matchmaking system generally adjusts to place the player against other solo players, making fair and balanced possible player-versus-player (PvP) encounters common, yet not guaranteed.[7]

Development and release

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ARC Raiders is developed by The Finals developer Embark Studios. The game was officially announced at The Game Awards 2021 as a free-to-play "cooperative third-person shooter".[8] It was revealed in 2023 that the genre of the game had been changed to a PvPvE extraction shooter.[9] Later in 2023 Embark launched a first playtest in the form of a closed Alpha with strict NDA.

The game resurfaced in 2024, with Embark launching a new public playtest known as "ARC Raiders Tech Test" on October 24 and "ARC Raiders Tech Test 2" on April 30, 2025, with Embark Studios announcing that the game was dropping its free-to-play model and would be available for purchase at $40 on release. Embark Studios conducted a "Server Slam" from October 17 to October 20, allowing players to test a portion of the game for free before the final release.

The game was released on October 30, 2025, for Windows, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.[10]

Reception

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ARC Raiders received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.[11][12][13] Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received "mighty" approval, being recommended by 90% of critics.[14]

Sales

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Concurrent players count on Steam reached 250,000 on its launch day.[16] By November 9, 2025, concurrent player count reached over 400,000.[17] By November 11, 2025, ARC Raiders had sold over four million copies worldwide.[18]

AI use

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In Eurogamer's review of ARC Raiders, Rick Lane criticized the game's use of artificial intelligence (AI) for text-to-speech, stating the "generated voice lines" for non-player characters are mediocre.[15] Embark Studios previously received similar criticism for their use of AI voices in The Finals.[19] Some fans accused the developer of attempting to replace voice actors with this technology, while others were more open to it.[20][19] Embark Studios denied the use of generative AI, saying the game uses audio recorded by hired voice actors and text-to-speech as part of their contract.[20][19] The CEO of Embark Studios' parent company, Junghun Lee, highlighted the value of human creativity while noting "it's important to assume that every game company is now using AI." The latter statement has resulted in several indie developers noting the lack of AI in their games.[21] Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani found ARC Raiders' use of AI to generate players' voices to be helpful to people reluctant to use their own voice.[22]

Awards

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ARC Raiders was nominated in the Best Multiplayer category at the The Game Awards 2025.[23]

References

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  1. ^ Nadeem, Muhib (2025-10-29). "Best Arc Raiders Settings for FPS – Maximize Performance & Visibility - Hone Blog". Retrieved 2025-11-03.
  2. ^ Palumbo, Alessio (2025-04-29). "ARC Raiders Tech Test Hands-on - Promising Extractions". Wccftech. Retrieved 2025-11-03.
  3. ^ Serino, Francesco (29 October 2025). "Abbiamo provato l'ultimissima versione di Arc Raiders e ne siamo sempre più innamorati". Retrieved 5 November 2025.
  4. ^ Saed, Sherif (April 29, 2025). "Arc Raiders is already one of the most polished and immediately satisfying extraction shooters, and it's not even out yet". VG247. Archived from the original on April 30, 2025. Retrieved May 5, 2025.
  5. ^ Petty, Jared (May 1, 2025). "ARC Raiders Is the Most 'It's Fine' Game We've Played in a While". IGN. Archived from the original on April 29, 2025. Retrieved May 5, 2025.
  6. ^ Van Aken, Alex (May 2, 2025). "ARC Raiders Impressions: The Most-Promising Extraction Shooter I've Played". Game Informer. Retrieved May 5, 2025.
  7. ^ Singh, Samarveer (2025-10-30). "Arc Raiders is surprisingly welcome to solo players with these 4 features". XDA. Retrieved 2025-11-19.
  8. ^ Nunneley-Jackson, Stephanny (December 10, 2021). "Cooperative shooter Arc Raiders from former EA dev revealed at The Game Awards". VG247. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved May 5, 2025.
  9. ^ Romano, Sal (May 16, 2023). "ARC Raiders genre changed to PvPvE extraction shooter". Gematsu. Archived from the original on April 26, 2025. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
  10. ^ Wales, Matt (August 20, 2024). "The Finals studio's PvPvE shooter ARC Raiders resurfaces, and it's no longer free-to-play". Eurogamer. Retrieved May 5, 2025.
  11. ^ a b "ARC Raiders for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  12. ^ a b "ARC Raiders for PlayStation 5 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  13. ^ a b "ARC Raiders for Xbox Series X/S Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  14. ^ a b "ARC Raiders". OpenCritic. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  15. ^ a b Lane, Rick (10 November 2025). "Arc Raiders review - a smartly designed extraction shooter marred by one inexcusable decision". Eurogamer. Retrieved 10 November 2025.
  16. ^ Blake, Vikki (October 31, 2025). "Arc Raiders Is Already One of the Biggest Extraction Shooters Ever on Steam". IGN. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
  17. ^ Blake, Vikki (November 9, 2025). "Arc Raiders breaks another concurrent record as player count soars". Eurogamer. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
  18. ^ Pabriga, Cedric (2025-11-11). "ARC Raiders Crosses 4 Million Copies Sold Worldwide". Gaming News.
  19. ^ a b c Notis, Ari (2025-10-31). "Arc Raiders' use of AI voices is The Finals controversy all over again". Polygon. Retrieved 2025-11-19.
  20. ^ a b Serin, Kaan (30 October 2025). "Arc Raiders devs "don't use generative AI," CCO says AI text-to-speech is used to help "make rich worlds" while keeping the studio small but "there's no end goal in replacing any actors"". GamesRadar+. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
  21. ^ Gerblick, Jordan (2025-11-12). ""We would rather cut off our own arms": Indie devs react to Arc Raiders CEO saying people should assume everyone's using generative AI these days". GamesRadar+. Retrieved 2025-11-15.
  22. ^ Brown, Fraser (2025-11-14). "Arrowhead CEO wades into the messy Arc Raiders AI debate: 'Would it have been better if Arc Raiders failed and it didn't use AI?'". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2025-11-15.
  23. ^ Jackson, Destiny (17 November 2025). "Game Awards Nominations: 'Clair Obscur: Expedition 33' Strikes Gold With Record-Breaking 12 Noms". Deadline. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
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