ARC Raiders has changed the course of extraction shooters, here's why

ARC Raiders recently reached its all-time high player count peak at 481,966 on Steam. The game has proven to be a terrifying competitor to other newly released titles such as Black Ops 7 and Battlefield 6, among others. The game completely revitalizes the extraction shooter genre, mainly dominated by Escape from Tarkov, and gives it a fresh take.

This article will explain everything great about ARC Raiders and why it has changed the very course of extraction shooters.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the writer's opinions.

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ARC Raiders: A game so good, it changes the genre

ARC Raiders offers a fresh theme

ARC Raiders is fantastic; however, it isn't the first game in the extraction shooter genre, nor will it be the last. That being said, Escape from Tarkov likely became the blueprint for many extraction shooters to come after it. Games such as Arena Breakout Infinite and Delta Force followed a similar theme: Realistic weapons, a grim mil-sim setting, and visuals appealing enough to please FPS players.

This is where Embark Studios changed it all. ARC Raiders is a third-person PvPvE extraction shooter set in a post-apocalyptic world taken over by machines. The game's world strikes the perfect balance between hyper-realism and science fiction.

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The ARC is a perfect enemy AI

Defeating a Bastion feels incredibly rewarding (Image via Embark Studios)

AI enemies in the game feel as if they're bound by the physics of real life. Shoot a Leaper's leg away, and it'll start trying to compensate to sustain balance. If you destroy a drone's rotor. It'll become imbalanced mid-air while still trying to shoot you down. The AI enemies not being humans serves the game well. Players can easily tell the difference between a Snitch, a Wasp, and a Rocketeer, even though they're all drones of the ARC.

On the other hand, one may take a long time to differentiate between an AI Scav and a player-controlled Scav in Escape from Tarkov. The same can be said about other AI enemies across the countless mil-sim extraction shooters. In ARC Raiders, there is a very clear distinction between the AI and other players. While the ARC is definitely your enemy, features like proximity chat allow you to determine whether you're facing a foe or a friend while against another human player.

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Skill and weaponry

The skill tree (Image via Embark Studios)

In a genre dominated by unexciting enemies and super-fast TTK, ARC Raiders feels like a breath of fresh air. The AI enemies are intentional, balanced, and challenging in their own unique ways. The weapons are perfectly suited to the post-apocalyptic setting of the game, and their time taken to kill is well-balanced. Every upgrade is worth it, and no gear will make you completely invincible.

ARC Raiders rewards skill and consistency well. Free loadouts allow players the option to go into a raid with nothing to lose, and the skill tree in the game provides them a method to make progression meaningful apart from the loot. The mechanics feel realistic, and immersion is next level with the way the game looks and behaves, which brings us to the next big point.

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Visual spectacle and intentionality behind every aspect

PvP experiences feel great in this game (Image via Embark Studios)

ARC Raiders looks beautiful. Escape from Tarkov certainly created a near-bulletproof formula that works well for many games focusing on hyper-realism. However, entering any ARC Raiders map feels exciting, fresh, and immersive.

The landscapes are vast, the colours are vibrant, and the husks of buildings left behind by humanity feel too real to be fictional. Whether you visit the main towers of Spaceport or the expanse of The Blue Gate, the enormity and beauty of the map is always worth staring at, and possibly taking a picture of.

Finally, the game makes PvP battles sharp, decisive, and intentional. Players are spawned in waves to avoid spawn-battles, and you can even join forces with friendlier players you find in the wild by communicating with them.

In fact, the Defibrillator allows you to revive downed enemies, too. It feels great because, perhaps, if the world were to be taken over by an AI enemy, this is exactly how you would expect the human race to behave and survive.

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Overall, ARC Raiders sets the bar high for extraction shooters because it creates a realistic, rugged, and powerful feeling in a fictional world that feels all too familiar once you explore it a little bit. The design of the game is incredibly human, which makes every interaction fun. Finally, the dynamic unity of PvP and PvE experiences makes this game unpredictable and, therefore, addictive.

The same old extraction shooter blueprint may just fall short if repeated by any other game in the future thanks to Embark Studios altering the genre altogether.