ARC Raiders Review: Gameplay, Pros, Cons & Verdict

There are plenty of extraction shooters that seem determined to make new players miserable.

You load in with equipment you barely understand, get shot by somebody who appears to play the game professionally for 14 hours a day, lose everything you brought with you and wonder why you bothered.

ARC Raiders takes a noticeably different approach.

Embark Studios has kept the tension that makes extraction games exciting — valuable loot, unpredictable players and the possibility of losing your gear — but wrapped it inside a much more approachable third-person shooter.

The result is one of the strangest multiplayer games around. One minute I am thinking about whether the next building might contain something worth nicking. The next, an enormous ARC machine is stomping about outside while two players I have never met are deciding whether to help me or shoot me in the back.

That uncertainty is where ARC Raiders is at its best.

Originally released on 30 October 2025, ARC Raiders is available on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, with cross-platform multiplayer supported. The game has continued changing substantially since launch, making an ARC Raiders review in 2026 rather different from one written on release day.

So, nearly a year into its life, is ARC Raiders actually worth playing?

ARC Raiders Review: Quick Verdict

Gaming Mag rating: 8.5/10

ARC Raiders succeeds because it understands that an extraction shooter does not have to be brutally complicated to be tense.

Going Topside remains genuinely nerve-racking because you never quite know what is waiting around the next corner. It might be valuable loot. It might be a squad of Raiders. It might be a massive machine capable of flattening you before you have worked out where the shots are coming from.

The gunplay feels excellent, the machines are far more interesting than ordinary cannon-fodder AI enemies, and the retro-futuristic world gives ARC Raiders a personality that many multiplayer shooters struggle to find.

It is also considerably easier to understand than something such as Escape from Tarkov.

That does not mean it is completely forgiving.

You will still lose valuable gear. Experienced players can still ruin a perfectly good raid. Inventory management becomes a job in itself, and the long-term progression systems do not always match the quality of the moment-to-moment action.

That last point has become particularly important in 2026. Embark has confirmed that Expeditions are being paused after the fifth Expedition while the studio works on substantial changes to issues including departure windows, rewards and accessibility for newer players.

Even with those problems, though, the actual experience of going Topside remains difficult to put down.

Review Category	Gaming Mag Score
Gameplay	9/10
Gunplay	9/10
ARC Enemies	9/10
World & Atmosphere	9/10
PvP	8/10
Progression	7/10
Solo Experience	8/10
Replay Value	9/10
Overall	8.5/10

What Is ARC Raiders?

ARC Raiders is a third-person PvPvE extraction shooter developed by Embark Studios, the team behind The Finals.

Humanity has been forced underground after the surface became dominated by mysterious machines known as ARC.

Your home is Speranza, an underground settlement where Raiders prepare equipment, improve their workshop, accept quests and decide what they are prepared to risk on their next trip Topside.

Then comes the important bit.

You head to the surface.

Once there, the basic objective sounds simple:

• Search buildings and containers
• Find useful resources
• Complete quests
• Fight or avoid ARC machines
• Deal with other Raiders
• Reach an extraction point
• Return to Speranza alive

If you successfully extract, the loot comes home with you.

If you do not, much of what you were carrying disappears with you.

That simple risk-versus-reward system drives almost everything ARC Raiders does. Embark describes each trip Topside as a decision between what you are willing to risk and what you might gain, with scavenged materials feeding into weapons, crafting, workshop upgrades and character progression.

What Makes ARC Raiders So Addictive?

It is not simply the shooting.

ARC Raiders works because virtually every trip creates a small story.

You might start a raid with a sensible plan. Find one particular component, finish a quest and get out.

Ten minutes later, that plan has gone completely out the window.

You have found something rare.

There are ARC machines outside.

You can hear gunfire nearby.

Your backpack is filling up.

Suddenly the extraction point that looked reasonably close on the map feels an awfully long way away.

The clever part is that the game constantly makes you reconsider how greedy you want to be.

Do you leave now with a decent haul?

Or search one more building?

Every extraction player knows the correct answer.

Leave.

Naturally, you search the building anyway.

That tension is the heart of ARC Raiders.

Is the Gunplay Actually Good?

Very.

ARC Raiders could have had the best extraction systems in gaming and still fallen apart if firing the weapons felt poor.

Thankfully, it does not.

Weapons have a pleasing physicality to them. Automatic rifles feel very different from shotguns, while attachments and upgrades give players reasons to become attached to particular setups.

There is enough recoil and movement to prevent combat from feeling completely arcade-like without turning every gunfight into a military simulator.

The third-person perspective also suits the game.

Being able to see your Raider makes navigating environments easier and gives the excellent character designs more purpose, while firefights remain dangerous enough that simply peeking around scenery will not save an inexperienced player.

It sits somewhere between tactical extraction shooters and mainstream action games.

For a lot of British players who like multiplayer shooters but cannot be bothered learning an encyclopaedia’s worth of ammunition types before their first match, that is a very good place to be.

Are the ARC Machines More Than Normal AI Enemies?

Absolutely.

This might be ARC Raiders’ greatest achievement.

In plenty of PvPvE games, AI enemies exist largely as annoyances positioned between players and the actual PvP.

The machines here can become the main event.

Different ARC units create different problems. Some are relatively manageable, while larger threats can turn an apparently straightforward journey across the map into absolute chaos.

More importantly, machines alter the way human players behave.

Imagine two Raiders spotting one another.

Normally there is a straightforward decision: fight or run.

Now put a dangerous ARC machine between them.

Suddenly there are more possibilities.

Do you shoot the other Raider?

Help them destroy the machine?

Wait for the ARC to weaken them?

Pretend to cooperate before stealing the loot?

Disappear while everybody else is distracted?

That mixture of PvE and PvP produces situations a scripted mission simply could not create.

Is ARC Raiders Mainly PvP or PvE?

It is both, and that distinction matters.

You can spend significant portions of a raid fighting ARC machines, scavenging resources and exploring without attacking another player.

But other Raiders are always part of the threat.

That means ARC Raiders should not be treated as a pure co-operative PvE game.

Human encounters are deliberately unpredictable.

Sometimes another player will shoot immediately.

Sometimes everybody will cautiously keep their distance.

And sometimes an unexpected bit of cooperation develops because everybody has a much larger mechanical problem stomping around nearby.

That social uncertainty is one of the game’s strongest features.

A dedicated PvE player who absolutely hates being attacked by another human may therefore struggle with ARC Raiders.

Players who enjoy never knowing whether the stranger approaching them is friendly should love it.

Can You Play ARC Raiders Solo?

Yes.

And the solo experience is better than I initially expected from this sort of game.

ARC Raiders supports playing alone as well as teaming up, and Embark introduced separate solo, duo and trio matchmaking in July 2026 following player feedback. The developer also said playstyle is tracked separately across those group sizes for matchmaking purposes.

Solo raids naturally feel different.

Without squadmates, every noise matters a bit more.

Starting a firefight becomes a bigger decision because nobody is around to rescue you when things go wrong. Carrying valuable loot also becomes increasingly uncomfortable the longer you remain on the surface.

Squads have more firepower.

Solo Raiders have discretion.

Sneaking around a fight while two other groups batter each other can be every bit as satisfying as winning the firefight yourself.

For players who normally avoid extraction games because they do not have two mates available every evening, ARC Raiders is surprisingly workable.

Is ARC Raiders Difficult for Beginners?

Compared with the wider extraction-shooter genre, it is relatively approachable.

That does not mean easy.

New players still have to understand loot priorities, weapons, crafting materials, maps, extraction points, quests, ARC behaviour and when it is sensible to run away.

But Embark has done several clever things to soften the punishment.

One is the Free Loadout system.

If your equipment supply has been demolished by a run of dreadful raids, you are not permanently stuck. Free Loadouts give players equipment they can take onto the surface without risking their better stash.

There is also Scrappy, your remarkably useful rooster, who helps gather materials.

Yes, an apocalyptic extraction shooter has a helpful chicken.

And yes, I am completely fine with that.

These systems prevent the familiar extraction-shooter problem where struggling players become progressively poorer while experienced players become increasingly well equipped.

How Does Progression Work?

Back in Speranza, your recovered materials feed into several progression systems.

There is a Workshop for crafting, upgrading and repairing weapons and gear. The Workshop itself can also be improved, gradually giving access to additional crafting options.

Levelling earns skill points.

Those points can be used to shape how your Raider plays, with options affecting areas such as mobility, stealth and carrying capacity.

There are also Traders, quests, Trials, Raider Decks and Projects providing additional objectives beyond simply filling your backpack with whatever is not nailed down.

This gives each raid purpose.

Perhaps you need one particular material for an upgrade.

Maybe a Trader wants something.

Perhaps you are working on a Project.

Suddenly an item you previously walked straight past becomes incredibly valuable.

That constantly changing definition of “good loot” keeps exploration interesting.

What Are the Maps Like?

ARC Raiders has one of the strongest worlds in the extraction genre.

The Rust Belt does not feel like another grey military training ground.

There is colour here.

Nature has started reclaiming parts of civilisation, enormous industrial structures dominate the skyline and traces of the old world remain scattered between the ruins.

Locations include environments such as Dam Battlegrounds, Buried City, Spaceport, Blue Gate and Stella Montis, with map conditions changing how particular areas play.

Night Raids are an obvious example.

A familiar route becomes considerably more threatening when visibility disappears and ARC activity becomes harder to judge.

Other conditions alter available resources or introduce additional events.

It means learning a map does not necessarily make it completely predictable.

That matters enormously in an extraction game, because familiarity can otherwise remove much of the original tension.

Does ARC Raiders Look Good?

Very.

Its visual style manages to feel futuristic without becoming clinically shiny.

Technology looks used.

Buildings look abandoned rather than conveniently constructed as multiplayer arenas.

Weapons and machinery have enough detail to feel believable without losing the slightly strange retro-science-fiction identity that makes the game distinctive.

ARC Raiders runs on Unreal Engine 5, and Embark has built an unusually vibrant version of the post-apocalypse rather than another endless collection of brown rubble and grey corridors.

The ARC machines deserve particular praise.

Their movement can make them feel genuinely alien rather than like standard robots with different health bars.

Seeing one of the larger machines in the distance still gives the sensible part of your brain a very clear message:

Go somewhere else.

What About the Sound Design?

Good sound is vital in an extraction shooter because information is almost as important as ammunition.

ARC Raiders understands this.

Distant shooting tells you where another fight may be developing.

Mechanical noises can warn you about ARC activity.

Footsteps and movement suddenly become extremely interesting when your backpack contains something you desperately want to keep.

The soundscape also helps sell the sheer size of larger machines.

It is one thing seeing an ARC threat.

It is another hearing the thing approaching while you are inside a building trying to work out which door provides the least embarrassing route of escape.

Headphones are highly recommended.

Is Looting Too Complicated?

Occasionally.

This is where the approachable exterior starts revealing that ARC Raiders is still an extraction game underneath.

You will collect an enormous amount of stuff.

Some is obviously valuable.

Some is needed for crafting.

Some matters because of a quest.

Some might become useful later.

And some is occupying precious stash space because you have convinced yourself you will definitely need it one day.

Inventory management therefore becomes increasingly important.

Players who enjoy optimising inventories will happily spend ages deciding what to keep, recycle, sell or craft.

Those who simply want to shoot robots may find themselves wondering when their exciting sci-fi shooter turned into warehouse administration.

What Is Wrong With ARC Raiders in 2026?

The biggest problems sit outside the basic shooting and exploration.

Long-term progression has become more contentious than the raids themselves.

The Expedition system, effectively a high-level progression reset that exchanges substantial progress for longer-term benefits, has received enough criticism that Embark is now pausing Expeditions after the fifth one.

The studio has acknowledged problems involving departure windows, reward structures and accessibility for new players and says Expeditions will return with major improvements in early 2027.

That is an important admission.

It also helps explain the unusual picture visible in current Steam feedback.

ARC Raiders still has strongly positive longer-term sentiment, with roughly 82% of its English Steam reviews positive, but recent reviews have fallen to around 50% positive, putting the recent rating into Mixed territory at the time of writing.

In other words, there is a difference between enjoying ARC Raiders’ core gameplay and being happy with every decision Embark makes around its live-service systems.

I fall firmly on the side that the basic game is excellent.

The surrounding progression still needs work.

Is ARC Raiders Pay-to-Win?

The game contains optional paid content and an in-game currency called Raider Tokens.

Embark states that Raider Tokens can be used for Raider Decks, bundles and cosmetic items such as outfits, backpacks, charms, emotes and Scrappy cosmetics. There are both free and paid Raider Decks.

For an extraction game, anything involving progression naturally deserves scrutiny because gear balance matters enormously.

The more important question is whether someone spending money can simply buy their way into consistently dominating firefights.

The basic appeal of ARC Raiders remains centred on scavenging, crafting, positioning and decision-making rather than buying the biggest gun from a cash shop.

The presence of premium systems will still irritate players who prefer a straightforward buy-once experience, but ARC Raiders does not feel as though every trip Topside exists merely to steer you towards a store page.

Is ARC Raiders Better With Friends?

Usually, yes.

Solo works surprisingly well.

But ARC Raiders becomes properly chaotic with friends.

Communication makes fighting ARC machines easier, and squads can divide jobs naturally. One player watches an entrance while another loots. Someone carries utility equipment. Someone inevitably wanders away because they have spotted a container.

Then everything goes wrong.

Squad play also makes human encounters more interesting because negotiations become harder.

One friendly player might actually be friendly.

Three suspiciously friendly players standing around an extraction point deserve a little more thought.

Cross-platform multiplayer across PC, PlayStation and Xbox makes forming a squad easier regardless of where your mates play.

Does ARC Raiders Become Repetitive?

Eventually, but much more slowly than I expected.

The fundamental loop does not change dramatically.

Deploy.

Loot.

Fight.

Extract.

Upgrade.

Repeat.

What keeps that structure alive is unpredictability.

ARC machines move around.

Players behave differently.

Map conditions change.

Your own objectives change.

An ordinary run can unexpectedly become one of your best because you stumble across something valuable or become involved in a fight you never intended to join.

Embark has also continued adding and changing content since launch rather than treating ARC Raiders as a finished static package.

That brings advantages and disadvantages.

There is always something changing.

Unfortunately, sometimes the thing changing was perfectly fine yesterday.

Welcome to live-service gaming.

How Has ARC Raiders Changed Since Launch?

Quite significantly.

ARC Raiders launched on 30 October 2025, but Embark has repeatedly adjusted matchmaking, events, progression and other systems since then.

One particularly useful 2026 change was the move towards separate solo, duo and trio matchmaking.

The game has also received additional events, Traders, Expeditions, Trials seasons and quality-of-life changes.

More substantial changes are coming.

Embark has announced Frozen Trail for 8 October 2026, describing it as the game’s largest update since launch and saying it is intended to address wider feedback gathered during the months following release.

That makes ARC Raiders particularly interesting to review now.

This is clearly not a multiplayer game that has settled into its final form.

Who Will Enjoy ARC Raiders Most?

ARC Raiders should particularly appeal to:

• Extraction-shooter players wanting something more approachable
• Third-person shooter fans
• Players who enjoy PvPvE games
• Solo players willing to accept occasional PvP
• Groups of two or three friends
• Players who enjoy scavenging and crafting
• Gamers who like unpredictable multiplayer encounters
• Sci-fi fans who want something visually distinctive
• People intrigued by extraction shooters but intimidated by Tarkov

It is considerably less suitable for players who:

• Want a completely PvE experience
• Hate losing equipment on death
• Dislike inventory management
• Want a traditional story-driven campaign
• Become frustrated by changing live-service systems
• Prefer every multiplayer encounter to be purely competitive

That distinction matters.

ARC Raiders is approachable for an extraction shooter.

It has not suddenly turned the extraction genre into Animal Crossing.

You are still going to lose things.

Occasionally, you are going to lose them in spectacularly annoying circumstances.

Is ARC Raiders Worth Playing in 2026?

Yes, particularly if you have been curious about extraction shooters but found the genre too intimidating.

ARC Raiders strips away just enough friction to make the concept easier to enjoy without removing the risk that makes extraction games exciting.

Its biggest success is that I can remember the situations a raid creates more readily than the items I collected.

A desperate escape from an ARC machine.

Two strangers cautiously deciding not to shoot each other.

An extraction reached with seconds to spare.

Finding exactly the component you needed and immediately becoming terrified of everybody else on the map.

Those are the moments that keep the loop working.

The long-term progression surrounding those raids is less convincing, and Embark’s decision to overhaul Expeditions proves there are genuine issues still being worked through.

But the foundation is remarkably strong.

ARC Raiders Review: Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Excellent third-person gunplay	Progression systems can become grindy
Brilliantly designed ARC enemies	Inventory management becomes cumbersome
Fantastic atmosphere	PvP will frustrate pure PvE players
More accessible than many extraction shooters	Losing expensive gear still hurts
Strong solo, duo and trio experience	Live-service changes can be divisive
Unpredictable player interactions	Expeditions require substantial reworking
Attractive and distinctive world	New players still face a learning curve
High replay value	Recent community sentiment is more mixed

Gaming Mag Final Verdict

ARC Raiders is one of the rare extraction shooters I would recommend to someone who does not already love extraction shooters.

Embark has found an excellent balance between danger and accessibility.

The robots are genuinely threatening, the world begs to be explored and encounters with other players can turn a routine scavenging run into something you remember long afterwards.

It is not perfect.

Inventory management occasionally becomes tedious, PvP means peaceful players are never completely safe and the Expedition system has clearly failed to satisfy everyone. The sharp difference between ARC Raiders’ strong longer-term Steam reception and its much weaker recent reviews shows that Embark still has work to do on the live-service side.

But none of that changes the thing that matters most.

Going Topside is still exciting.

And every time you successfully extract with a backpack full of valuable rubbish that somehow became the most important collection of objects in your life over the previous 20 minutes, you immediately start thinking about going back.

Gaming Mag score: 8.5/10

Best for: Extraction-shooter newcomers, PvPvE fans, solo players and squads wanting tense but accessible multiplayer.

Think twice if: You want pure PvE, hate losing equipment or dislike live-service progression systems.

Verdict: ARC Raiders makes extraction gaming considerably easier to love without removing the danger, greed and unpredictable encounters that make the genre exciting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is ARC Raiders difficult for beginners?

There is a learning curve, but ARC Raiders is considerably more accessible than many traditional extraction shooters. Free Loadouts also give struggling players a way to return Topside without risking valuable equipment.

What platforms is ARC Raiders available on?

ARC Raiders is available on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S and supports cross-platform multiplayer. It is also available through GeForce NOW.

When was ARC Raiders released?

ARC Raiders was officially released on 30 October 2025.

Does ARC Raiders have crossplay?

Yes. Players across supported PC, PlayStation and Xbox platforms can play together using ARC Raiders’ cross-platform social features.

Can you play ARC Raiders without fighting other players?

You can avoid many fights, but ARC Raiders is not a dedicated PvE game. Other Raiders share the maps and may attack you, so there is always an element of PvP risk.

Is ARC Raiders like Escape from Tarkov?

Both use an extraction structure built around entering dangerous areas, gathering loot and escaping alive. ARC Raiders is considerably more accessible, uses a third-person perspective and places much greater emphasis on sci-fi machines and dynamic PvE threats.

Is ARC Raiders still being updated?

Yes. Embark continues to update ARC Raiders. The major Frozen Trail update is scheduled for 8 October 2026, while the Expedition system is due to undergo larger changes before returning in early 2027.