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I brutally killed my first Raider tonight in ARC Raiders.
Footsteps behind me.
Crunch of boots on sand in the night air.
Off in the distance, a couple other Raiders were trading shots with a big Arc. You can hear the fight before you really see it in this game, the low thump of heavy guns, the metallic scream of the Arc, all of it bleeding through the darkness.
The footsteps got heavier. I turned and saw him.
I don’t think he saw me right away. It was night. I snapped the gun up and fired, point blank. He said something cocky and I just shot him again.
There’s nothing a dead man can tell you anyway.
When the big Arc in the distance spun up its machine gun, I opened fire too, letting its thunder cover the sound of my shots as I finished the job. Dumped round after round until it was over.
This game gives me the goosebumps of DayZ and the sci-fi vibe of Borderlands.
What a game.
The soundscape in this game is incredible.
Yeah, the music is great but it’s more than that. The whole audio mix is doing work. The way your footsteps change on different surfaces. The way they echo in tunnels. The way distant gunfire and clanking Arcs paint the map in your head before you even see anything.
I’d rate this as the best sound design I’ve experienced in an extraction game. It makes you nervous. It makes you hunt. It makes you hesitate.
What a game.
I don’t really enjoy crafting in any game. I’m here to fight, not to manage a spreadsheet.
The good news is: in ARC Raiders, crafting feels simple enough that I can mostly ignore it if I want. I can still find gear out in the wild. That’s my preference. I’ll craft when I have to, like in DayZ when a rag and a stick are the difference between limping and living.
The chicken though?
I don’t get how the chicken works or how to feed it. Do you eventually eat it? Is it a pet? A living timer? No idea. But it’s there, clucking away like some weird side quest I haven’t unlocked in my brain yet.
What a game.
The combat is kinetic. You feel it.
You feel hits through the sound, the animation, the way your character staggers. I’ve jumped a dozen times from getting tagged out of nowhere. Being on fire was… cool. Terrifying, but cool.
Vaulting and climbing are smooth. Sliding feels great. Gunplay is chunky, especially on the early-level guns—which I actually love. There’s weight. There’s recoil. Nothing feels like a laser pointer. You’re fighting the gun as much as the guy on the other end of it, in the best way.
What a game.
I’ve only got about 20 hours in so far, but the loop is already hitting:
It feels like a real world with a pulse, not just a lobby.
What a game.
I love PVP, and ARC Raiders serves it up spicy.
Shields, weapons, terrain, and the interference from Arcs layer on top of each other. It’s not just “see guy, shoot guy.” You’re juggling threats. You’re reading the environment. You’re making calls: do I shoot the Raider or drop the Arc first?
The game also forces these fragile little collaborations and awkward truces.
You end up shoulder to shoulder with another Raider, unloading into the same Arc because neither of you wants to die to the machine. You call the elevator. He holds the line, fighting off Arcs. For one second, you’re on the same team.
Then he tries to shoot you in the back right before the door closes.
That’s the good stuff. That’s the paranoia I signed up for.
What a game.
R.
