We’ve played them all. From Escape From Tarkov, over to the Western mania that is Hunt: Showdown, and even some more obscure extraction shooters, like Arena Breakout and Level Zero: Extraction. So, suffice to say, the prospect at having to play yet another shooter in this genre didn’t exactly make me giggle with excitement, as extraction shooters feel like the new Battle Royale – the next, new thing.
Having said that, and tested out the bundles-of-fun Server Slam demo, there’s something refreshing about the upcoming Arc Raiders. We think it’s fair to say that the genre is a bit obsessed with misery, paranoia, and the fear of losing everything, just because you forgot to reload.
Arc Raiders Worms its Way into the Conversation For Best Extraction Shooters
Arc Raiders, still being an extraction shooter at its heart, feels…like it wants you to have fun? We know, what a preposterous notion, but Arc Raiders does a few things differently, which makes it feel lighter. Mind you, not easier, definitely not shallower, but less like punishment disguised as entertainment.
Where Escape from Tarkov wants to make you cry, and Hunt: Showdown makes you want to bite a chunk out of your keyboard at times, Arc Raiders appears to want you to enjoy the chaos unfolding on your screen. True, the staples are still there, with tense firefights, loot extraction, and the obligatory risk-vs-reward gameplay. But instead of grim, Eastern European warzones or swampy bayous, it gives you an open alien world bathed in neon skies and heavy synth music.
This is a reminder for all of us, that extraction shooters don’t (always) have to feel like military trauma sims or a hellish – yet undoubtedly atmospheric – swamp filled with nightmarish monsters. Don’t get it twisted though, this isn’t Destiny 2 in a fancy Halloween costume. The core is here, you’ll still die, you will lose your loot, and curse whoever just nicked your gear. But the way Arc Raiders handles those losses makes the experience less about punishment, and more about discovery.
For us, it’s the genre’s first real attempt to break away from its staple masochism – and, funny enough, that works quite well, we have to say. Let’s talk about it.
Arc Raiders Preview
As we all know, or at least the initiated – most, if not all extraction shooters literally thrive on stress. Where Arc Raiders differs, is it replaces that stress with curiosity. Instead of dark corners and twitchy paranoia, Embark’s world invites you to explore it. The map is bright, sprawling, and refreshingly vertical, therefore giving players the freedom to roam, instead of silently crawling through shadows, inevitably praying not to get third-partied. Again.
That deliberate design choice shifts the tone of the game, but it also does something else; it changes the genre to something a bit more light, as you’re not a soldier or a hunter trying to survive on scraps, you’re a scavenger in a collapsing world, salvaging alien tech from the sky.
Every raid feels a bit less like a death march and more adventurous, more like a daring expedition. Even when you die, the world doesn’t feel like it’s grimly laughing at you, no – it feels alive, eagerly awaiting your next attempt. Encouraging? Yes. Different? Most definitely.
PvPvE That Deserves to Be Called Balanced
In Tarkov and Hunt, the environment isn’t just set dressing, but as much as we love the Scavs of Tarkov and the zombies, hives and immolators of Hunt, Arc Raiders embraces that chaos wholeheartedly, as the world itself fights back.
Hostile AI roams the map, forcing you to balance fights between players and the robotic “Arc” enemies that crash-land from orbit. You’re never truly safe, but you’re also never forced into stand-offs that last half an hour, unlike the Bosses in Hunt, for example.
This creates what Embark calls “dynamic encounters.” In practice, it means one fight can spiral into a three-way showdown between players and AI, with everyone trying to grab the same prize. It’s messy, unpredictable, and genuinely thrilling – without being oppressive.
Movement and Momentum Embraced
Let’s talk about movement. If Tarkov is about creeping, Hunt is about…well, hunting, Arc Raiders is all about flow, baby. Movement is snappy, responsive, and full of parkour-like fluidity. You slide down dunes, grapple up cliffs, and dash between cover with a freedom extraction-shooters usually deny you, especially compared Hunt: Showdowns more grounded, almost lumbering moveset. We guess cowboys just weren’t that agile back in the day.
The result is a faster-paced, more kinetic experience. You’re not punished for moving; you’re encouraged to. The world feels built for improvisation – like every fight could become a chase, every chase a spectacular escape.
Arc Raiders Sets Itself Apart In a Good Way
Tarkov is masochistic realism. Hunt is gothic, oppressive horror. Arc Raiders? Well, it’s a melancholic sci-fi adventure and therefore sets it apart quite admirably. It borrows the intensity and loot economy of its arguably much bigger peers but recontextualizes them into something emotionally engaging.
It’s not trying to be the hardest grunt in the room – it’s trying to be the most inviting, and we welcome that, this doctrine might just be the evolution the extraction genre desperately needed, especially since extraction shooters are all the rage nowadays.
So if you’ve ever wanted to enjoy an extraction shooter without feeling like you need a proper therapy session afterward, Arc Raiders might be your way in. It’s stylish, tense, and surprisingly humane – a reminder that survival doesn’t always have to feel like suffering.
