ARC Raiders is currently hosting an open beta, allowing anyone and everyone to hop in and try the game out less than two weeks ahead of release. I also fired the game up for the first time, and while the gameplay is beyond stellar, one feature really struck me.
And that, folks, is the game’s menus. Made to feel connected with the game’s world and to act as portals into various aspects of its overarching narrative, ARC Raiders‘ menus are not just bland texts on a screen with the occasional animated background. They are interactive narrative pieces that take you from one place to the next, either immersing yourself in the underground civilization of Speranza or one of the story’s many characters.
The very main menu gives you an overview of your character’s looks and lets you queue up, but places you within a thrilling, bustling market with people walking around and enjoying what little life they have amid a total collapse of topside nations. Switching to another tab places you in a birds-eye perspective of what seems a town square, with characters occupying select parts of it, which you can, of course visit.
The characters serve two functions: beyond being in a world and story whose details they help reveal, they serve as vendors who provide a range of services and even quests that, again, add to the narrative. You can also visit your character’s private quarters, where you can level up, but also see the circumstances in which they live and get a better grasp of their background and their own personal story.
Every part of the many menus in the game serves a purpose and is not purely utilitarian, with just text on a screen and maybe some cosmetic background stuff to make it less boring. Most games today don’t even have that last bit, often just giving you some bland menus to navigate with music playing and the game’s title screen hanging above. It’s boring, uninspired, and has no real purpose in the game, which was by no means true even just a decade ago.
A few months ago, I revisited some games from some 12-13 years ago, chiefly Remember Me, whose menus were so wild and imaginative, even if they made the menu navigation a tad bit more tedious. Most titles of the time did similar things, from major hits like Assassin’s Creed to smaller indie efforts. It’s something that always elevated the overall experience, adding layers to games as an art form and rejecting utilitarianism in favor of creativity.
However, as things often tend to do, we’ve gravitated towards simplicity, with many aspects of game design dumbed down for whatever reason. In this sense, ARC Raiders stands out, having pursued a vision of art and soul rather than fulfilling basic functionalities, which is something I deeply appreciate. The game’s hyperrealist, sort of 80s-inspired style is great by itself, and this is just an extra cherry on top.
I hope games return to the old approach of making every bit of a game serve a purpose, with all the detail and artistry that comes with it. Otherwise, we’ll end up like how our cities and architecture did: whole in function, devoid of form.
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The post ARC Raiders has brought back a long-forgotten game feature and I’m delighted appeared first on Destructoid.
