Every reaction I have while playing ARC Raiders during its server slam test two weeks prior to its initial launch makes me feel uneasy and anxious. And I think I like it.
I didn’t get a chance to play the extraction shooter in its earlier tests this year due to scheduling issues, but I’ve finally been embarking on excursions in its open test today, and it’s making me finally understand what all the hype about the genre is.
The PvEvP third-person shooter is the first of its kind where I truly felt the thrill. I had a similar feeling during the Marathon play test this year, but pulling back the camera into third-person is what I think I truly needed to really “get” the hype.
Every second of a deployment in ARC Raiders is dripping with tension and anxiety. Scouring for weapons and crafting materials while dealing with both other players looking to gun you down and the menacing ARC robots hunting throughout the playable area is pretty nerve-racking, but it feels fun to me. I don’t exactly know why, because my life and the world in general have plenty enough anxiety these days, but this game has a pull to it that I haven’t felt in any other in the genre before.
I think some of it has to do with the fact that the game is optimized beautifully, which is disappointingly rare for a PC title in 2025. It runs flawlessly at high settings, which is a lot more than I can say for several AAA titles I’ve played this year. But also, I like the skill tree and sense of progression when it comes to building your character, too, so it’s not just tied to loot.
I am definitely not the only one who’s pumped for the prospects of ARC Raiders. For months, I’ve seen gamers hyping it up online after it made a great impression during earlier tests. And as I type, over 175,000 players on Steam alone are in-game during the server slam, and that is absolutely nothing to scoff at. This feels like the next big extraction shooter title, and I feel as though it warrants the enthusiasm, as it strikes the balance of PvE and PvP pretty well so far from what I’ve played.
And yet, even for all of the fun and positivity I feel about ARC Raiders, I don’t think I will ever truly love the genre. It’s inherently competitive, which is something I lean further and further away from in gaming as I age. And no matter the extraction shooter, losing all of your loot is a feeling that just plain sucks, and I don’t know if I have the energy or enthusiasm to keep on trucking after a devastating L. But that seems to be a “me” problem, because everyone else I see on social media and sites like Twitch is enthralled by the game. And you know what? I get it.
I’m happy for gamers everywhere that ARC Raiders is an exciting new title, and it’s one I intend to keep an eye on as it evolves over time. I do feel like it’s ultimately not a habit game for me at this point in my life, but that doesn’t change anything about how fun it can be and how promising it feels. And I’m thankful that I at least have a modicum of that itch that extraction shooters feel for the genre.
ARC Raiders launches in full on Oct. 30 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X, and the server slam playtest is available for all players for free this weekend.
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The post I finally got a chance to play ARC Raiders, and I think I ‘get’ extraction shooters now appeared first on Destructoid.
