ARC Raiders News

Raiders!

I’m Aleksander Gröndal, the executive producer on ARC Raiders!

In case you missed it, we just announced some news about ARC Raiders at the Gamescom Opening Night Live show in Cologne (where I’m at right now).

Let’s get into it.

First things first, ARC Raiders will launch in 2025 here on Steam, as well as on the Epic Game Store, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and on cloud streaming via Nvidia GeForce Now.

There will be opportunities for you to experience the game earlier than that. In around two months from now, between October 24 and October 27, we’re planning a first public Tech Test here on Steam. For an opportunity to play, make sure to sign up for Playtesting on our Steam store page. For this test, we will select participants randomly from our pool of playtesters.

We’re also making an important change to our business model.

You may recall that ARC Raiders was announced as a free-to-play game. Today, we announced that ARC Raiders will be released as a $40 premium title. There are many reasons for this change, and they all boil down to our conviction that a premium business model is a better fit for the type of game we’re building. A premium model allows us to create a more focused, balanced, and engaging action-survival experience.

We also released a teaser, that you can watch here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8NN00Wtj5c

I know it’s been some time since we talked about ARC Raiders, so here’s a refresher:
In ARC Raiders you enter a vast and lethal world.

People have fled to the underground colony of Speranza, seeking supplies to survive, and shelter from ARC machines on the surface. Demand for resources is at an all-time high, but venturing the surface to get them is a risky job.

You’re a newly enlisted as a Raider, fighting for your own survival and that of your neighborhood in the underground colony — scavenging and hunting for resources that must be extracted back safely from the surface. Standing in your way are ARC machines — a mysterious, deadly foe — as well as other players — Raiders — who are also competing for loot and their own survival.

To grow as a Raider, you must make it back down to the colony alive. There, you get to meet the traders of Speranza to trade your loot and valuables, embark on quests, upgrade and improve and expand your chambers, and grow your character to suit your playstyle — to become the Raider that you want to be.

Whether teaming up or going solo, it’s a game that rewards thinking ahead and carefully observing the world around you, rather than running into action guns blazing. The gameplay is tactile, visceral, and grounded, with a rich and playful sandbox of gadgets and tools, beyond just guns and ammo.

While ARC Raiders has changed and evolved over the course of development, the world we have built has always been our anchor. To cite Stefan Strandberg, our creative director, we’re drawing inspiration from current-day themes taken to their extreme — like the prospect of colonizing space, at a time when the relationship between man and machine is becoming increasingly fraught.

It’s a game that takes place in a post-post apocalypse — a distant future where humanity has moved on to build anew. Surely, this world can be a dangerous and treacherous place — but at the same time, it’s inherently hopeful, vibrant, and charming.

With the first Tech Test coming up in October, you should stay tuned for the latest updates and information on ARC Raiders here on Steam, via Embark’s Discord, arcraiders.com, Twitter / X, and YouTube.

With that, I hope to see you in the Rust Belt.

I am Aleks and I am the executive Producer for ARC Raiders here at Embark Studios.

If you venture over to the Steam page for ARC Raiders, you might notice some changes in the way we describe the game.

These changes are fundamental enough that we think it’s important to provide some context and describe in some more detail what kind of game ARC Raiders is.

Last spring, we made the decision to move the release of ARC Raiders in order to focus on releasing THE FINALS, our team-based first-person shooter, as our first game. At that time, we also said we were giving the ARC Raiders team time to add PvP to the existing foundation of the game.

Since then, over the course of development, ARC Raiders has taken the shape of what we believe to be a truly promising PvPvE survival extraction shooter — a game that stays true to the ARC Raiders universe and we’re having a blast testing internally.

ARC Raiders drops players into a lethal but stunningly beautiful future earth, with hair-raising moments of survival and suspense. Human versus machine, human versus human, together or alone, and you versus the sometimes conflicting nature of your own humanity, all in the spectacular backdrop of a landscape littered with the haunting remains of the past.

Here is an excerpt to help paint a picture of what you can expect at this time in our development of the game:

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People have fled to the underground colony of Speranza, seeking supplies to survive, and shelter from the machines. Demand for resources is at an all-time high. But getting those resources is a risky job, and it isn’t for everyone.

But it is a job for you.

That’s why you’ve enlisted as a Raider, scavenging for vital supplies that are scattered across the 5landscape. Everything from leftovers from yesterday’s run-in with ARC to the unlikely remains of a pinball machine.

Out there, the stakes are high, and you will have to fight for your loot. Lethal ARC machines roam the surface. And there are no rules in Calabretta, so beware of other Raiders.

With the traders in Speranza, trust is hard-earned and easily lost. You need to earn your keep. So don't come back from a quest empty-handed.

When you see another Raider chased by a swarm of ARC drones, do you go in for the kill? Do you lend a helping hand? Or do you hold back and feast on the valuable remains?


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The next step for us is a Closed Alpha test to and get feedback on the game’s core systems and loops. This will be the first road test of ARC Raiders and an important step for the game, which so far has never been in the hands of external players.

This test will be closed and under NDA, because work remains on the game and we’re not quite ready to reveal everything about it. We have some big theories to prove before it’s time to put them on the world’s stage.

If you would like to give it a try and help us illuminate the path, we’d love for you to head on over and sign up for the opportunity to playtest this summer.


[h3]Sign up for the playtest Now![/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1808500/ARC_Raiders/

Raiders,

ARC is on screen. Calling for volunteers.

Enlist. Resist.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

A patchwork early warning system has alerted you and your squad of Raiders, a rogue group of resistance fighters, that enemies are dropping from orbit. It is time to defend our home.

The ruthless, mechanized threat descending from space is known as ARC, and while the odds are stacked against you, unpredictability and diversity are the Raiders’ strengths. Do the unexpected using physics, your surroundings, and your wits in combat that demands more than simply matching ammo to a weapon.

Lone wolves never make it very far when ARC is around, so you will need to fight, flee, and fine-tune, shoulder to shoulder with your squad.

As a Raider, your approach is scrappy, but it's never half-hearted, and while you should come prepared, remember that sometimes you just have to wing it.


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1808500/ARC_Raiders/

For us at Embark Studios, ARC Raiders will be our first release, coming 2022. We founded Embark Studios (Stockholm, Sweden) with the aim of doing more than merely noticing innovation when it comes to making games. We welcome and apply technologies that remove obstacles and help us to tap into our true creativity, and we invite you to join us on that journey.

Warmly,
Embark Studios