Mastodawn

Steve Troughton-Smith Oct 17

Time to slam some servers and raid those lost ARCs 🫡

Steve Troughton-Smith Oct 18

ARC Raiders is the first game since PUBG that makes me feel how I felt about PUBG. It's *great*, even in this limited playtest. The pace is much quicker, but the extraction mechanics, questing, and skill tree provide that hook that could make me play hundreds of hours of this.

[You know, if PUBG had a mode with all these elements, and not just shrinking circle gameplay, I would probably put hundreds of hours more into that, too]

Steve Troughton-Smith Oct 18

Love the environments and the world-building in ARC Raiders. There's a lot of lore in this; loot is environmentally contextual, questgivers are voiced, have cinematics, and drive an overarching story narrative. The one map provided in this weekend's playtest is enormous. You may encounter one, maybe two other players in a session (though will hear many others via distant gunfire). When a player goes down, a flare goes up — alerting everybody from miles around — which is a really neat mechanic

Steve Troughton-Smith Oct 18

I also like how readable the ARC Raiders UI is at a glance, which is something I can't say about Marathon

(Though maybe Bungie will steal a better design language by the time it ships 😛)

Steve Troughton-Smith Oct 19

The average ARC Raiders play experience. Bit of diplomacy, bit of combat, a lot of escaping from robots.

(No voiceover)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nqNj8GreOk

ARC Raiders — Server Slam #1 (No Voice)

YouTube

Steve Troughton-Smith Oct 19

I love the flare-on-downed mechanic in this game. It's such a great indicator of combat resolution, especially for more-distant firefights going on around you, or when you see a swarm of robots chasing a player and are curious who wins. It both means 'free loot', and 'danger close'

Steve Troughton-Smith Oct 20

…and we're done. I got 11 hours in during the playtest, and loved every minute of it. ARC Raiders is the 'PUBG 2.0' I've always wanted; it's very much cut from the same cloth, but improves upon it in a hundred different ways. And PvP is always negotiable — nearly every time I witnessed somebody saying 'don't shoot', they (or I) were spared — and that goes as far as the ability to res other players and temporarily team-up with a truce. Good vibes all around

Steve Troughton-Smith Oct 20

This session in ARC Raiders was one of the most PvP-heavy I've had, but the kill count of that Rocketeer drone is *terrifying*. Every time it unloads, a player goes down.

Can't wait for the full game at the end of the month 😄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSkO6mS1EfQ

ARC Raiders — Server Slam #2 (No Voice)

YouTube

Steve Troughton-Smith Oct 20

Definitely having ARC Raiders withdrawal today.

Steve Troughton-Smith Oct 23

Meanwhile, in games I actually did enjoy my playtime in…

30 million matches sounds like a lot in 3 days 🫨

https://arcraiders.com/en/news/server-slam-thank-you/

Steve Troughton-Smith Oct 25

Very thoughtful 30 minute interview over at Skill Up with ARC Raiders executive producer touching on everything from the game's development and roadmap, to Bungie's Marathon and how the two games compare

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA92dB1jvaQ&t=5354s

How Arc Raiders was able to generate the buzz that Marathon couldn't | FPS Podcast #81

YouTube

Steve Troughton-Smith Oct 27

Just a couple days to go!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpeJjQDXNAE

Launch Trailer | ARC Raiders

YouTube

Steve Troughton-Smith

I had more interesting moments in my first 11-minute ARC Raiders solo match than I did in 17 hours of Marathon's playtest 💀

Speaking of! The game's out! And doing some pretty hefty numbers for a $40 title (and before the US has fully woken up yet)

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 3

Quest complete! Turns out those Snitch parts are useful after all…

https://youtube.com/shorts/9TXi9dwV76U

ARC Raiders — Kill 2 ARC using grenades…

With style!

YouTube

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 3

I have never seen a playerbase so free of toxicity as ARC Raiders in solo mode. It's amazing to see what happens when a game really puts in the mechanics to have players work together instead of compete, if they want. It reminds me of my first playthrough of Guild Wars 2, except with proximity mic chat. I hope this influences other genres going forward

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 4

ARC Raiders feels like it will be a forever-game for me. It combines all the best parts of games I loved, and hits all the playstyles I could ask for. Exploring vast, beautiful open-world maps. Stealth gameplay. Long-range sniper duels. Tense flashlight-lit run-away-from-the-monster horror. Assassin's Creed parkour. Questing and loot. Multiplayer hi-jinx, collaboration, backstabbing. Haven't felt like this about a game in a long time

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 4

In game terms, it has a little PUBG, a little The Division, some Metal Gear Solid V, and a bonus splash of Unreal Tournament's Facing Worlds

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 5

If you let me be a sniper in your game, I will be a sniper in your game.

ARC Raiders makes sniping so satisfying. The sound design is excellent; you can *hear* everything happening on the map even in the far distance, you will always know if a hit registers, whether it knocks out somebody's shield, or knocks them down. Every single map has high vantage points and wide open spaces to allow for sniper gameplay. And the rifle is one of the first weapons you're given in the game. It's awesome

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 7

Between the playtest a couple weeks ago and the shipping version of ARC Raiders I've played about 50 hours. I'm not even halfway through the skill tree leveling process, and I still have quests to progress. All along I've been thinking this game is an easy 9/10 for me, but the more I play I'm starting to question myself: if this isn't a 10/10, I don't know what is? I've been obsessed with it since the second technical test early this year, and it lived up to every bit of my hype and expectations

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 8

Saved by noble savior Faund, then gunned down by dirty traitor Ghost 😑

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLb5oNF7Nf8

ARC Raiders — Betrayal

Saved by noble savior Faund, then gunned down by dirty traitor Ghost

YouTube

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 9

New map tease 👀

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agf7ckQtBjA

The maps of ARC Raiders | ARC Raiders

YouTube

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 11

I was just minding my own business when I came across a man chasing a roly-poly robot in the middle of the desert. He asked for assistance…

*cue Benny Hill music*

We safely extracted together afterwards 😂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgu4R9VJ4dg

ARC Raiders — Roly poly

YouTube

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 14

The new map in ARC Raiders was unlocked by the community effort this morning, and it's quite the change of pace. A tense, spooky, cramped indoor facility that's filled with so many nasty enemies that players don't even want to risk PvPing 😂

There's a whole new progression system and rewards track to go with it, too. It's a lot of new stuff for a game that's only a couple weeks old

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 14

Told you I'd like this game

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 21

Embark Studios commissioned Danny and the team at Noclip to document and film the development of ARC Raiders, and its complete concept reboot, over the past several years, which in hindsight feels like an incredibly prescient thing to do

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdorU3sjt_0

The Evolution of ARC Raiders EP1 - Finding ARC Raiders

YouTube

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 27

ARC Raiders has been trying to fix a physics exploit that allows players glitch their way into locked treasure rooms, which is a much more complicated problem than it sounds.

Their 'hot'fix: all treasure rooms are now trapped and will set you on fire if you get there illegitimately 🔥

https://www.reddit.com/r/ArcRaiders/comments/1p7ywy6/glitch_fixed_found_on_disc/

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 28

Leaper schmeaper

Chris Wu 🪐Nov 29

@stroughtonsmith What on Earth. I had no idea you could just walk up to one like that.

Paul Stockton Nov 27

@stroughtonsmith Love this way to fix the issue!

Jari Pennanen Nov 27

@pauls @stroughtonsmith There will be someone, who does the Indiana Jones and figures out the right steps to avoid the fire!

Gabriel N Nov 27

@Ciantic @pauls @stroughtonsmith they will bring asbestos clothing and a fire extinguisher.

Paul Stockton Nov 27

@Ciantic @stroughtonsmith Haha I feel a Snap Hook (whip) video incoming 🤣

Carl Walther Nov 29

@stroughtonsmith This sound like one of the most D&D solutions, by a GM, that I have ever heard.

Chris Atzinger Nov 22

@stroughtonsmith thanks for these! I am loving the game. I play on PS5. You?

Jon Evans Nov 22

@stroughtonsmith this is awesome, thanks Steve. I dropped off from watching noclip videos for a while; no idea why. Loving ARC raiders. What a game.

@stroughtonsmith Or It Could Just Be Promotional Stuff. Either Way, It's Another Resource I Could Learn Some Things About Game Design & Development And General Programming Off Of. It's Definitely Going In My Watch-list

BenRiceM Nov 14

@stroughtonsmith every time someone snipes me from a distance, I blame you

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 14

@BenRiceM it could indeed be me

Markus Rudel Nov 14

@stroughtonsmith Wow that was me after 8 months or so of #helldivers2 🙈 but arc raiders is a strong contender

MatchaMakes Nov 14

@stroughtonsmith seeing you post about this is the best advertising this game has ever had.

.:. brainsik Nov 15

@matcha06 @stroughtonsmith it’s how I found out about it and ended up pre-ordering after watch a lot of streams of the server slam!

Marcus The Board Gamer Nov 14

@stroughtonsmith I got PVP’d twice on that new map!

Paul Stockton Nov 15

@stroughtonsmith I love that you've got Space Port and Blue gate as very big open maps, then Dam and Buried City a bit more cover and now you've got an indoor CQB type map already

Chris @ 🦣Nov 11

@stroughtonsmith Those Surveyors are such a pain to kill.

too many names Nov 11

@stroughtonsmith Is solo mode still holding up for you?

I see you're not using voice chat - does anyone shoot because of that?

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 11

@mikeymikey 74 hours in! I’ve had maybe one or two encounters that finished me because I wasn’t using a mic (and used that as their reasoning). I do intend to play with a mic at some point

too many names Nov 11

@stroughtonsmith I ask because I don't mind a mic - but generally only use it with friends I actually know.

Thomas Alvarez Nov 11

@stroughtonsmith This looks so awesome! I haven't made the leap into it yet. Only played the stress test for a few minutes to see how it ran.

What I want to see is the guy ask you to help and then you get ambushed around a corner by his buddies. hahaha

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 11

@tomalvarez I was very wary, but everybody is solo here, and I did see the ball pass at the start. Comedic timing…

Thomas Alvarez Nov 11

@stroughtonsmith Ah. Yeah it rolled on by. If you put it to Benny Hill music and sped it up and clipped it to the video segments where it was rolling around, that'd probably be pretty funny.

Paul Stockton Nov 12

@tomalvarez @stroughtonsmith last night in Duos another team had seen us and we never got chance to use "Don't shoot", we crawled and begged for our lives, one of the guys defib'd my mate back up so he could revive me, I gave one of them an Anvil gun as a thank you for sparing us.
They then got attacked by a Rocketeer so I threw a Wolfpack grenade at it to help them, it turned on me and downed me, my mate threw his and killed it, revived me and the 2 guys ran over to thank me for helping them and we parted on our merry way!

Sven A. Schmidt Nov 11

@stroughtonsmith I just want to know what happened to R2D2 and why he is strapped to your back

Sven A. Schmidt Nov 8

@stroughtonsmith That shit makes me hate the game 😕 What do you do to shrug that off?

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 8

@finestructure it doesn't bother me in the slightest? It's a PvP[vE] game. Shout 'booo' at your screen and move on 😂

John Siracusa Nov 8

@stroughtonsmith I’ve been downed many times while at the control console of an escape point. I don’t understand this. By the time I’m down, the exfil activation has already been completed, and there’s not even enough time for them to finish me and take my stuff. They just shoot me until I’m down and then we all escape successfully.

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 8

@siracusa if they're not finishing you, then it's basically just for funsies (or the xp)

John Siracusa Nov 8

@stroughtonsmith I think they would finish me if they had time, maybe, but they’re just learning the timing…

Sven A. Schmidt Nov 8

@siracusa @stroughtonsmith Happened to me too, once. I was thinking perhaps the person did it for the feat where you need to do damage to a raider 🤷‍♂️

@stroughtonsmith Also it just works. It runs smoothly, it looks great and it has not that many bugs. I would say one of the smoothest game releases in a long time.

@norm3n @stroughtonsmith Yeah! I completely agree. I’m playing with an AMD Radeon RX 580 from 2018, I think, and it runs smoothly with very nice visuals (mostly between low and medium settings, but it looks nice!).
Not only does it look nice, the sound design is awesome! (1/2)

Also, if the game detects that you’re stuck (I once got stuck between a rock and a tree), a text appears: “Hold space to unstuck player.” Very nice detail! Those kinds of bugs can be very difficult to solve 100%, so they created a tool to help players in those situations.
Solid release. Solid game. It’s awesome. (2/2)

Paul Stockton Nov 7

@stroughtonsmith This is what is so hard to explain to anyone who hasn't played or experienced the game - you are not going to witness many games in your lifetime of this quality, they are few and far between.

@stroughtonsmith it’s so well done. Never knowing whether you should be more afraid of people, machines, or the clock and knowing that everyone else is making the same risk/reward calculations as you as makes everything exhilarating

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 4

@BenRiceM does that mean I don't owe you €20?

@stroughtonsmith I think you’re in the clear

@stroughtonsmith Yep, I agree. Most interactions in solo mode are collaborative or, at least, non-confrontational. In my 4 hours of gameplay, I've only encountered 2 hostile solo players.

@stroughtonsmith But you have to account for those players, so that helps the tension building up.

Uli Kusterer (Not a kitteh)Nov 3

@stroughtonsmith That was my issue with Dune Awakening: The trailer was all about collaboration, but then the game itself had no mechanics to encourage that, it was just annoying to play solo and many people complained. And the devs were all "well duh, collaborate" without actually designing a collaborative game.

Thom, exceedingly pure Nov 3

@stroughtonsmith It's brand new. Give it a week. 😄

Steve Troughton-Smith Nov 3

@thomholwerda it's the design, though. It's geared towards training you not to be a murder hobo, and gives you all the tools you need for collaboration

Thom, exceedingly pure Nov 3

@stroughtonsmith So do MOBAs, which are some of the most toxic games of all time.

Joe Chott Nov 3

@stroughtonsmith I have seen evidence of what you speak, but also had many players happily slaughter me while I was using proximity chat to declare I was friendly (and I was also keeping my distance with pickaxe equipped instead of gun - they shoot and kill me anyway).

Sven A. Schmidt Nov 4

@stroughtonsmith Largely true, but twice I’ve been ganked out of the blue and it’s almost completely ruined the game for me. Last night I was gunned down in the extraction elevator, just when I thought I’d made it out. I stopped playing then and I’m not sure I’ll pick it up again soon, because that kind of experience erases a lot of the fun times 😞