Time to slam some servers and raid those lost ARCs 🫡

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]

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

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 😛)

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)

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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'
…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

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)

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Definitely having ARC Raiders withdrawal today.

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/

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

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Launch Trailer | ARC Raiders

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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)

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!

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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
@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 😞