Arc Raiders is the incredibly popular extraction shooter from Embark…and I’ll be honest, I’m really starting to hate it. The premise is awesome. In the game, robots have taken over Earth, and humans now live in subterranean worlds. Society is dependent on raiders to go to the surface and scavenge for parts, all while trying not to get killed by both the robots (the Arcs) and other humans.
But here’s the problem with Arc Raiders – The robots aren't dangerous. In fact, they’re hardly even part of the game. The only real danger in Arc Raiders is the other gamers, and after a few weeks of playing, I’m bored AF.
Arc Raiders is all about being toxic
There are no rules in Arc Raiders, and to be honest, there’s not much story either. Hypothetically speaking, a group of random players could all come together, team up, and battle Arcs while scavenging for supplies. But in reality, that never happens. When I first started playing, games were mixed. You met some cool people, you met some bad people. But it was balanced enough to where you still liked meeting other players, because you never knew what would happen.
But a few weeks in, and the culture of Arc Raiders has been solidified, and players are no longer nice. You will be shot by almost every player you come into contact with. In theory, that’s fine…but it isn’t the game I signed up for or the game Arc Raiders is advertising. But with the Arc not serving any purpose and no real missions to partake in, there’s nothing to do in Arc Raiders but kill each other. And it’s really just not fun. I was excited for a game that was more than that…but apparently, that isn’t what Arc Raiders is.
And look, as someone who likes games and who reads IGN and sees their comments section, I understand that Arc Raider’s just-kill-or-be-killed-there's-nothing-else-to-do gameplay is heavily appealing to most gamers. The community is (in my opinion) made up largely of angry, lonely, straight men, often of the middle-aged and incel variety. So I understand the appeal of Arc Raiders for a certain type of person. It’s the kind of game where angry, ugly, powerless men can be their angriest, ugliest selves.
Arc Raiders is boring
While Arc Raiders is clearly appealing to gaming’s target audience, for the rest of us, it’s just sad and boring. Without the Arc having any purpose, and without a storyline or missions, nothing incentivizes players to team up and strategize (which I think was the original intention of Arc Raiders?)
That means there’s nothing that separates Arc Raiders from every other battle royale shooter out there, except for the fact that it’s presented in a junky, clunky third-person over-the-shoulder viewpoint instead of being a FPS. What’s worse is that Arc Raiders will cost you $40 to do the same thing that all the free-to-play battle royales offer. It’s just another lazy, “here’s a big open space, go kill each other and give us your money” game.
At this point, Arc Raiders is just pathetic
What’s worse about Arc Raiders is that the players are getting even crappier. Like any popular shooter game that attracts angry men who will do anything to win, Arc Raiders has its devout players who are spending *real* money to buy upgrades, grinding nonstop for hours each day, and getting weapons and armor that average players don’t have…and then running around and killing us as if it were a fair battle.
Additionally (and completely on track for the incel crowd), ratting is the go-to method for playing Arc Raiders right now. One of the most popular examples is by camping near an elevator (the escape route players have to use to safely end the round and return to the lobby).
Players camp out, often on the high ground, and wait for others trying to leave the game. They shoot them, kill them, steal from them, and then hop in the elevator and leave. Yes, a huge chunk of Arc Raiders players stare at their screens for 20 minutes waiting for someone to come by so they can shoot them and then immediately end the round and leave safely.
Is that even gaming? Did you even technically play Arc Raiders at that point? Personally, I think staring at your screen for 20 minutes to snipe someone is really pathetic. It reminds me of my all-time favorite game that’s also been ruined by shitty players – Titanfall 2.
In Titanfall 2, you can hop out of your Titan, which turns it into a giant roaming autoturret. You can also upgrade to turn yourself invisible, and get a pistol that auto-aims for you. And trust me, there are lots of players who do all three at the same time. So I ask, why are you playing a game about fighting in giant robots when you don’t even want to use your giant robot? Are you that desperate to win?
The same goes for Arc Raiders. You paid all this money and spent all these hours to deck yourself out in great shit…all so you can sit around, doing nothing, waiting to snipe a player who isn’t as upgraded as you and has no way of fighting back? You might think you’re winning, but trust me, you’re a complete loser.