A Day as an ARC Raider: An Early Look

Have you ever helplessly witnessed news of the impending end of the world seemingly arriving from every front and wondered what your home would look like if the looming threats materialized and Italy transformed into a post-apocalyptic wasteland? If you've harbored this curiosity for a long time, the answer might be closer than you think: no, not because something very bad is on the horizon, fortunately. Rather, for a much more pleasant reason: ARC Raiders, Embark's ambitious extraction shooter set in a post-disaster Southern Italy, is launching in just a few hours. And we had the chance to try it out a few days ago.

The World of ARC Raiders

Calabretta Sud, Rust Belt, Italy: in an unspecified future, something went wrong in human evolution. One of the many follies accumulated until today reached its fatal and inevitable conclusion, or someone pressed the wrong button, and now all that remains of the planet are desolate lands from which emerge vestiges of an ancient civilization whose scattered survivors have retreated underground. It is precisely one of these shelters dug deep beneath the surface that welcomes us upon our arrival: Speranza. A town that tries to recreate the atmosphere of a bygone era, and it would succeed if it weren't for the fact that the refined architecture of the buildings only momentarily makes you forget that we are in a damned silo deep underground. And bad bars and uncomfortable beds won't lull us into that illusion. 

The surface is another matter entirely. Life and death abound up there. Especially the latter. But also a lot of other stuff that the souls of Speranza entrust their ambitions of survival to: food, weapons, medicine, and various technological remnants lie still and dusty in the homes and places of those who once lived in the sunlight. Now the desert expanses that once hosted houses, hospitals, and structures are the conquest ground of the ARC Machines: synthetic, ruthless, and lethal robotic creatures that seem to have humanity's extinction as their sole objective. Few dare to challenge their control to scavenge something to bring home, to stuff their pockets or feed a neighbor. These modern cowboys, adventurers of the unknown with quick triggers, are known as ARC Raiders. 

The Lives of ARC Raiders

Every adventure on the surface is the same as the others, yet each is unique in its own way. Not only because the explorable areas are different, from the remains of the Buried City among the sand dunes to the ambition of the Spaceport, from the dazzling majesty of the dam to the boundless valley of the Blue Gate, with its villages and unsettling underground complexes. Those are the few constants; the problem is never knowing what to expect. That's why it's best to arrive out there prepared. First, it's worth considering your equipment: shields are essential, compatible weapons and ammunition too, then bandages for healing, and most of your space is already gone: better to consider whether to risk an upgrade or keep free space for looting. But since all these nice things aren't so common, if you're short on equipment and resources, you could always rely on a free loadout, but in this case, be careful, especially if you're wandering alone: essentially, in those conditions, you're a target on two little legs. 

The plan, in theory, is the same every time: you go out, you try to get your hands on something useful or sellable, then you run to one of the exits, trying to survive and arrive in time before it closes. What happens in between, however, is a roll of the dice every single time. And if something goes wrong, bye-bye loot. The areas ARC Raiders venture into are large, large enough to give everyone space and opportunity to enjoy a quiet hunt, but this seems to be a lesson humanity has yet to learn: when resources are scarce, bullets fly. So, it's better to keep your eyes open, without getting too distracted by the beauty of what surrounds us, but above all, keep your ears wide open: figuring out where the footsteps you hear in the distance are coming from can make the difference between life and death. And if you want to bring home what you've painstakingly collected, it's better to arrive alive at the extraction point. And possibly stay that way. Because in this case, the anticipation of escape is not the pleasure of escape itself, but rather the most dangerous moment of every adventure, an exhausting defense of those few meters that lead to salvation, to be protected at all costs from ARC Machines, often armored, and from other ARC Raiders ready to snatch our loot and exit corridor. 

ARC Raiders: It's Dangerous to Go Alone!

And that's exactly how our last sortie ended: shot down by a wicked flying bot armed like a tank, while a group of cunning ARC Raiders ambushed in the shadows took advantage of our defeat, sneaking past the doors of our last escape route. Another lesson to learn: a well-organized group makes all the difference. Yet, despite the bitter defeat and the loss of what we had painstakingly gathered, despite everything, we can't wait to return to ARC: Raiders on October 30th, when it officially launches, to dive back into those sunny and vibrant environments, into that mosaic of sounds that keeps our ears constantly on alert, but above all, into another adrenaline-fueled firefight with the ARC Raiders. We'll be back soon with the review (where we'll also tell you how our redemption plans went!).