ARC Raiders Review: The Pinnacle of a Casual Extraction Shooter

ARC Raiders is one of the most anticipated games of 2025, largely due to its extraction shooter genre and development and publication by the well-loved, rising studio, Embark Studios.

The game garnered high expectations from its widely successful betas and server slams, especially since the masses were craving for a good extraction shooter game. After playing for over 70 hours and reaching the endgame, here are my thoughts on ARC Raiders.

ARC Raiders’ Jab on the Extraction Shooter Genre Feels Light and Prioritizes Fun Over Anything Else

Almost every extraction shooter game feels somewhat fresh, as players are constantly bombarded with engaging and familiar mechanics from other genres, such as skill trees, base management, resource management, economy systems, quests, and gameplay similar to a battle royale game with a twist.

To those who haven’t tried any extraction shooters, as someone who has tried all the popular ones, ARC Raiders is by far the best at bringing new players in. All extraction shooters have their own take on the “hardcore” aspect of extraction shooters, where you lose everything when you die. Some can be extremely punishing, forcing players to play a certain way, while others strike a balance between challenging and rewarding at the same time. The more challenging it feels to get out with something, the more rewarding it feels when you do find or do something great in-game.

In ARC Raiders, everything feels light, where you have more freedom to do things and have fun without getting punished. The free loadout system, where you can still do quests, find items for upgrades, and get loot without risking anything, is great for both new players and veterans in the genre.

There’s no massive discrepancy in items and resources, and the economy isn’t player-driven, making the overall system more balanced. Finding epic and legendary items isn’t that far away in a value standpoint compared to common, uncommon, and rare items, especially trinkets. There are way fewer dopamine hits, but there are still some chase items that can trigger it, such as finding an Anvil blueprint or even a Rocketeer Driver from a Rocketeer Husk.

With this economy and system in place, it even drives the social aspect to another level. When the risk of losing those hard-earned loadouts is lessened, the tension lessens and gives way to more social interactions. Imagine queuing as a solo player but filling up the squad with random players. You’d feel you don’t feel safe with your loadouts, but since there is less risk, they cooperate more and strive toward a goal.

Quests aren’t made mandatory for players, but it also feels more immersive when you get the little tidbits of the lore as you keep playing raids. The attention to detail is almost unmatched, as evidenced by learning about the traders and discovering what happened in the bases or on the maps, such as finding those Whirring Androids in Spaceport, among other things.

The quality of life features are also commendable, as you can spend way less time managing by just dumping and sorting all items in the stash and start spamming raids. The wording on the items could use a few tweaks, especially when it comes to the recyclables. The item tags aren’t as intuitive as they might have been intended, making the tags for topside materials, refined materials, recyclables, and trinkets very confusing.

Apart from that small flaw, everything else is near perfect.

ARC Raiders’ Massive Gamble on ARC Enemies Paid Off

One of the most debated topics was whether the AI enemies are too hard or too easy. It is hard to say because their movement and behavior, paired with their unique design, make it a bit unpredictable and fresh while also being ridiculously and mind-numbingly irritating.

The ARC design is magnificent. You have Hornets shooting tasers, Wasps shooting with bullets (also the reason why you can loot ammo from them), and Leapers leaping. Each enemy is uniquely designed to have strengths and weaknesses, along with breakable parts you can strategize around.

Shooting two rotors of the same side of a Hornet renders it incapable of flying anymore. You’ll even see them just struggling on the ground if they still have some hitpoints left, which is a nice detail showing you the strength of knowing their weaknesses.

While the designs were amazing, it feels awfully intended that some of them are way harder than they should be – I’m looking at you, Rocketeers and Bombardiers. Since all of these strong or elite ARC enemies show up in every map, players have no choice but to deal with them, even if they are just starting off.

It was a steep learning curve to deal with them, and there are probably thousands of battles happening among raider squads where these ARC enemies stood out on top. However, the gamble paid off, as these allowed for more fun and crazy interactions, spiking the intensity to a maximum in a flash.

The unpredictable behavior of some ARC enemies was initially shocking. I’ve encountered Hornets and Wasps who just wouldn’t stop fixating on a specific raider squad, even if they were closer to another squad. I’ve seen Rocketeers who, for some reason, wouldn’t let go of your location and camp outside, but in most situations, they return to their own patrol points.

There were Leapers who suddenly jumped 300 meters away, ran away from doors, and baited you outside for another quick leap. Their unpredictability is so great that, even with 80 hours of playing time, you are always on your toes when fighting them.

Eventually, you’ll come up with your own strategies from figuring things out from their behavior, like Rocketeers have a hard time shooting inside the Water Treatment Control windows on Dam Battlegrounds, but have no problem shooting through the Galleria windows (even the smaller ones).

These ARC enemies are way overtuned for sure, but when you start realizing their weaknesses and strategies through several deaths, it becomes easier. This is where the gamble paid off. Since the economy and system are the way it is, failure feels more like a net positive than a hindrance.