Hands-on — why ARC Raiders' gameplay preview is the most fun I've had all year

ARC Raiders has been my most-hyped game of 2025 for quite some time, and I know I'm not alone. The general consensus is that Embark cooked with this one, and players have been clamouring to get their hands on the game ever since the play test this summer. Guess who got to play it early?

The version I played on October 23rd was the entire game. Nothing was locked, as I had access to all the gameplay systems, including the "prestige system" in place for player retention. I didn't get to complete it entirely (I mean, I'm good, but not that good).

If you want to learn more, you can check out the explanation directly from Embark Studios. But now, onto the preview.

Embark told a fellow journalist that we could even take this preview as a "review in progress," given it was the full-fledged game. However, since our progress was wiped, rightfully so, I decided I'd treat this as a preview instead.

I'm doing this to alleviate the idea in everyone's heads, thanks to the very-limited Server Slam, that the game is lacking in content. I don't know why Embark decided to limit the Server Slam, but I've seen countless social media accounts and even some friends who think the game isn't worth the $40 initiation fee.

The game is packed with maps at launch that will keep players very happy for a long while. Maps that, over time, Embark will continue to iterate on and expand in number.

From weapons to benches, ARC Raiders has a lot of content to sift through. With four hours of game time during the preview and probably another 50 from betas and alphas, I've only scratched the surface of what this title has to offer.

Improved gameplay that's more challenging than before

It's readily apparent from both my time with the preview and the Server Slam that the ARC enemies have gotten a whole lot harder to deal with when compared to the beta test this summer. They hit harder, and their aim went from Stormtrooper to Deadshot.

The reason this matters is that our first few games were done on the true and test Dam level. Here, we flexed our level one characters by running through the early quests everyone's seen by now. These were missions like "Go to loot area" and "Kill ARC," intro stuff you'd have to purposely avoid.

My first time out, I was gifted a painful lesson in ARC improvement when I tried to backslide into an elevator that another Raider had already called in and walked into. Thinking I was slick, I thought I'd hitch a ride at the last minute and dive in before the doors closed.

I was off by a country mile; the distance between me and the door that closed was laughable, and I was in for a world of hurt as a result.

You see, there had been two wasps set up outside the elevator, which the other Raider had aggro'd to the spot moments ago. Originally, I thought, "Well, hell, I'm just going to run past these guys, who cares?"

When it became clear the elevator was no longer an option and I went to turn around, I met my maker in less than 20 seconds. I dodged a few shots, but the two Wasps combined for an easy four-shot win on my dumb ass.

The next round, I decided I'd at least entertain the thought of not being stupid, and decided to play it a little bit slower. After jumping in, I heard a massive explosion off to my left side. So, of course, wanting to make sure I wasn't as stupid as last time, I full sprinted into the area.

Look, I'm a journalist who likes to pretend he's amazing at video games, occasionally. I get by, but I also need to get content to write about. Being smart during these moments reduces that chance. That's when I ran into two people who would go on to show me just how dynamic player engagements can be.

Squadding up to survive

You see, these two gentlemen were beyond friendly. To the point they nearly begged me to loot the giant, dead Mother ARC they just opened, which caused the explosion to begin with.

I obliged and grabbed some of that sweet loot I'd lose in less than 3 hours. From there, we headed in the general direction of every single flare we saw in the sky.

For the unaware, flares in the distance mean a player has gone down. Not necessarily dead, but the flare indicates, "Hey, there's a crap ton of stuff happening over there."

On the road to one of these flares, we ran into a single guy who just so happened to be in the right place at the wrong time. In full-blown, horrifyingly terrible Brooklyn accents, we shouted at this poor dude, "Hey, we're raiding here," and told him to drop us a single wire, or he was dead.

The guy, who had zero wires, instead dropped everything he had and sprinted off, even after we repeatedly told him to come back and grab his stuff because we were totally kidding. These are the kinds of engagements I continued to find off and on through my time during the preview, showcasing just how valuable something like proximity chat is.

Later in the group stage, my fellow team members had to go for various reasons. Not all of us could stay to raid for hours on end during the preview event. Since I'm a borderline psychopath when it comes to ARC Raiders, I obviously stayed.

I ended up getting matched with a couple of players from SeasonedGaming who were all about it. Once we squadded up, I had one of the best times I've had in recent memory running maps together and just shooting whatever we saw.

From dumb moves on Leapers to rampaging into warzone after warzone of shootouts, my time with these two made my game hype go from infinity to infinity infinity. Or however you say it, I'm sure we've all done that "I love you infinity infinity" baloney with our high school girlfriends.

What happened towards the end is what truly defined my ARC Raiders experience, and one that I don't think I've seen other games match to this length.

While solo players like myself were grouping up before the big 3-hour window of group play, it had never occurred to me, "Hey, I wonder if groups will get together as well." That's when we caught wind of a 6-man team that had formed of content creators who were running around, rampaging 3-man squads.

Toward the very end of our multiple "sprint into everything" type runs, we were perched on a hill when one of us caught a glimpse of someone setting up a zipline. Right then, the out-loud counting started: "I see one, two, three, four, oh my, five, hey guys.. six."

We immediately, and without any hesitation or any consideration for our lives, opened fire. While two of us had brought longer-ranged weapons, it was our third who was rocking a hip fire-only LMG. He, too, slammed the trigger with unbridled rage.

Right away, shots came roaring back from the tree line and hills beneath us. We couldn't see everyone, but we were damn sure to fire back at every shot placed on us.

We started moving up the hill from our spot, making a small town between us the only viable area they could push from. Admiral Ackbar moment, "It's a trap!"

Littered throughout the town were a wide range of ARC of all kinds. Once the players started following us through that area, guns blazing, they aggro'd every single ARC in the area. From ARC or Raider, every single one of those no-good, teaming, rotten players went down.

Needless to say, we cried from laughter, and proceeded to get pounded 3 minutes later by an entirely different group.

ARC Raiders is a must buy if this continues into launch

I won't mince words: ARC Raiders is the game I've been waiting years to play. Back when I first played the alpha, I didn't think much of it, but I've been intrigued ever since Embark announced it.

Following the beta over the summer, and every subsequent test since, I've had a hard time staying away from the game. Something always pulls me to go play it, even though they've all been tests that will eventually get wiped.

I didn't care; I was playing Dam for the hundredth time during the Server Slam, and I was still having more fun than any other game on the market.

While extraction shooters might not be for everyone, ARC Raiders is one of the few in the genre that will find a way to bring both casuals and competitive players alike into the same space to experience one of the best games releasing in 2025.

ARC Raiders launches October 30, 2025, for Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5. The title supports Play Anywhere between the Xbox Series X|S and the Windows Xbox app.