ARC Raiders tries its hardest to justify a new price tag

The addition of a $40 price tag gives Embark Studios' first game an uphill battle

Embark Studios

ARC Raiders caught the eyes of gamers when it was announced back in 2021, and for good reason — it looked absolutely gorgeous, and it had some pretty big names behind it. It’s the first game from Embark Studios, a new developer founded by Patrick Soderlund, previously the chief design officer for EA and head of DICE. Back then, it was announced as a free-to-play third-person shooter with a big focus on PvE content, with Soderlund calling it a “co-op action game,” and it was set to be released in 2022. Things have changed a lot since then. 

The game is now a premium title, coming in at $40 – no doubt in part a response to the success of Helldivers 2 at the same price point – and is a little bit more than just a co-op action game. Instead, it’s a PvPvE extraction survival shooter, something that executive producer Aleksander Grøndal tells us is the result of extensive playtesting, iteration, and internal evaluation. Grøndal says that this change isn’t necessarily a change in genre, as such, but an evolution of the original vision, and it’s easy to see how one could make the leap from co-op action shooter to PvPvE extraction shooter. 

Grøndal says that there was a lot of back and forth within the company around the price point, and the switch from free-to-play to premium, but it was decided that the game that ARC Raiders became over the course of development is “much better suited” to the premium model. He also says that free-to-play games are always walking a tightrope between providing engaging content and juicing players for more money – my words, not his – but switching to a premium model allows Embark to focus solely on providing the best experience possible without having to worry about how to best monetize future content. 

ARC Rivals will drop players into a devastated post-apocalyptic Earth, filled with danger from killer robots, harsh landscapes, and plenty of other raiders ready to swoop in on your loot. Humans live underground, but have to come up every now and then to scavenge for supplies. It’s survival of the fittest, and the whole world is against you. 

ARC Raiders is as beautiful as ever, and terrifying to boot / Embark Studios

In a hands-off gameplay montage, showing off almost five minutes of gameplay by the devs. ARC Raiders looks tense, fast, and frenetic. ARCs, the monstrous robot inhabitants of this world, are immediately threatening, both in size and in their aggression towards the player. Once they have you in their sights, there aren’t many options except to fight — you could run and hide, and there are tools to help you do that, but there’s always another ARC, keeping you on your toes for every single moment you’re on the surface. 

Working together with a team seems to be your best bet, but going solo has its advantages too. The social environment of the game won’t really form until it’s in players’ hands, but it seems like there will be a lot of uneasy alliances. Teaming up in the heat of battle to take down a giant, spider-like ARC might be necessary, but when the robot falls and you’re down to your last few bullets, all bets are off when it comes to procuring more. 

Alliances won't last forever / Embark Studios

All of this takes place in one of the most fantastic-looking worlds I’ve seen in a game like this. That’s part of what attracted so many players to begin with when it was first announced, but it’s looking even better now. The scale of the maps is pretty incredible, both horizontally and vertically, and there are some really gorgeous landmarks scattered throughout the world, including cliffs and ravines, shattered highways, and lush forests. 

Gunplay looked solid, with great sound design and audiovisual feedback, but the footage we were shown is distinctly lacking in any kind of HUD outside of menus, including an aiming reticule. I’m not sure if this is just because of the way it was captured and presented for the press, or if it was an intentional design choice to allow for greater immersion, but if it’s the latter then it’s a bold choice that might be a bit controversial among players. 

ARC Raiders might be coming a few years later than intended – it’s set to be released at some point in 2025 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S – but it looks like Embark Studios has spent those three years crafting and polishing something immaculate. Is it enough to earn its new price tag? It’s hard to say with certainty. As the market gets more crowded with live-service multiplayer games, many of them free, it’s going to be harder for games like this to compete. No amount of polish is going to save it if players are turned away by the $40 price point, and it just might need a stronger showing than what we’ve seen so far to push it over the line.