The road to Arc Raiders has been a long one. From its beginnings as a pure PvE shooter, to its shift to PvPvE, to being one of the most anticipated extraction shooters in the market, it’s been a joy to watch it all unfold. With a few days before its official release date, Embark Studios invited the team at The Nerd Stash to a pre-release event where we finally got to see the last map that will come at launch and use some of the endgame armaments we’ll eventually craft when playing, and let me tell you, if you were already excited for what you’ve seen in the previous tests, the whole game will blow you away.
The Beauty And Danger of Topside
For this preview build, we got to experience all four maps that will be available when Arc Raiders launches on October 30. Many of you who already played during the tech tests or the recent server slam might be familiar with a few of them: Dam Battleground, The Spaceport, and Buried City. We played a few rounds in that order, first in a solo queue for Dam Battleground, and then as a squad for the last two.
However, the big surprise was the addition of The Blue Gate to this build, the final map planned for launch, and one I had yet to experience until this preview.
Ever since I jumped into Arc Raiders, I noticed just how flawless and unique the design of each map was. The Dam Battleground combined open and closed areas perfectly, while the Spaceport relied more on verticality. However, nothing prepared me for just how vast and dangerous this final area would be.
As soon as my squad exited our spawn point in Blue Gate, we just stood there for a couple of minutes, taking it all in. The best way to describe it is as the largest area of Arc Raiders with huge open areas full of lush vegetation, abandoned villages, dilapidated forts, and a checkpoint surrounded by destroyed vehicles. It was jaw-dropping.
To make our way through this perilous map riddled with enemy raiders and pretty dangerous Arcs, Embark Studios filled our stashes with endgame weapons, such as a sniper rifle, which everyone at the event used during the first round and quickly lost it because it became a sniping fest, a rocket launcher that targeted Arcs only, several shotguns that became everyone’s favorite weapons, and even a grappling hook of sorts that you can use to reach higher places a là Batman.
In terms of tactical opportunities, Blue Gate is one of the most challenging maps due to how open and at the same time, narrow it feels. Most of our fighting happened at the top of the hills that loom above the abandoned checkpoint, and we only had some destroyed forts to use as cover or some rock formations to hide while everyone else used this area as a killbox.
The village was also a challenge due to its narrow streets. Yet, there are many ways to reach the top of the houses, so you can use them as vantage or ambush points if you wish to do so. Of course, raiders weren’t the only dangers, as we also saw some of the new and revamped enemies, such as the Bombardier and the Pops. We watched the former from afar because, as soon as we spotted it creeping out from the treeline, we ran straight to the village and hid before losing our epic gear.
Even after two hours, which was the allotted time we had to try out this last map, I felt as if my squad had only scratched the Blue Gate’s surface. There were many buildings we didn’t get to explore and some hatches we didn’t get to open, but it quickly became my favorite map due to its sheer size, unmatched beauty, and tactical challenge.
Two previews were more than enough to convince me that Arc Raiders would be a hit at launch due to its friendly approach to progression, challenging yet not too punishing extraction shooter mechanics, and a style we haven’t seen before. However, this last build convinced me that Arc Raiders won’t just be the best extraction shooter of recent memory, but also one of the most addictive live-service titles out there, and one that might finally bring this often daunting genre into the mainstream.
