2025 has been filled with great multiplayer video games, with giants like Battlefield 6 and indie hits like Peak, but — even among them — ARC Raiders stands out as the game to finally crack the 'extraction shooter' code.
In its post-apocalyptic future, an AI fleet of drones and robots has forced humanity underground, but the origins of the robotic invaders are unknown. We cower in bunkers, only emerging to skulk amongst the ruins and scavenge for supplies. Humanity is on the brink. Meanwhile, Earth's doing… fine? ARC's giant robots and laser weapons might seem out there, but this one of the most realistic sci-fi dystopias we've ever seen.
But why is this brutal online sandbox — where every interaction with another human can be lethal — so alluring? How have Embark Studios' designers and artists crafted a post-apocalypse that appears welcoming even when deadly machines are on the hunt?
Rise of the machines
The original Terminator movies weren't all about humanoid killer robots, at least not in the Skynet-dominated future our heroes were trying to prevent. Remember HK-Drones and the terrifying HK-Aerials from the future war sequences? In ARC Raiders, most enemies look and sound a lot like that.
The human shape is inefficient if you're looking to dominate Earth's surface, and whoever created the ARC machines is (or was) well aware of that. Are they the product of a secret AI experiment gone wrong or space invaders akin to Oblivion's aerial attackers?
ARC Raiders' robotic threat doesn't feel as far-fetched as Terminator's unsettling T-800s or the animal-like behemoths often found in the Horizon video game series. They're just drones. Advanced drones that can quickly tase and gun you down, sure, but still an evolution of the drones we see flying around today, whether piloted by civilians or used as tools of destruction by military forces.
We've already seen the cold horror drones capable of in the real world, so their overt presence in the game isn't as shocking as it would have been a decade ago. Somehow, we got used to the idea of unmanned flying machines that can rain down death.
Not all of ARC's robots look like they can be ordered from Amazon, though. If you wander into the wrong neighborhood, you'll get to meet the more unbelievable clankers like Leapers, Bastions, and even the hulking Matriarch. Those are the times when ARC Raiders feels more distant, and they're born out of a need for a bigger challenge in a video game. Even then, it's not hard to imagine humans building similar automated tools of destruction at some point — looking at you, Boston Dynamics… looking at you.
I don't want to live on this planet anymore
Even before the ARC machines' sudden arrival in 2180, Earth wasn't doing so hot thanks to environmental destruction and climate change.
In an off-screen plot beat which feels quite familiar, the wealthy managed to flee our planet before the environment collapsed; this is the main reason why many areas are tied to space exploration and rocketry. Even a cursory glance at our own homepage shows humanity already stumbling down this path, with corporate launches from SpaceX & Blue Origin now vastly outnumbering those of agencies like NASA.
Who knows? Maybe those same rich people who left Earth behind when things got ugly are responsible for ARC in the first place. They didn't mean to destroy Earth; they were just maximising shareholder value.
As for the rest of us? We become raiders, survivors, and descendants of those left behind, who skulk underground in makeshift cities like Toledo. Raiders regularly visit the surface to recover and loot valuable machinery and resources (and grief each other at extraction points).
It's not just the killer robots you've got to watch out for, though; there's some seriously bad weather in our future. Sandstorms blow through the buried city, deadly electromagnetic storms blast the landscape with lightning, and we've even got snowfall on the way thanks to the Cold Snap event. Such violent and disparate weather conditions, all localised into a small region of Italy, draw obvious parallels to the climate change we're now experiencing ourselves. This more dynamic, aggressive climate is bad for us, but great for ARC Raiders' worldbuilding, making the world feel equal parts ominously real and alive.
Nature is healing
Unlike in other works of post-apocalyptic fiction, however, Earth doesn't stop spinning because humanity is having a hard time. The Mediterranean locales you visit during expeditions are thriving and often even lush. What are the machine overlords looking for? We don't know it yet, but they seem to be okay with leaving the other living beings alone. Back at the hideout, players even have a friendly rooster, and fruit-picking topside is a common activity.
Trek in any direction and you'll find the same: In the absence of humans, life continues. As we resist extinction in this digital world and a murderous AI faction seeks to destroy what remains of us, everything looks, sounds, and feels calm and in balance. The hulking remains of ARC monstrosities sit amongst the ruins of our world, now peaceful and overgrown with nature. Desolate human cities covered by the sand sit alone, waiting to be scavenged and reminding visitors of days gone by.
The exact instrument of humanity's undoing in ARC Raiders has been made unclear on purpose, and I'm hoping that magic is never dispelled. As apocalyptic scenarios go, this one ain't so bad. Sure, there's a tale of human ingenuity, grit, and survival against the odds in here, but even more so, it's nice to know that Earth will be just fine without us.
Should the game receive a fully countryside map with even fewer man-made places to see, ARC Raiders' unique brand of survival could become far more soothing, at least until a single bullet cuts through the silence and goes into my avatar's skull. Be nice out there, raiders, and don't shoot.
ARC Raiders is now available to buy on PC (Steam & Epic Games Store), PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
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