The live service model faces plenty of challenges, but the biggest of them all is summarised into a simple question: how can a game stay relevant?
After a meteoric rise to the top of the charts following its release in late October, post-apocalyptic extraction shooter ARC Raiders has pulled a good few tricks to make sure its players don’t get bored.
The extraction shooter genre is particularly prone to this, as the player experience can be fundamentally summarised into spawn, kill, leave, repeat.
After announcing that the expedition window will be open from December 17th to 22nd, Embark Studios has now introduced a formidable enemy that will make even a Matriarch look friendly: Old Man Winter.
Winter is Coming to ARC Raiders
The next ARC Raiders update, which releases on December 16th, is appropriately titled Cold Snap.
Raiders will be treated to a beautiful winter wonderland in the Rust Belt, but the snow is anything but friendly to those who dare leave the safety of Speranza.
As detailed on the ARC Raiders official site, winter adds an extra layer of danger to the world topside, as if being chased by other raiders and killer robots was not bad enough.
Water bodies in the Rust Belt have now frozen over, but they are not guaranteed to hold the weight of either raider or ARC, so tread carefully.
Snowstorms and chilling temperatures also compromise players’ vision and endurance, and will have a major impact on the flow of raids and PvP interactions.
Limited visibility will make it harder to spot others even when out in the open, making sneaking by easier if you don’t want a shootout.
Staying out in the cold means risking frostbite and, after a while, death. Unless you want to fill your entire backpack with curatives, the easiest solution is to stay indoors.
With all other raiders in the map having the same idea, and most of the loot being concentrated indoors, expect to have brutal close combat fights, as most players are known to be averse to dying.
ARC Raiders is currently available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
