Yesterday, we rounded up some early impressions of ARC Raiders as it was just launching on Xbox - and the general consensus was that this is a very good extraction shooter. Those were very early impressions of course, with full reviews of this new multiplayer title likely to crop up in the coming days and weeks. Still, the buzz around this game did tempt me to have a try for myself and, wow - this is a seriously impressive effort from Embark Studios.
I've played a few rounds of ARC Raiders at this point, and I'm very much still finding my feet in this sci-fi world of real-life raiders and scary robot creatures. I'll admit that I'm nowhere near in a position to deliver a verdict on the game at large, but what I can say is that this is an incredibly immersive experience that manages to feel like the most triple-a of triple-a video games - all wrapped up in a multiplayer extraction shooter package. I really wasn't expecting this!
On loading this game up and simply getting set up for a run, ARC Raiders oozes polish. The cutscene work is fantastic, the character models and voice acting are top notch, and everything just feels like a cohesive experience - which isn't often the case with modern multiplayer games. Then, there's the art direction - think Star Wars meets Destiny with a shade of The Last of Us and you're about there. Proper gritty sci-fi stuff that I'm really digging so far.
Speaking of The Last of Us... ARC Raiders almost reminds me of what we were imagining Naughty Dog's cancelled multiplayer spin off to look and feel like. Of course, Embark's sci-fi angle takes things in a slightly different direction, but it's still quite a gritty take on the aesthetic overall - and that combined with the AAA polish on show here definitely gives us that vibe. ARC Raiders feels like something that the esteemed Sony studio would come up with as an online experience, which is pretty darn high praise.
Here are a few more gorgeous screenshots to illustrate my point:
As I mentioned right at the start, the jury's still out on the game in general — and how the whole gameplay experience will gel as I continue to play. What I can say is that ARC Raiders is beautiful, immersive, and seriously impressive from a technical point of view. Embark has delivered a world I simply want to be in, and that's really making it stand out right now in the sea of hodgepodge multiplayer games that exist these days. I'm excited to carry on playing and see where the whole thing takes me!