When ARC Raiders was initially announced by Embark Studios, it immediately generated a lot of attention from fans of co-op shooters. The game, set in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi world, was initially sold as a third-person, cooperative PvE shooter. Players would assemble teams to resist relentless robot conquerors called ARC, in a world laid to waste by previous wars and technological failure.
In this article, we will find out if ARC Raiders is PvE or PvP. Keep reading till the end to find out.
Is ARC Raiders PvE or PvP?
But as development continued, ARC Raiders saw a major change in design philosophy. In May 2023, Embark Studios announced that the game would no longer be purely PvE. Rather, it would become a PvPvE (Player vs Player vs Environment) survival extraction shooter. This genre shift changed what players could look forward to, introducing a whole new level of complexity and player-generated tension.
In its present form, there’s still exploration of the battered surface of the planet Calabretta for resources and tech while avoiding lethal ARC machines. But now, the actual challenge isn’t merely the AI foes. You can either compete against or cooperate with other human groups, all vying to pick up loot and survive in the same unforgiving environment. This survival-extraction aspect brings in strategic choice regarding when to interact with other people or stay away from a fight altogether.
Embark Studios described that the shift stemmed from internal testing that showed the combination of PvE and PvP interactions created the gameplay more engaging and unpredictable. In the opinion of the creators, blending those aspects made the missions feel more significant, in which every decision could result in great rewards or instant loss.
Though most players are interested in this new path, the transition hasn’t been controversy-free. Some long-time fans who were looking forward to a clean co-op PvE game were dissatisfied with the introduction of PvP. Issues include griefing potential and an increased learning curve for new players. Some players have requested an opt-in PvE-only mode to run alongside the existing PvPvE system, but to date, there has been no official confirmation of such a mode.
The developers are still intent on bringing a refined PvPvE experience, though. They’ve been gathering player feedback from early tests and seem intent on polishing balance and gameplay systems before the full release of the game, set for 2025. ARC Raiders will initially release on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, with further updates to come in the months ahead.