Four Ways ARC Raiders Could Level Up: My Wishlist After the Tech Test

 

 As my last post indicates, I’m excited for ARC Raiders after having a fabulous time in the recent tech test. And as often happens when I get excited about games I wasn’t previously following, my head fills with ideas about how the game could improve even further. And when that happens—my blogging activity picks up pace!

Idea 1: Add a Gadget Slot

 ARC Raiders includes gadget-like items such as binoculars, which have useful but relatively low-value functions. However, since they take up a full inventory slot, they're often among the first things discarded—or not even considered in the first place.

 If the game added a dedicated gadget slot for items like binoculars, it would increase their value and usability. These items would no longer compete for valuable loot slots, allowing players to enjoy their benefits without sacrifice. Ideally, this slot would remain limited to simple gadgets like binoculars, and not include rare or powerful gear.

Idea 2: Let Us Upgrade Our Crowbar

 One of the signature items every Raider carries is their crowbar. Doors, probes, fallen ARC robots, lockers, chests, electrical cabinets—you name it, and Raiders are busting it open with their crowbar (other Raiders' skulls included). The crowbar is so important that you always have it on you by default, without needing to equip it. You also don’t lose it when you die—a rare design decision in an extraction shooter.

 There are even skills in the trees that affect how fast you can loot and break into things. It feels like a missed opportunity that these effects weren’t moved into an upgrade system for the crowbar instead. If crowbars could be upgraded, and those upgrades dropped on death like other gear, it would add an extra layer of risk and reward.

Idea 3: Let Us Bring Scrappy With Us

 I love the concept of Scrappy—the lovable, loot-gathering chicken who’s become the de facto mascot of ARC Raiders. He passively collects materials and lets players retrieve them through the workshop menu. This system ensures players always have a cache of basic materials (and rarer ones as Scrappy levels up).

 But wouldn’t it be awesome if you could switch Scrappy to an active mode where he follows you around on raids and gathers items at a faster rate? Imagine walking into a room and seeing another raider’s Scrappy picking through scraps. Upon spotting you, he squawks a loud BAWK and scrambles off, alerting you to where his owner might be but also having alerted everyone else to your arrival.

 Once he’s loaded up, you could send Scrappy off to extract, even as you continue exploring. But if another Raider catches him before extraction, they could pop him like a loot pinata. Or maybe that Scrappy is just bait. Part alarm system, part loot chicken, and maybe even a clever trap—it’s honestly a brilliant concept.

Idea 4: A Shared Social Hub

 Currently, everything in Speranza—the underground home of the Raiders—is accessed through menus. Visiting your workshop? Menu. Visiting traders? Menu. Forming a group? Menu. Meanwhile, in the background of the main menu, there's a beautiful, animated scene of a bar or shop with characters walking around, announcements playing, and life happening. It hints at a real depth of character in Speranza.

 So why not let us explore it? Turn Speranza into a shared social hub and housing area!

 I get that some players just want to jump from one raid to the next, and might get bored walking from one crafting station to another. But for those of us who enjoy social connections and showing off our accomplishments, a shared space would be fantastic.

 In fact, I’d argue that adding housing or a social hub could take ARC Raiders to the next level—which would be impressive, considering the buzz it's already generating. Plus, this is an extraction game. What’s better than extracting with an amazing reward you can permanently display to other players?

 And seriously—who looks at the stunning background of the main menu and doesn’t want to walk into that world and interact with the characters? Who watches the pre-raid “walking” loading screen and doesn’t wish they could walk there themselves?

 Maybe it’s just the MMORPG player in me wanting more from the game than just the raids—but I truly believe ARC Raiders would be even more awesome if Speranza were a place we could explore.

 

Note: this post was edited with the help of AI (ChatGPT). The thoughts are my own.  The grammatical correctness is the AI. Curious what edits were made? See ChatGPT's explanation below.

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Explanation of Edits from ChatGPT

Here are the main types of edits I made:

1. Punctuation and Sentence Structure

   • Replaced semicolons and misplaced commas with proper punctuation to clarify sentence flow.

   • Broke up run-on sentences for easier readability.

   • Used em dashes (—) to emphasize interruptions or thoughts for a conversational tone.

2. Grammar and Word Choice

   • Corrected small grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement and verb tense.

   • Refined wordiness in places (e.g., “the higher level you upgrade Scrappy” → “as Scrappy levels up”).

3. Clarity and Consistency

   • Clarified ambiguous phrasing like “they are getting the benefits from them” to something cleaner like “allowing players to enjoy their benefits.”

   • Made style consistent (e.g., italicizing game titles like ARC Raiders).

4. Tone Preservation

   • Maintained your enthusiastic, personal voice. You use rhetorical questions and humor effectively, so I left those intact while improving grammar around them.

 

 

ARC Raiders is something different

 I recently participated in the Tech Test 2 for ARC Raiders, and I walked away wanting more. I haven’t had a game ignite a desire to keep playing like this since I picked up New World years ago. ARC Raiders is something different!

 ARC Raiders is an extraction shooter where you play as a raider entering a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by ARC—robots hellbent on killing you—with the goal of scavenging items and returning (i.e., extracting) to your underground home. Of course, ARC robots aren’t your only concern; other players are also hunting for loot, and what better source than your dead body? If you die, you lose your stuff—both equipped gear and any loot. Thus goes the loop of an extraction shooter: loot and extract, or die.

 ARC Raiders makes some changes to the formula to soften the sting of death. In standard play, you have a number of safe pockets in your pack. Anything stored in those safe pockets will be retained, regardless of whether you extract successfully. This ensures you can walk away with something, even if the run goes sideways.

 Secondly, ARC Raiders offers the concept of “free loadouts.” When you opt for a freebie, you load into the world with a random set of basic gear: a gun, some bullets, and a few consumables like bandages. This lets you jump in and play even if you’re out of resources—or if you just want a quick run without risking valuable gear. I found this mode especially helpful after a bad string of deaths. It let me rebuild my supplies so I could gear back up for more serious raids. It’s also a great option if you only have a few minutes to play and want a shot at some loot. Worst case, you lose a little time—but at zero resource cost.

 The resources you extract from a raid can be used in crafting stations or traded with vendors. Items can also be recycled into other materials or sold for coin. Crafting stations are upgradeable, which of course requires increasingly better materials at each level. Vendors sell a variety of items for coin. Whether you craft your way there or trade your way there, resources let you gear up for your next raid. Sadly, there is no player-to-player trading.

 You might think other players are your biggest concern, but the ARC robots are no joke. Every ARC enemy needs to be approached thoughtfully. For example, the Snitch may seem harmless—until you miss your shot and it has time to call in backup. Now you’re fighting multiple ARCs. Ignored that skittering noise in the next room? Now you’ve got a face-hugging Tick to deal with!

 The ARC robots also get big. The Queen was the ultimate boss of the tech test—a giant, spider-like machine that required coordination and often multiple groups of raiders to bring down (that is, assuming players could resist killing each other long enough to cooperate). There are even rumors of a bigger threat—the King—awaiting players in the launch version. If you paid attention on the Buried City map, you could see massive walker ARCs off in the distance just outside the map's boundary.

 As should be obvious, care must be taken every step of the way during a raid. Make too much noise, and you’ll attract ARCs—or worse, alert other players. Got a quest to collect parts from a fallen ARC? You’ll need a plan for how to take one down and loot the components safely. Then you’ll need an extraction plan.

 Extracting in ARC Raiders is a tense sequence of events. First, you press a button to call an elevator or train. Next comes an excruciating wait for it to arrive. Then you have to board and activate it. To ratchet up the intensity, alarms and announcements blare across the area, alerting other players and ARCs to the extraction attempt. Escaping by the skin of your teeth is an amazing feeling! Just watch this video where my teammate escapes with 0:00 left on the clock among a very chaotic extraction point! It was in that moment I knew ARC Raiders was a game worth waiting for.

 Fortunately, just like the free loadouts and safe pockets, there’s another mechanic that reduces some of the pressure typical in extraction phase: raider hatches. These are scattered across the map and can be accessed if you have a raider hatch key. Since they’re less frequented and require a key, there’s a better chance of using one without attracting attention. Only once did I run into another player trying to use the same raider hatch as my team—while nearly every normal extraction via elevator or train was contested.

 Extractions aren’t the only source of tension during a raid. Every sound is a clue. Cracking open a locker? The metallic crunch will echo down the hallway. Jump on a zipline? That ziiiipppp will travel far. If it’s raining, footsteps are muffled and harder to hear. The scream of a probe crash-landing will get your attention—and that of nearby players. Most ARCs announce their presence with distinctive sounds. There’s no mistaking when certain ARCs are nearby. The brrrrtttt of the Bastion’s chain guns is as unforgettable as it is terrifying.

 Visuals add to the tension, too. Flocks of birds will scatter when you walk by, revealing your location. Puffs of dust rise from the sand near corners. When a raider goes down, a flare shoots skyward—or ricochets around indoors. ARC robots often wear armor that visually flies off as you damage them, exposing weak points. Shoot one of the Wasp’s four rotors and it will careen wildly, trying to regain balance on the remaining three.

 Visuals also serve as escape tools. You can literally vanish into brush or shadows. The game looks amazing at every step, and every visual plays a role in the immersion. The look and feel of this game are stunning.  To go with that performance was buttery smooth for me the entire test (consistent 100+ FPS with no issues).

 Amazing visuals and sound design set the table, and the combat and gunplay serve the main course. The game is a third-person, over-the-shoulder shooter similar to Battlefront 2 or Once Human. I personally prefer this to first-person shooters. This perspective lets you peek around corners and spot threats like those annoying Tick ARCs sneaking up on you. When you loot something, you aren’t locked into staring at a wall—you can stay aware of your surroundings. All of this helps soften the sting of ARC Raiders being an extraction shooter where you could lose everything at any moment.

 A lot of attention to detail has gone into ARC Raiders, and it all comes together in an incredible experience. For a tech test, I was blown away. It felt more like a complete, functional game—one I’d argue is ready for release. I’d play the heck out of it with just the maps, modes, and gear available in the test.

 

Note: this post was edited with the help of AI (ChatGPT). The thoughts are my own.  The grammatical correctness is the AI.

We need to talk about Camelot Unchained

Folks, we need to talk about Camelot Unchained.  Many moons ago I was a Dark Ages of Camelot (DAoC) fanboy. Mythic Entertainment (later gobbled up by EA) could do no wrong.  Mark Jacobs leading Mythic Entertainment at the time was the voice of reason in MMO developers at the time.  Micro transitions? No.  Free to play? No. Real money trading? He hunted it down.  Mark could do no wrong in a younger heartlessgamer's eyes 

Then Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR) happened.  I donned the fanboy suit again.  I battled in the online trenches for WAR.  For Mark.  But it went sideways when EA gobbled up Mythic and WAR struggled to find an audience.  Mark Jacobs exited and in 2011 showed up on Kickstarter with the spiritual successor to DAoC called Camelot Unchained.  He collected my money and I waited. And waited.  I am still waiting.

In that time waiting a lot of things happened.  I am not here to dredge them all up but needless to say Mark Jacobs lost a lot of trust with the community.  He lost me.  I stopped caring about the game I had funded.  Then there are refund controversies, misleading updates, and the debacle with the studio launching an entirely different game while we are all still waiting on the game we funded over ten years ago!   But through all of the turbulence Unchained Entertainment pressed on with Camelot Unchained.

And finally we have a video with some of the results. The closest we've gotten to a real look at the game that has been in development for over a decade!  Watch it below. 

What do you think?  Looks dated for a game in 2025 right? Not only do visuals look dated but animations seem stiff.  Combat seems pretty static.  Nothing in the video screams "new video game in the year 2025".

Yet I can't help but admit a tiny thread of optimism in seeing an actual game.  I never expected Camelot Unchained to be a World of Warcraft killer.  I knew it was never destined to be a AAA game.  It was going to be a boutique experience; just as Stars Reach is Raph Koster's spiritual successor to Star Wars Galaxies so was Camelot Unchained going to be Mark Jacobs successor to DAoC.  Give me decent combat, an open world, and Realm vs Realm and I'll have some fun.

I'm glad we're at the stage where its realistic to think there is a release coming for Camelot Unchained.  It may be too little too late and Mark may have buried the hatchet too deep in the communities backs, but hey at least I may get a chance to say I gave the game a try. 

Note: I've given up paying close attention to the game so if there is other info about release or testing; feel free to drop the info in the comments.

50 word /r/fantasywriters challenge: Honey and Lies

 Something I've gotten into recently is completing some writing prompts.  On the /r/fantasywriters subreddit there is an ongoing weekly challenge to write a 50 word (or less) blurb featuring a specific word.  I just chimed in on the "honey" thread with this entry:

The man before Fritz was gaunt; hungry. Fritz worked through his pockets and pulled out a small honey fruit. He held his hand out to the stranger. "Take it."

Timid, the stranger reached out.

Fritz's motion was quick. The strike painless as the stranger collapsed in front of him.

 Another prompt I participated in was "Lie"; my entry:

Lie? Lie! I didn't lie. You lied.

Anger swelled as I fell to my knees before the ghastly visage. A dust cloud rose as my hands braced against the sandy cave floor. Cold air pressed against my skin, and the dampness of the cave settled.

The voice echoed:

"Liar..."

 If this interests you feel free to drop by and leave your own.  New prompts drop on Fridays.

Waiting for ARC Raiders

 I have more thoughts I want to share on my experience in the recent ARC Raiders tech test, but now that the test is over it has me waiting... waiting bad.  I am going to love the heck out of this game at it's launch.

 

Last second extraction miracle in ARC Raiders

 I've been playing the ARC Raiders tech test for the last day and loving every moment of it (well almost every moment).  In a this-memory-will-stay-with-me moment I witnessed a teammate who barely missed our first extraction hit the afterburner and hustle his way to the final extraction point and make it, literally, with zero seconds left.  And since the game is kind enough to let teammates spectate I was able to capture the event in this video.

April 2025 in Review

  April has come and gone and we are rapidly approaching this blog's 20 year anniversary later in May!  But before we look forward let's check back in on April.

The Blog

Blogger stats for April: 33,990 (note: below graph includes May dates and is missing Apr dates)

 

In other metrics:

• Posts:
  
• Target: 0
• Posted: 4
• Difference: +4 (Have been doing other stuff than gaming or blogging so 4 is a win)
•  Search Trends
• "Discord Install Failed: Can't find PresentationCore 4.0.0.0" and my post in regards to my trials and tribulations with this Discord install bug gained traction in April so I assume there was some sort of Discord issue (I also noticed my Reddit post on the bug gained some new comments).  Read more about it: Discord Install Failed
  
• "new world PvP server" overtook searches for my frigid inferno build even though I only have my one post about the PvP servers before they launched.
• "new world frigid dawn" and related searches continued for my heavy armor flamethrower build for New World: Frigid Inferno build page
• "best battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games","what is the best battlefield game" continues to stay strong driving traffic to my post Best Battlefield!?
• "once human end game" was also a top click getter this month even though I've not posted or played Once Human anytime recently (nor do I have any plans to return) 
  

What I Played

I didn't play New World at all in April.  Actually I didn't play any game in April until the ARC Raiders tech test came out on April 30th.  So really I didn't play anything in April.

With that said; I freaking loved my time in the ARC Raiders tech test so expect more blog content on it in the near future!

Years Ago

1 Year Ago

In April of 2024 I was testing Pax Dei in it's Wilderness Alpha phase.  I enjoyed my time in the test but the game was a long, long ways away from being a game worth considering.  Unfortunately it still launched into a form of early access and it has all but died off as a game of interest for me.

The Fallout TV show was also causing a ton of buzz and all of the Fallout games saw spikes in player numbers. 

We also got to enjoy a partial eclipse in our area.

And last but not least; one of my most trafficked and searched for posts of all time was posted in April of 2024: Best Battlefield!?

5 Years Ago

April 2020 featured no blog posts.

10 Years Ago

In April 2015 one of my favorite Battlefield games, Battlefield Heroes, announced it was ending service.  I still miss that game.

We also got a gem of a post from Raph Koster going into the depths of Star Wars Galaxies development.  If you have any interest in the history of MMORPGs this is 100% worth the read.

15 Years Ago

In April of 2010 I was getting used to the idea of playing video games on a tablet device.  Amazing to look back all of these years later and find it funny now to question playing video games on a tablet or mobile device.  Ironically I still do not own a tablet of any sort. 

April of 2010 also marked the start of info drops for Guild Wars 2 (post 1, post 2).  Guild Wars 2 is still trucking along!

And while 10 years ago in April we learned that Battlefield Heroes was shutting down, 15 years ago in April we were excited about Heroes getting new maps and game modes!

 20 Years Ago

I started blogging in 2005 but not until May so come back in May for the big 2 0 extravaganza.  Oh wait; it's MAY 20 FREAKING 25!  OMG! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

 

The what is available!?

 Here's a headline that I didn't expect to see today: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is available now.

“The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered modernises the 2006 Game of the Year with all-new stunning visuals and refined gameplay,” reads the game’s description.

“Every single asset in the game was recreated from scratch,” claims developer Virtuos.

 I played a bit of Oblivion back in the day and enjoyed it for a moment, but it didn't catch me for any length of time.  The game is available on Steam so maybe I'll have to give it a peak but I am going to wait for the early reviews to come in.

"This is so 1990s cringe and I love every second of it."

 As stolen from the top comment on the Reddit thread: "This is so 1990s cringe and I love every second of it."

 

Digging New Ground

I'm now officially a Groundbreaker for the resurrection of Digg.

https://groundbreakers.digg.com/u/9446b171

https://groundbreakers.digg.com/u/9446b171