Arc Raiders is a co-op sci-fi robot-shooter arriving next year
Developers Embark Studios are led by a former EA exec
I almost missed the trailer for Arc Raiders during The Game Awards, but quickly found the tab it was playing in as soon as I heard Robyn's Dancing On My Own. What a fab tune for a game trailer! Arc Raiders looks alright - it's a free-to-play third-person shooter in which you and a squad of mates fight evil robots, and it's coming out in 2022. Check out the vid below (if only to listen to a proper bop).
Arc Raiders is the first game from developers Embark Studios, which was set up by former EA executive Patrick Söderlund (notably, he was CEO of Dice, who make Battlefield). In it, you'll join a group of Raiders and battle Arc, nasty bots from space.
From the looks of the trailer, we'll be scavenging and shooting our way through lotsa drones in vast alien landscapes. I'm seeing a lot of concrete, and a lot of desert, which is a little boring for new sci-fi. I'd like to see a bit more colour and weirdness, though I'll reserve judgement until closer to Arc's release.
The game's website offers a little bit of info about the characters we'll get to play as, and the enemies we'll face. I'm a big fan of the Rollerbot, who is described as "a vicious ball of pain". And yeah, it does just look like a metallic ball with extra bits.
At the very least, I reckon this'll be a nice one to add to my "upcoming co-op games to muck about in" list. Arc Raiders is heading to Steam and the Epic Games Store, as well as PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, sometime next year.
We stayed up late to cover the PC gaming news at the marketing extravaganza: hit our The Game Awards tag for everything, or skip to Every trailer at The Game Awards 2021.