Like most who played the recent Tech Test 2 for ARC Raiders (2025) in late April of this year, the weeks without raiding the surface of the Rust Belt have been painful. ARC Raiders was truly some of the most fun I have had playing a multiplayer shooter in years.

In all, the Tech Test lasted about 120 hours, and I managed to play just over half of that time, with roughly 62 hours in total. On my third day of streaming ARC Raiders (on twitch.tv/GameswithDeath, by the way. Feel free to drop a follow, appreciate it.) and after praising the game for the hundredth time, a viewer asked, “What do you like about this game so much?” I read the question and sat silent for no short amount of time; I was eventually forced to confess that I didn’t know how to answer their question.

While I could blame a lack of sleep for my non-answer, I still had a hard time formulating a response, days later. ARC Raiders is an extremely fun game—it may be the most fun I have had playing a video game this decade, definitely this year—but why? What was it about this game that was hitting so right? After watching the now infamous IGN ARC Raiders Preview video, I’ve found my answer.

For the unaware, a few weeks ago IGN released a preview of ARC Raiders that was, let’s say, not well received. Some commenters described it as a ‘hit piece’ paid for by Bungie, who has stumbled out of the gate with their new extraction shooter, Marathon (2025). Leaving aside conspiracy theories, the preview didn't fawn over ARC Raiders as the rest of the community had, calling it, “the most ‘it’s fine’ game we’ve played in a while.”

While I disagree with the unnecessarily sarcastic tone used by Jared Petty, the author of the preview, he is correct; ARC Raiders is “…unabashedly tied to its progenitors” and isn’t doing anything new.

Many of ARC Raiders' mechanics are similar to mechanics that have been utilized in extraction shooters and battle royales for years: complex inventory systems, progressive missions, and resource-generating hideouts are drawn straight from Escape from Tarkov (2017); the third-person gunplay harkens back to Fortnite (2018); the shield system and some of the movement mechanics are identical to Apex Legends (2019); and even the passive skill tree has some abilities that are the same in Hunt: Showdown (2018).

While it is valid to point out what ARC Raiders has in common with its influences, it's wrong to suggest that these similarities are simply unimaginative imitation. ARC Raiders doesn't shine because it is copying the best of what came before; it shines because it is doing all of these things well, all at once.

Despite being around for almost a full decade now, the extraction shooter genre has yet to see its ‘killer app.’ Escape from Tarkov, Hunt: Showdown, and Dark and Darker (2024) are the genre’s most successful examples, but none of these have seen widespread adoption beyond a core fanbase.

All of these games have also been plagued by problems ranging from shoddy development, rampant cheating, unreliable servers, poor quality-of-life, questionable UI design, IP disputes, horrible sound design, dubious marketing practices, and any number of bugs that have not been fixed in years.

In contrast, my experience with ARC Raiders was nearly flawless. Forming a group was painless. I never had to worry about servers or ping, and loading into a match was nearly instant. In-game, the gunplay was gritty and intense; hit registration felt great; the sound design was incredible; directional audio was accurate; and the AI was unique and terrifying.

The maps are massive and detailed, with elevations I have never seen in a multiplayer game before. My computer never dropped below 180 fps on maximum settings, even on the game’s largest map, Spaceport, which is larger than any Hunt map and Streets of Tarkov combined.

ARC Raiders tweaks the mechanics it has borrowed to fit its own flow: Energy shields cut incoming damage, but are not an extra health bar. They lengthen the time-to-kill without turning foes into indestructible bullet sponges; portable zip lines let you create flanking paths up to the game's skyscraper-sized structures, so the level design can go far more vertical than most shooters.

Not everything was perfect, of course; a selection wheel for equipment is cumbersome and unnecessary for PC, the inventory management needs more refinement, and there are balancing issues with weapons like the Torrente and Anvil.

Yet, in my sixty hours of playtime, the game only crashed once, and I got stuck in some geometry for a minute or two. There will be issues as the game evolves, but overall, ARC Raiders was as technically perfect as any game I have ever played, and this was during a so-called ‘Tech Test.’

Until now, being involved in extraction shooters has meant putting aside reasonable demands for baseline quality and, I'll say it, your self-respect as a consumer. For nearly a decade, being a fan of this genre has felt like ordering the best cut of steak in a restaurant, only to be told that you have to eat it in the back alley, in the rain, next to a dumpster. Finally, there's a place that not only wants us to eat inside, but in the VIP section with some first-class service. 

Unlike those of us willing to debase ourselves, there is more than just the user experience hurdles one must overcome to get that sweet extraction shooter adrenaline rush. The casual shooter fan has innate dislike of the genre's format because it abandons the traditional power-fantasy formula, typical of franchises like Call of Duty and Halo.

Instead of making the player feel like an unstoppable hero, they start them weak, make them work for every upgrade, and punish mistakes by taking those hard-earned rewards away. That constant fear of losing gear feels brutal—especially to players used to the instant gratification provided by traditional shooters.

This is the reason why no extraction shooter has crossed into the mainstream, in spite of the compelling experiences they deliver. Even as more studios invest in the genre, it remains to be seen if a mainstream breakout will ever happen, but if it is ever going to, we need a flagship game that finally respects its players and has the polish to make it appealing.

In fairness to Mr. Petty, his preview is useful, even important. It is clear that he doesn't play these types of games regularly. His gameplay experience on a rig struggling with Unreal 5, reflects what many casual players will face. Unlike cel-shaded, low-spec titles such as Overwatch (2016), Fortnite, and Marvel Rivals (2024), ARC Raiders demands real horsepower; seeing it through his hardware bottleneck and inexperience is a valuable reality check, not just for the developers, but for those of us who want to promote the genre beyond its current boundaries.

I already know what genre die-hards, like myself, think; what matters is how the uninitiated casual audience, like Mr. Petty, will react once the game is fully released. Embark is targeting this audience, backing the game with full PS5 and Xbox support. The casual experience is something that the developers will need to get right if they want ARC Raiders, and the extraction shooter genre at large, to be fully realized.

To finally answer the question about why this game is so good, I'll just say that ARC Raiders is an extraction shooter that may not be doing much new, except for the most fundamental thing any game should—it just works as fucking intended! It is the first game that finally has a real chance of realizing the genre’s promise, something I've been hoping for, for nearly a decade.

I patiently await its release.💀