Death's Review on Signalis: A Classic Survival Horror Fix "Signalis is a Memorable Indie Gem with Plenty of Nostalgia for '90s Survival Horror" Jan 24, 2024 5 Mins by Death [THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS] The survival horror genre has changed incredibly since its birth in the late 80s and early 90s. Game design that used to make players afraid and helpless has given way to COD-like mechanics and action movie sequences. When playing the latest entry into this relatively still-popular genre, players feel more like Captain Price than Jill Valentine. Signalis , released in October of 2022 by rose-engine , tries to recapture survival horror's origins by blending anime, cyberpunk, and classic game design. The result is a haunting story of suffering, devotion, and existential terror. In Signalis , you play as Elster, an LSTR Replika unit. Replikas are reproducible automatons created for military use by an unnamed Orwellian nation. Elster wakes up after a disaster on her crashed ship and finds that her crewmates are either missing or dead. The only clue she has about her crew's fate is a faded photograph of her missing partner, Ariane, who is also a Replika unit, and some documents scattered around the ship. Armed with nothing else, Elster sets out to find Ariane, no matter the cost. Signalis' story is presented in a disjointed manner and is very open to interpretation. The game conveys the narrative through documents and characters that Elster encounters. Players unfamiliar with text-based storytelling, which is very common in indie games, should understand there's a lot of reading to do in Signalis . Players may be tempted to skip reading most of what they find, but the lore plays an essential role in the gameplay; more on this later. The game contains plenty of cut scenes and first-person segments to break up the isometric view and long stretches of text. These scenes are welcome respites and nicely move the overall story of Signalis along. Familiarity with German and Japanese will also help players make more sense of what they see. Even with these various mediums, Signalis' story is very disjointed, and there is very little that the player can rest on to make sense of what is happening. This is not to say that this method of storytelling is detrimental to the experience; quite the contrary. For a survival horror game aiming to make the player feel uncomfortable and not in control, the story's confusion adds to the experience rather than detracting from it. Players experience Elster's struggle, fear, and doubt alongside her. They do not just watch Elster; they inhabit her. The story is supported by the atmosphere created by the game's graphics, art direction, sound design, and gameplay. Signalis' graphics are gruesome and visceral. Despite being a so-called 2.5D game, the small, low-resolution three-dimensional sprites still illicit fear and repulsion. This speaks to the expertise of the game’s development team that Signalis can do so much with so little. For those looking to get the whole retro experience, a CRT mode is available, replicating the look of a 90s-era monitor. Signalis boasts an impressive musical score that heightens the tension in enemy encounters and creates an oppressive atmosphere overall. The masterfully composed score perfectly accompanies the game's themes of futility, terror, and struggle, with its tempo and tone never feeling out of place. There are also some beautiful ambient post-rock moments at the sparsely distributed save points, reminiscent of those similar moments of comfort in past Resident Evil games. Of all the factors contributing to the Signalis' impact, none does so more than the gameplay. A bit of history about the survival horror genre will serve to understand why this is so. The inventory is painfully small, as is survival horror tradition. Courtesy of Humble Games and Playism. Survival Horror became popular in the late 80s and into the 90s, pioneered by games like Sweet Home (1989), Resident Evil (1996), and Parasite Eve (1998), with Resident Evil being the big breakout hit. The original game sold over 2.75 million copies alone. The genre continues to be highly influential today with ongoing franchises like Resi dent Evil , Outlast (1999), The Evil Within (2014), The Last of Us (2013) , and Silent Hill (1999) (which has no less than three sequels currently in the works). The hallmark of the early survival horror genre was giving players a limited supply of weapons and ammo and pitting them against terrifying and powerful enemies. When these early games were released, hardware and game development were still in their infancy compared to what gamers would expect today. The lack of graphical fidelity, responsive game engines, and design capabilities made for a rough gaming experience, to say the least. Current-day survival horror games, such as Resident Evil 8: Village (2021), still feature tense gameplay interspersed with puzzles and limited ammo; however, they differ significantly in the player's controls. While a game like The Last of Us has tight and intuitive controls, early survival horror games had some of the worst controls that have ever been seen in gaming. But these inadequate controls were central to the experience. During tense moments of combat, players would not only be fighting against the enemy but frantically struggling to aim their weapons and manage their inventory, often failing in the attempt. Only once these controls were mastered did the game begin to feel conquerable and rewarding, and only to those willing to suffer through the brutal learning curves. In Signalis , rose-engine leans heavily into this classic control approach. The art design of Signalis conveys a tense and desolate atmosphere. Courtesy of Humble Games and Playism. Combat is challenging to master. Clunky controls often make it hard to shoot precisely or reload quickly. Elster's aiming/turning can be painfully slow, evident when multiple enemies are approaching from different directions. Even if the player manages to point a loaded weapon at an enemy, the shot may or may not kill the target. Combat is always a risky affair in Signalis . The inventory is limited to only six slots for equipment, weapons, ammo, and crucial quest items. This system forces players to make choices based on their desired objectives. Since there's no way to drop and retrieve items later, except in their stash, players may need to use or destroy less essential items to make room for important quest items. This requires conscious foresight to avoid clogging the inventory at crucial moments. The save system is a classic point-save file system, with only a few save rooms per area. To avoid losing valuable progress, players must save frequently and often. Forgetting to do so could mean the loss of twenty to thirty minutes worth of work. The result of all these factors is a combat system that feels unreliable, cumbersome, and even feeble... as it should be in a classic survival horror game. In Signalis ' later stages, muscle memory kicks in, and players become more comfortable controlling Elster. Accordingly, ammo counts rise, and the game's rewarding enemy encounters become more frequent. The only shortcoming in the game is the need for more indicators of what to do next. There is a lot of backtracking in Signalis . Since some enemies can regenerate after being defeated, players are forced into a playstyle that aims to avoid enemies instead of fighting them. It can be a little difficult to find your way in Signalis. Courtesy of Humble Games and Playism. The game boasts puzzles of varying degrees of difficulty, ranging from evident to 'Am I smart enough to do this?' The puzzles are cleverly intertwined with the game's fragmented story, so players should pay close attention to the information available in the surrounding environment if they want to progress. Signalis has some replay value. There are multiple endings, which depend on the number of enemies killed and the time taken to complete the game. A basic playthrough on the default difficulty will take around ten to fifteen hours, and this reviewer spent twelve and a half hours completing one ending. Signalis captures the tension and fear of facing one's ineptitude while holding off an onslaught of powerful enemies, a feeling classic survival horror games did uniquely well. All aspects of the game come together to tell a story of fear, despair, and defiance. Signalis is a throwback to an era of games when the genre was more interested in providing a genuine and terrifying gaming challenge than appealing to broader market trends. It is highly recommended for survival horror fans, especially those nostalgic about the genre's past. Note: A previous version of this review appeared on slayawaywithus.com on 19 Jan 2023. Signalis 2022 Share Send Send Send Send Track Name 00:00 / 01:04 Link Copied! A Classic Survival Horror Fix Signalis is a Memorable Indie Gem with Plenty of Nostalgia for '90s Survival Horror Review

Death's Impressions on ARC Raiders: It Just ****in’ Works "ARC Raiders carries the hopes of a stunted and underestimated genre" May 26, 2025 7 Mins by Death 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. Thankfully, Mrs. Death was away during the Tech Test. 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). Every location was incredibly beautiful and fully optimized. 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. Like most things, ARC Raiders is better with friends. 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. The visuals add to the satisfying combat. 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. I made friends with the first two players I encountered... the dude on the right didn't make it. 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. Performance issues on low-end hardware could kill the experience for many players. (Source: IGN ARC Raiders Preview, "ARC Raiders Is the Most ‘It’s Fine’ Game We’ve Played in a While") 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.💀 ARC Raiders 2025 Share Send Send Send Send Track Name 00:00 / 01:04 Link Copied! It Just ****in’ Works ARC Raiders carries the hopes of a stunted and underestimated genre Impressions

Death's Opinion on Warhammer: This is Dumb... "The Real Allure of Warhammer" Sep 26, 2024 15 Mins by Death The fourth season of The Boys (2019- ) introduced a new character named Sage ( Susan Heyward ). Sage's superpower is being the most intelligent person on earth. While her power sounds fantastic, it has a dark side. As the most brilliant person ever to exist, Sage has no equal. While she can outthink anyone and dominate those around her, she is also very much alone. The first appearance of Sage in Season 4 of The Boys. Source: amazon.com. Being the only person this intelligent also means no one else can understand her. Sage has no one she can talk to as an equal or help her carry the burden of her realizations. Sage's world is also a very dull place. Nothing is new or exciting because she has most likely thought of everything before. Sage is a prisoner of her mind, destined to yell into the void of stupidity around her unless she finds a way out. Ever had that kind of day? Source: amazon.com To create this escape, Sage regularly lobotomizes herself and engages in some recreational debauchery. Sage is like many of us. Who hasn't just needed something that allows them not to think, if only for a few hours? Luckily, as sci-fi/fantasy fans, we don't need to resort to the extreme of self-lobotomizing... ...not when we have Warhammer. This is fine. (in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II) Source: focus-entmt.com. Now, some of you may think you know where I am going with this. But I want to be clear: I am about to argue that being into Warhammer is the same as getting a lobotomy. Before you flame me in the comments, I also want to say Warhammer is the dumbest fucking thing I have ever seen. Its design is uninspired; its art style is weird and scatterbrained; its world is depressing and absurd; and its fans are incomprehensible. Yet, I'm fucking obsessed with it. Like a lot of you, my first encounter with Warhammer was walking by a Games Workshop store at my local mall. I vividly recall the hideous yellow and red signage assaulting my eyes. I was curious about what was inside, but I never made it through the door. I was always freaked out by the awkward attempt at human contact from the proto-incel standing out front would make. Early Space Marines look like something out of Toy Story (1995). Source: warhammer.com Despite being aware of Games Workshop for years, I had never looked at a physical Warhammer figurine until my nephew showed me a Space Marine he was painting. At first, I couldn’t take it seriously. I have always been a sci-fi/fantasy fan, but I really didn’t know what I was looking at. It seemed like a plastic green army guy from way back in the day or a G.I. Joe action figure, but it looked like someone joined it with a toaster and some football shoulder pads. “Is this a tank, or is this a person?” I thought. “How is this guy supposed to move in this armor?” Who designed this, GWAR? GWAR is to Metal, as Warhammer is to little painted figurines. Source: IMDB. The look of Warhammer is somewhere between He-Man (1981), Alien (1979), Lord of the Rings (1954), and the local high-school Dungeons & Dragons club, which holds its meetings in an abandoned gothic cathedral . Warhammer could be described as baroque, futuristic, steampunk, cyberpunk, militaristic, or dark fantasy; there really isn’t a look or style that couldn’t fit into its universe in some way. The only rule I can find for how things should look is that everything should be ‘grimdark.’ For the uninitiated, ‘grimdark’ is a unique Warhammer word that comes from the tagline for almost everything associated with the universe, “... for in the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.”[1] The grimdarkness of Warhammer is not your happy place. (Unless, you're like me and it is.) Source: warhammer-community.com The grimdark look is, well, grim and dark. It situates Warhammer firmly in the horror genre despite its childish appeal to young males. At a distance, space marines could be mistaken for a multi-colored collection of Buzz Lightyear toys from Toy Story (1995). But move closer, and you will notice that dark overtones and more sinister details emerge to offset the bright primary colors that first drew you in. Aesthetically, Grimdark is similar to the nightmarish contradictions of a game like Five Nights at Freddy’s (2014), with similar themes of lost innocence and the dark consequences of reaching adulthood. In pulp fiction literature, grimdark is a subgenre of sci-fi/fantasy that is characterized as dystopian, amoral, and violent.[2] This is accurate, as the Warhammer universe is a dark, dangerous, and depressing place. There is no optimism, peaceful coexistence, or hope like in Star Trek . It is a place of cynicism, despair, oppression, superstition, dogma, injustice, and horror. There’s no morality in Warhammer—no deep philosophical questions to ponder. It is a universe free of gray areas since everyone, in some way, is in the black. The first time that someone tried to explain this universe to me, I almost immediately tuned out; I lost track after they attempted to explain a fourth faction they deemed essential for me to know about. There are many entry points to get hooked on in Warhammer, but its massive scale is also intimidating to newcomers. It’s not that there isn’t anything to like in Warhammer; quite the opposite. There’s almost too much. The Warhammer universe is too vast for a single person to comprehend. Source: warhammer40k.fandom.com. Warhammer is an amalgamation of ideas that are, let’s be nice and say, ‘borrowed’ from virtually every other sci-fi/fantasy IP in existence. The Tyranids are clearly the aliens from Alien (1979). The Space Marines were initially inspired by Judge Dredd (1977), with their look evolving into something similar to Master Chief from Halo (2001) and Doomguy from Doom (1993). Warhammer’s theme of a militaristic galactic empire fighting against an invasion of bug-like aliens is straight out of Starship Troopers (1959), not to mention the other empire with a near-immortal god-king, Dune (1965). The Aliens... I mean, Tyranids look awesome. Source: warhammer-community.com. The Warhammer universe exists as a cacophony of lore, games, media, and art styles so massive in scope that no one person can claim to be an expert on everything. Over 600 books outline Warhammer’s official lore, with the literature divided between Warhammer 40,000 , the dystopian science fiction universe set in the 41st millennium, and the Age of Sigmar , a high-fantasy universe featuring gods, magic, and mythical creatures. Movies, literature, magazines, comic books, and webcomics, both fan-made and official, expand the universe even more. There’s even a Disney+-style streaming service called Warhammer+ that features high-quality short films produced in-house by Games Workshop. Of course, there are video games and board games covering several different genres. I am honestly shocked that no Warhammer full-length feature film or television series has been made yet, but if the rumors are true, this is about to change. All of this revolves around a tabletop strategy game, of all things, and forms the basis for a fantasy universe that, by all rights (even copyrights), shouldn’t work. Games Workshop’s shotgun, anything-goes approach to world-building should be falling apart at the seams, considering the difficulties involved in keeping such a vast universe consistent. But, somehow, it does work, and it resonates loudly with those who matter most in any community: its fans. Warhammer fans are noble and pure. Source: www.belloflostsouls.net. I don’t know what to think of Warhammer fans. Until recently, I was not aware I knew anyone who was into Warhammer. Now that I am looking into the universe, I have found that I actually know quite a few. I know my recent awareness is mostly the Baader-Meinhoff phenomenon at work (i.e., the tendency to notice something more often once you become aware of it, even though it was always there to begin with). Still, Warhammer fandom is not as talked about as others; Star Trek fans never shut the fuck up about how good and pure their universe is; you can’t swing a lightsaber in a McDonald’s without hitting a Star Wars fan, and everyone knows that one Harry Potter fan who can’t keep their Voldemort-was-the-good-guy-all-along theory to themselves, “No one gives a shit, Susan.” Warhammer fans don’t seem to care about their fandom's obscurity; they may even appreciate it. They seem content to exist on the periphery of popular culture, where they can still credibly claim that their fandom is a part of sub-culture, at least for the time being. Before George Lucas publically murdered his legacy by releasing the prequels (still a fucking stupid word, if you ask me) and its subsequent Disneyfication, Star Wars was actually considered part of sub-culture. Sure, it was popular with 'geeks' and kids, people who would go on to make it a permanent part of mainstream culture decades later, but in the early days, Star Wars , the real Star Wars, was known only to insiders. With no internet access, fans had to go further to expand the universe. Source: Creative Commons. These insiders were fans of the movies, like anyone else; the only difference was that they wanted to know more once the credits had rolled. To satiate this desire, they hunted down books, comics, or any other media that the companies, who were profiting off the Star Wars fervor, clamored to sell them. These insiders were few, but you could find them if you knew where to look and if the conditions were right. They could be found in dark basement playrooms, at the back of classrooms, or on the hoods of cars, relaxing with friends. Once they were sure they were among the like-minded, they would trade obscure details about topics like Boba Fett and AT-STs. This was usually done in secret because, while Star Wars was widely considered a fun movie, going further was still not accepted by the mainstream. Going too hard into the dark corners of the universe meant the risk of being labeled as a social outcast. While being a sci-fi/fantasy fan, in general, no longer risks complete social isolation, Warhammer still retains something of this on-the-outside-looking-in feeling that the other franchises lost long ago. You barely know Warhammer is there unless you go looking for it. It’s like a secret society where only members know how to identify other members. It’s the Hydra of popular culture, a sub-culture that exists on the fringes of other universes, whose adherents quietly bide their time painting models, reading the expansive lore, and posting their fan fiction and animations to the internet, all in anticipation of… something. I may not understand Warhammer fans, but I can respect them. This hobby requires time, patience, and even an endurance for derision coming outsiders. I have heard more than a few jokes linking Warhammer to terminal virginity. Of course, this has no basis in actual evidence; there’s even some unignorable evidence to the contrary. The real Emporer of All Mankind, according to Warhammer fans. Source: gamingbible.com. Still, this mockery recalls a time when all of nerd culture was subject to similar scorn before becoming mainstream. Warhammer retains an aura as a subset of nerd culture reserved for only the most hardcore, those willing to forego... other things in pursuit of the hobby. The time and attention Warhammer demands is one of the mechanisms that has kept it out of the mainstream for so long. Metaphorically, Warhammer has remained pure, true... and virgin. Warhammer fans spend countless hours painting their models away from the sun, as the Emperor wills it. Source: warhammer.com Warhammer fans also endure a very unique torture particular to their universe. These fans spend thousands of hours painting overpriced plastic models sold to them by a multinational company with thousands of stores worldwide. Games Workshop does its best to imprison its fans in a system of endless addiction designed to exploit them for as much as possible. The irony that the universe’s lore revolves around the so-called Emporer of all Mankind, who is only kept alive by sacrificing the souls of 1,000 of his followers every day, who in turn are supplied by a ruthless imperial system that demands ceaseless devotion, shouldn’t be lost on anyone. The Emperor of all Mankind. He doesn't look a day over 30,000. Source: Games Workshop. If you ask any dedicated Warhammer fan what they think of Games Workshop, you are bound to hear a long rant about how greedy the company is and how the people who run it are evil incarnate. Immediately after, they will proudly show you their army of Blood Angel Space Marines that they spent countless hours painting and cost them over $2,000; all the while maintaining a straight face, completely aware of the dissonance, and blissfully reconciled to it. Warhammer is the kind of universe that will draw you in like an Aeldari brothel, drain you of all your dignity and money, and then leave you burning on the side of the road with a smile on your face, screaming, “For the Emperor!” Warhammer is ridiculous, weird, borrowed, and absurd. It demands everything of its fans: body, soul, and credit card. Yet, despite this, it proudly blows through the constraints that other universes are too pussy to approach. It doesn’t care what anyone thinks, especially me, and does its thing without apologies… which is why I love it. Warhammer is dumb, absurd, and impossible not to love. Source: ordo-hydra.fandom.com The only way to fully enjoy Warhammer is to accept your lobotomy and submit to its absurdity. If you abandon any preconceived notions about what a sci-fi/fantasy universe should look like or profess, you will find an escapist’s paradise that will leave you happily drooling into your empty wallet. There’s a full-throttle universe here that is full of such sights to show you, if you can get past its atypical exterior, overwhelming scale, and its time commitment. Warhammer is one of the last bastions of true escapism in sci-fi/fantasy that, for now, remains largely untouched by the forces that have destroyed so many other beloved franchises. Make sure you enjoy it while you can. See you on the other side.💀 [1] McNeill, Graham, Nightbringer: 20th Anniversary Edition (The Chronicles of Uriel Ventris: Warhammer 40,000 Book 1) , Kindle Edition, pg. 5. [2] Grimdark , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimdark , accessed 25 Sep 24. Warhammer N/A Share Send Send Send Send Track Name 00:00 / 01:04 Link Copied! This is Dumb... The Real Allure of Warhammer Opinion

Death's Article on ARC Raiders: No, High-End Weapons Do NOT Need to be Buffed "There's a lot Going on with the Weapons in ARC Raiders" Dec 1, 2025 6 Mins by Death PC Gamer released an interesting feature this week titled, “Arc Raiders' basic weapons are way too strong, and it's starting to overshadow even its legendary guns”. In it, the author argues the gear chase is just not satisfying enough and high-tier legendary weapons like the Aphelion are not worth the effort. He concludes, “epics [should] get a slight buff to their overall lethality and durability to give them a tangible edge over their lower-rarity counterparts.” This would be true, if ARC Raiders (2025) were a traditional looter shooter. In other games, weapons generally fall on a curve where higher rarity means more power; but this is not the case in ARC Raiders, especially in PVP. Low-end weapons like the Stitcher, Venator, and Renegade are easy to acquire while legendary weapons like the Equalizer and Jupiter are overly expensive for the relative power they provide. Epic weapons, like the Bettina, seem to lack a real application outside of being every other blueprint found in game. ARC Raiders' weapons are certainly unique. So what is going on here and should Embark just buff the higher-tier weapons as many are suggesting? The current weapon power curve makes little sense, until you realize there’s are actually two power curves at play—one for PVE and another for PVP—which, by design or happy accident, make ARC Raiders a social experiment masquerading as an extraction shooter. Some things only make sense in isolation. The PVE weapon power curve makes sense because ARC Raiders was initially developed as a looter shooter/survival game, PVP was layered on later. Weapon effectiveness against ARC generally follows what is found in the game’s tooltips; Low-end light ammo weapons are less effective against ARC compared to high-end energy ammo weapons, which are highly-effective against ARC; this is a relic from the earlier versions of the game. Makes sense, until you try shoot another raider with energy ammo. The PVP weapon power curve is much different; it peaks sooner, with weapons like the Venator and Renegade, then quickly drops off as you get into the higher-end weapons. Even common weapons like the Stitcher, are extremely effective, with the right upgrades and attachments. These dueling power curves mean players must choose loadouts based on what they find more threatening, ARC or other Raiders. Given ARC Raiders ’ post-apocalyptic trust-no-one narrative is more like The Walking Dead (2010) than it is anything else, this is what one would expect. ARC Raiders has established a gameplay framework where AI enemies, ARC, are almost a dangerous as the other human players; but, this delicate balance has some real vulnerabilities, which are slowly becoming apparent. The tension between these curves is why ARC Raiders is so engaging. One month after launch, players have mostly overcome the ARC learning curve. At launch, ARC were a real threat, because no one knew how to defeat these massive and scary robots. This meant players were more likely to work together, and it wasn’t uncommon for raider to aid one another and cooperate to bring down larger enemies. Now, one month after launch, the ARC problem has mostly been solved. Player cooperation has become extremely rare, with players, choosing to seek out PVP instead. ARC are quickly being been relegated to being an annoyance at most, for players who have put more than 100 hours in the game. The Matriarch still inspires fear, but less so than this first meeting. The lack of ARC threat is why most Queens and Matriarchs go undefeated in duos and trios; the rewards are just not worth it. No one wants to bring 100K worth of gear into the game just to lose it to a free-loadout Andy waiting in the shadows to pounce. Players are demanding PVP buffs to PVE weapons like the Bettina and Equalizer, because the threat they are intended to address is not really a threat anymore. Their demands are a signaling, the only part of the game holding their attention is the PVP. Applying buffs or nerfs so the power curve for all weapons scale is the same no matter the situation, would destroy the delicate interplay between PVP and PVE, which is what makes ARC Raiders so engaging and unpredictable. No, the real solution to keeping high-end gear relevant in ARC Raiders , is to give it a reason to exist. Embark needs buff ARC—and buff them soon. That said, increasing AI power carries unique and consequential risks. Improving AI in ways which feel cheap and transparent, like just adding more damage, a higher rate of fire, or a larger health pool, risk alienating players, as much as an unfulfilling gear chase. Fighting ARC needs to be as compelling and engaging as fighting other players; not easy to accomplish. Thankfully, Embark's use of machine learning technology may be uniquely positioned to address this problem. Spend any decent amount of time in ARC Raiders and players may develop a sense ARC are actually holding back. ARC have been restrained in several key ways: ARC's awareness range is actually very short and can be easily avoided, if careful; ARC will deaggro relatively quickly if you break LOS long enough; and their weak points are generally obvious, giving players a fighting chance when cornered. Loosening some of these restraints may part of the solution, but ARC have displayed much more potential for engagement in how they reason, even if reasoning is not really happening. (It’s not really happening… right?). ARC do things which AI in other games just don’t do; Bombardiers will move to angle shots through narrow passages; Rocketeers will search areas they think you are in, not just stop at the last place the saw you; Leapers will… well they’re just terror personified, if you know, you know. It is this kind of unique behavior Embark should lean into to keep the ARC threat as engaging as fighting other players. The possibilities for creatively using this technology are endless; ARC could stalk players like animals stalking prey, waiting to strike at the perfect time; ARC disguised as a teammate could mimic their voices and lure Raiders away into an ambush; ARC could even develop vendettas against specific players, reappearing to finish a previous engagement, from another raid. Overall, the game doesn’t need better PVP weapons, there are plenty already. Embark needs to give players a reason to use these weapons by building on the creative ways ARC already behave; this would maintain the incredible balance between PVE and PVP, which the studio has landed on. Here’s the link to the original PC Gamer article. See you on the other side, Raiders. ARC Raiders 2025 Share Send Send Send Send Track Name 00:00 / 05:57 Link Copied! No, High-End Weapons Do NOT Need to be Buffed There's a lot Going on with the Weapons in ARC Raiders Article

Death's Review on Vampus Horror Tales: Campy and Sinister "Vampus Horror Tales's campy, lovable host belies the film’s more sinister statements on ‘love’ and violence. " Jan 31, 2024 3 Mins by Death Vampus Horror Tales (2020) was released in Spain to generally positive reviews and found a larger audience in 2023 with a digital release on multiple platforms. The Spanish-language film features four segments by “first-time filmmakers” that revolve around the worst of all human emotions: love. The segments are partitioned by a Tales for the Crypt (1989) inspired host, Sr. Fettes, played by veteran Spanish actor Saturnino García . Sr. Fettes is a violently brutal analog to the better-known Cryptkeeper masked, but his loveable exterior sets him apart. The name ‘Fettes’ appears to be a play on the Spanish word for fat, ‘fet,’ alluding to Fettas as the fat surrounding the meaty segments of the film. It's not a flattering description, but it's accurate. Fettes, or Vampus as he prefers to be called, is an unassuming but playfully murderous grave keeper. He spends his days burying bodies and his nights exhuming the same bodies, with only his pet zombie, Toby, to keep him company. His only escape from this mundane existence is his horror comic books featuring “necrophilic tales” (his words, not mine). Saturino García as the titular Vampus in Vampus Horror Tales. Courtesy of Quiver Distribution. García excels in the tsk-tsk nature of the role, swinging mallets, shovels, and chainsaws with glee. Despite being 88 years old, García delivers a lively and physical performance. Non-Spanish speakers have no trouble connecting with his passion, even with the subtitles. Vampus is a sinister character in his own right, as he murders on a whim, but that is okay because he doesn't “need to kill people. It's just that the world is full of dipshits.” An irrefutable defense for murder, if one was ever uttered. Overall, the interlude segments, directed by Víctor Matellano , are campy fun and serve as welcomed rest spots from the more sinister subject matter in the anthology. The segments of Vampus Horror Tales explore the emotion of love in all its brutal ignobility. Like the two-sided nature of this emotion itself, the film is also shot in black and white. The film starts with “ La Boda ” ( The Wedding ), directed by Manuel Martínez Velasco . La Boda explores love turned to rage in a claustrophobic setting. Like many relationships, the segment begins with innocent infatuation but escalates into horror, intimating the cyclic nature of domestic violence. Felix Gómez and Elena Furiase deliver brutal performances, navigating the transition from desire to rage as reasonably as the short segment time would permit. The conclusion is troubling to watch, and Velasco provides much to ponder in the limited time. Felix Gómez and Elena Furiase in La Boda. Courtesy of Quiver Distribution. While La Boda serves as a strong opener, there are some weaker segments. In most horror anthologies, the second segment is typically the weakest, and " Cumpleaños " ( Birthday ), directed by Erika Elizalde , does not fail to deliver in this regard. Elizalde tries to say something about revenge, but nothing is gained from the segment other than a spontaneous need to go to a horror theme park if those still exist. Nacho Guerreros in Segunda Cita. Courtesy of Quiver Distribution. Following this weak second segment comes “ Segunda Cita ” ( Second Date ), directed by Isaac Berrocal . Segunda Cita is a terrifying statement about women and violence. The segment is not fun to watch, uncomfortable in its conclusions, and something the viewers will quickly want to forget for all the right reasons. The cruelty on display is primal and should fill better men with rage at the lesser members of their sex. Actor Nacho Guerreros is terrifying as the assailant, and his opposite, Erika Sanz, rightly draws the viewer’s sympathy. It is easily the most unnerving segment in the collection and is tense up to the final moment. This is one everyone should watch only once and then never again. The final segment, “ Linaje ” ( Lineage ), directed by Piter Moreira , provides a solid finish. A couple of aid workers, in love with each other, battle a deadly virus that originated in a hot dog. While the premise sounds comedic, the execution is anything but. Moreira delivers some interesting mechanics on vampire zombies that deserve more exploration. The direction is the best of all the segments, and Moreira tells an exciting, well-paced, and tense story. Frederico Repetto and Vicky Jorge also give solid physical performances. While the story veers into ‘what the hell is happening’ territory near the end, it is a strong closer exploring the only form of selfless love the audience will see. Vampus Horror Tales is a campy and sinister work that deserves attention from non-Spanish-speaking audiences. The film is an uncomfortable exploration of the worst parts of love, punctuated by the lovable Vampus, who fills the audience with joy when he appears. Appropriately, Vampus Horror Tales became available via digital release on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2023. Vampus Horror Tales 2020 Share Send Send Send Send Track Name 00:00 / 01:04 Link Copied! Campy and Sinister Vampus Horror Tales's campy, lovable host belies the film’s more sinister statements on ‘love’ and violence. Review

Death's News on ARC Raiders: THE EXPEDITION PROJECT REVEALED "Embark Finally Details their Voluntary Wipe System for ARC Raiders" Oct 9, 2025 4 Mins by Death Embark Studios has finally released details on their progression reset system for their upcoming third-person extraction shooter, ARC Raiders (2025). Progression resets, also known as ‘wipes,’ are a mechanic that originated in the lengthy beta development cycle for Escape from Tarkov (2025), the grandfather of all extraction shooters. In order to test new content, Tarkov’s developers forced their player base to reset their accounts and begin again with fresh characters. While progression resets are common in betas, wipes in Tarkov provided secondary benefits that have become key features of the genre. Progression in extraction shooters is different than other loot-focused shooters, like Destiny (2014). Persistent inventories, or stashes, allow players to accumulate a lot of powerful gear, if they put in the effort. As time passes, the player base inevitably becomes divided between hardcore players, who stomp servers with the best gear in the game, and casual players who sabotage themselves by going outside or having a social life. While wipes alleviate these issues, at least for a short time, communities remain divided on the benefits of wipes, especially, global wipes, in which players have no choice, but to lose their progression. Some players appreciate them because they equalize the playing field and everyone explores the new content from the same perspective. Others deride them because they force players to forfeit any gear advantages they managed to obtain, keeping them perpetually behind more dedicated players. The official teaser photo for building your own R2-D2... I mean The Expedition Project. Source: arcraiders.com/en/news/expedition-project/ Embark is seeking to avoid these pain points by introducing a voluntary reset system called the Expedition Project . Instead of instituting forced global wipes, Embark is giving players the option to reset their character’s progress for exclusive rewards, if certain conditions are met. Here’s how Expeditions will work: At level 20, players unlock a new feature called Projects. Projects are events which are only open for a specific time. The first major Project, the Expedition Project, runs for eight weeks. During this time, players complete the Project by contributing materials, such as Metal Parts, Steel Springs, etc. If a Project is unfinished when the time expires, all progress carries over. After finalizing the Expedition Project, your character resets and they lose all levels, skills, items, and crafting; they will keep any cosmetics, achievements, and previously purchased content. For convenience, you will skip any tutorials and onboarding after a reset. The timeline for the Expedition project. Looks like we are all getting fresh characters for Christmas this year. Source: arcraiders.com/en/news/expedition-project/ The first Expedition Project opens on launch day, October 30th, and closes on December 14th. Raiders then have five days to finalize their projects with completed caravans departing on December 21st. In order to entice players to participate, Embark is offering the following incentives: “Permanent account unlocks for each Expedition completed.” (It is unclear what these are at this time.) Exclusive cosmetics and cosmetic-based progression rewards. Account “buffs” that scale with repeated resets. (It is also unknown what these are at this time.) Sequential completions of the Expedition Project increase the magnitude of these buffs, up to a limit. Embark promises any “buffs” will not provide combat advantages, but instead will give quality of life (QoL) improvements, cosmetics, bragging rights, and smoother progression. Virgil, the design director for ARC Raiders, writes, “Completing a reset should never give a player a power or combat advantage over anyone who has not completed a reset.” Embark’s stated goals for the Expedition Project are to allow casual players to retain their progress without forced wipes and provide highly engaged players with a fresh replay experience with rewards that encourage their time investment. More projects are likely to be added with future updates. [You can read the official post on the Expedition Project on the ARC Raiders website .] Embark has provided a lot of detail on this new feature, but some big questions remain. What exactly are “permanent account unlocks?” What will the “buffs to be applied during the following expedition cycle” do? What does smoother progression mean for players who have reset? And how big is the time commitment required for completing the Expedition Project? The requirements for what could be many sub-systems for the Expedition Project. Three stages of construction for the Core System of The Expedition Project. Overall, this new approach to a somewhat divisive system looks promising. Embark is definitely trying to provide features the community is requesting. No doubt, there will be a lot of feedback as the Expedition Project is implemented and the game evolves. Some players, like myself, are looking forward to having a goal to work towards once the game is released. At the very least, Embark is demonstrating they are shifting their focus to the health of the game beyond its October 30th launch. ARC Raiders is shaping up to be a fully realized product with a healthy future ahead of it, something rarely seen in the extraction shooter genre. ARC Raiders 2025 Share Send Send Send Send Track Name 00:00 / 03:55 Link Copied! THE EXPEDITION PROJECT REVEALED Embark Finally Details their Voluntary Wipe System for ARC Raiders News

Death's Review on Deadstream: Content to Die for "Deadstream is a Hilarious Parody of the Internet's Most Reviled Creatures: YouTubers. " Jan 30, 2024 2 Mins by Death Some ‘victims’ in horror are anything but. The trope of establishing a character who is so reprehensible or annoying that they make the audience long for their demise is ever-present in the genre, á la Franklin from Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) or Max from I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997). Deadstream runs with this convention as it sets its sights on one of the most irritating archetypes in contemporary internet life: YouTubers. Written and directed by Vanessa Winter and Joseph Winter , Deadstream follows Shawn Ruddy (Joseph Winter), a disgraced YouTube personality. Desperate to make a comeback, Shawn sets out to live-stream his overnight stay in a haunted house. Shawn's comeback event becomes a fight for his life after he accidentally unleashes a vengeful spirit. Scares are plentiful as Shawn descends further into madness. Courtesy of Shudder. Like some of his real-life counterparts, Shawn is the type of YouTuber that seems to live on another planet free of the rules that confine the rest of us. He is fake, self-centered, and loathsome, but somehow successful (or was) despite of these negatives. Winter’s caricature of Shawn nails these attributes so well that the audience would be forgiven for forgetting he is riffing on YouTubers and isn’t one himself. Winter's sell his performance so well that it would not be unexpected if Shawn were to scream “remember to like, subscribe, and tell my beneficiaries what you think in the comments below,” as he is being dragged off to hell. How Shawn deals with his predicament is uproarious and unsettling. Shawn's obsession to regain his fame makes him oblivious to the dangers threatening his life. The absurdity of this disconnection makes the terrifying moments in the film, which there are many, land with satisfaction; Shawn goes from self-absorbed dipshit to shrieking final girl in the time it take to snap a finger off a dried up corpse. Everytime Shawn barely escapes his doom, he reverts to concerns about his numbers like the whole thing didn't happen. As with some of his real-world counterparts, there is truly only one thing that matters to Shawn. If no one is watching, liking, or commenting Shawn may as well be dead, so sure, a reanimated corpse trying to eat your face off is scary, but a drop in subscribers is clearly the more existential threat. It is hilarious to watch, but it is also the kind of dissonance that can make a YouTuber think of a Japanese suicide forest as possible content. Winter’s performance is complemented Deadstream's writing . The tropes about YouTubers are recognizable make the absurdity of the plot plausible, in spite of the supernatural background. Shawn's banter with the forces of evil and the live-stream chat (let's be honest, they are really one in the same) drives the film’s pacing, delivering a constant stream of laughter and thrills. The audience's morbid fascination with watching Shawn, both on screen and in the theater, critiques the interest that drives the internet’s content. It asks whether we truly love these creators as people or if it is all just destructive schadenfreude after all. The real monsters are in the chat. Yeah, I said it! Courtesy of Shudder. The setting and other devices help further the immersion. Death Manor, as Shawn dubs the house he investigates, is unsettling enough to make him appear that much more in contrast with reality. The live-stream chat lavishes Shawn with the admiration he seeks, all the while goading him towards his oblivion. The clever use of action cameras (i.e. GoPros which are very popular among the content creation crowd) combines the YouTuber and found footage motifs effortlessly. This all makes Deadstream is a standout viewing experience, blending the worst of the internet with found footage horror to create a memorable film. The Winters deliver a frightful and hilariously entertaining critique of contemporary social media culture despite it being the first time they have teamed up to direct. Deadstream is an exceptionally strong debut and builds anticipation for what comes next. Note: A previous version of this review appeared on slayawaywithus.com on 8 Jan 2023. Deadstream 2022 Share Send Send Send Send Track Name 00:00 / 01:04 Link Copied! Content to Die for Deadstream is a Hilarious Parody of the Internet's Most Reviled Creatures: YouTubers. Review

Death's Article on : Death's Anime Watchlist "死のアニメ視聴リスト (This is Japanese!)" Apr 14, 2025 2 Mins by Death Until recently, Japanese anime existed only on the periphery of my entertainment world, with only very short excursions via a must-play video game or Studio Ghibli film. For the last two decades, I have engaged almost exclusively with only Western video games, comics, or movies. Anime and other media from Eastern sources have had little of my focus, despite their undeniable quality. Up until a few months ago, my literacy with anime was only enough for me to dodge an awkward conversation about Attack on Titan (2013) or Cowboy Bebop (1998) with someone who was really excited about it. Everything I knew about anime and manga was confined to the shallow education I received in the late 1990s and early 2000s, from anime like Akira (1988), Ghost in the Shell (1995), and Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995), and manga like Dominion (1985), Appleseed (1985), and Battle Angel Alita (1990). Movies like Akira and Ghost in the Shell received my attention because of their adult subject matter, intricate plotlines, and striking visuals were just so diffrent from anything I was engaging with in the West. The dark ruminating subject matter fit my nihilistic Gen X world view, but it only got my attention when Western mainstream media got boring enough or The X-Files (1993) was out of season. This is not to say that there weren't opportunities to engage with anime. Among my friend group, a cohort of disenchanted, anti-establishment, SoCal punk rock fans who had no idea just how good they had it back then, it wasn’t uncommon to find anime DVDs alongside CD collections containing Nine Inch Nails , Bad Religion , NOFX , and Face to Face in our bedrooms and apartments. But beyond the few works above, I just never did. Any and all engagement I had with anime ended somewhere in the mid-2000s. During this time, anime’s advancement in the West was still being stifled by the 'aNiMaTioN iS fOr KiDs' stigma that has now mostly ebbed, thankfully. The only anime that really gained traction in the West were those actually aimed at kids like Sailor Moon (1992), Pokémon (1997), and Dragon Ball Z (1989); none of which appealed to me. As the last two decades or so passed, the situation drastically changed. I was sort of aware of anime’s growing influence during the 2010s by way of a lot more people in my orbit mentioning it, but I never fully comprehended how much it has absolutely taken over. With the exception of Japanese games like Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015) or Dark Souls (2011), I have not engaged with entertainment from the East in any meaningful way at all. Until the pandemic, that was. During the COVID isolation, my entertainment consumption greatly increased. After exhausting the usual sources of Western media, I happened across Castlevania (2017). Castlevania is an American-produced animation series funded by Netflix and is based on the Japanese video game series of the same name. But since it is produced here in the West, you can't technically call it an anime. Castlevania 's art style was influenced by Ayami Kojima , the renowned artist of the Konami video game series. The thing that I found so compelling about Castlevania wasn't just its incredible art style, which I completely fell in love with, but I was facinated by the fact that this was an American animation product that was trying to be Japanese! Something had truly shifted in the world of entertainment and I had missed it. The Steady Rise in TV Anime Titles from 2000 to 2016, Peaking in Recent Years. [Note: There's a longer conversation that should be had about the implications of Japanese anime (and by extension Japanese culture) becoming mainstream in the West. The ascendance of Japanese cultural soft power as it has happened in the last ten years is incredibly interesting, but it is too broad a subject to discuss here. Another time, perhaps.] As the pandemic continued, I started watching more anime, this time directly from Japanese sources. I viewed Attack on Titan (2013), Cowboy Bebop (1998), and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022). In January 2025, I fully committed by purchasing a Crunchyroll subscription, giving me access to more anime than I could possibly watch in a lifetime. However, it seems I'm determined to try; since the start of 2025, the only streaming services I've used are Crunchyroll and the anime sections of Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max. While discussing my new anime obsession on stream with chat (you can view that VOD here ), we ended up creating a shared watchlist here . (It's also accessible via the main page menu bar under アニメ.) The watchlist is divided into four categories: reviewed, watched, on deck, and no interest. An anime is placed in the no interest list if it fails to capture my attention. I allow a series two episodes to make an impression. If it doesn't, that's the end of it. Sorry, not sorry. I am going to provide short reviews of all the anime that I have watched since the 1990s to now, which is surprisingly achievable since there are not a lot of them. I don't really have a goal for this project, but it should make for an interesting journey since I am really diving into a whole new world for the first time. I have also been inspired to learn Japanese from this as well... more on that later. Have your say or give me an additional watch recommendations in the comments below this article or come by twitch.tv/GameswithDeath to let me know what you think. Enjoy and see you on the other side.💀 N/A Share Send Send Send Send Track Name 00:00 / 01:04 Link Copied! Death's Anime Watchlist 死のアニメ視聴リスト (This is Japanese!) Article

Death's Guide on ARC Raiders: 100 Starter Tips & Strats For ARC Raiders "Everything you Need to get Past the Initial Learning Curve" Oct 27, 2025 30 Mins by Death 100 Starter Tips & Strats for ARC Raiders [UPDATE 28 Oct 2025: Updated to reflect the changes to the game as of the Server Slam. Any information is subject to change upon release and future updates.] This guide is based on the 100+ hours Death spent in the ARC Raiders Tech Test 2 and the Server Slam. Death also has 10K+ hours of experience in extraction shooters like Hunt: Showdown 1896 and Escape from Tarkov. Here are 100 tips & strats to get you started in ARC Raiders (2025). GENERAL What is ARC Raiders ? — ARC Raiders is a full-feature extraction shooter with a robust looting system, unique customizable weapons, and intense PvPvE combat. The game is set in an expansive, beautiful world in a distant post-apocalyptic future Earth. AI machines called ARC have wiped out most of humanity, and those that remain have been forced below the surface. You play as a raider from the underground colony of Speranza. You're sent to the surface to scavenge for any remaining supplies to keep the colony going. You'll need to avoid deadly ARC and other human raiders as desperate as you. Use any means necessary to secure the loot you need and extract. It's the ARC's world; we are just playing in it. What is the play loop for ARC Raiders ? —Put simply, you acquire loot and use that loot to acquire even more loot. As an extraction shooter, ARC Raiders accommodates many different play styles. You can play ARC Raiders in trios, duos, or solo. Whether you're looking to kill everyone on the map or stealth your way to riches, how you play is up to you. Playing extraction shooters —If all you've ever played are traditional shooters, extraction shooters can be a bit intimidating, at first. The PvPvE format and gear systems can be a big turn off for newer players. Overcome the learning curve by focusing on if you learn, rather than if you win. Consistent play will improve your skills. Extraction shooters aren’t for everyone, and that’s okay. Don’t force yourself to play something you don’t want to . However, if you want to try the sub-genre, ARC Raiders is a great game to start with. Progression in ARC Raiders —Progression in extraction shooters isn't linear. Leveling, trader quest lines, the skill tree, raider decks are all ways to progress in ARC Raiders . However you define it, building a reliable stash value is an essential component of progression. Extracting is profitable —Apparently extracting in an extraction shooter is a great way to make money. Traders are expensive. Use them in your workshop to augment your loadouts, but remember that extracting is your primary source of wealth and resources. Raider den —Your raider's living space, or raider den, will visually change as you acquire more stash value, gaining more amenities and luxuries. I wonder how far this goes? Your Raider Den gets more luxuries as you build your Stash value. Feats —Feats are challenges which reward Cred, the currency used to level up your Raider Deck, the game’s version of a battle pass. The Raider Deck contains in-game rewards like weapon attachments and cosmetics. You can see available feats in-raid under the Feats tab, or in the top left of the lobby screen. Also, your friends' actions count towards your feats, so work together to finish them quickly. Projects —Project are timed special events that award exclusive cosmetics for those who complete them. The first project in ARC Raiders is the Expedition Project, the game's take on character progression resets, or wipes, similar to what you would find in Escape from Tarkov (2025). Raiders contribute resources to projects over time. Projects are then finalized by a specific date, and then raiders receive their rewards. The timeline for the Expedition Project, ARC Raiders' take on progression wipes. Leveling —Earning XP allows you to level up, which awards you skill points for enabling new skills in the skill tree. You earn XP for almost any action you take in a raid, including scavenging. Search every container and body you find to maximize the XP you earn in a raid. Searching raider bodies awards just as much for downing them. You still earn XP for searching containers your teammates have searched. The skill tree —The skill tree is extremely important. It provides critical buffs to your character's mobility, carrying capacity, survivability, and more. Leveling up the right skills early on can make a big difference in the long run. MOVEMENT Always keep moving —As with all shooters, standing still will get you killed. Move randomly in the four cardinal directions, forward, back, left, and right if you're unaware of the enemy's location. Only stand still if you're in cover or absolutely sure if no one can get an easy headshot on you. Some decisions are better than others. Be ready to adapt. Move faster on ladders —You can climb and descend ladders faster with the shift button. Climbing faster will consume stamina. Descending faster consumes no stamina. Run faster while unarmed —Putting your weapon away allows you to run faster. Stow your guns to zoom in and out of the action. Use this ability to make your rotations faster, but be careful not to run into enemies unarmed. Sliding —The slide mechanic is great for moving down hills fast and coming around corners while shooting, but slides cannot be canceled. You can dodge roll out of a slide, but the inertia-based movement system in ARC Raiders prevents you from stopping in your tracks. Use caution or you may slide into difficult situations. Use caution or you may slide into difficult situations. Environmental Ziplines —You’ll find Ziplines all over the world of ARC Raiders . Use them to get to high ground or enter high-value loot areas. Be careful on Ziplines around teammates. They can easily get knocked off and fall to their death. Yes, I find this hilarious as well. Extracting while downed —You can still activate the extract if you're in a downed state. Also, the animation is pure cinema. Never ever give up. Prioritize stamina skills —Being able to move faster and further than your enemy is a huge advantage in ARC Raiders . Prioritize maxing out youthful lungs and marathon runner first in the mobility branch of the skill tree. If you are having stamina issues, see your doctor or the Skill Tree. Conserve stamina —Even if you max out all stamina skills in the skill tree, take care not to drain your stamina bar, especially in danger areas like open fields and roads. Running out of stamina when in the sight of ARC or other players is usually a death sentence. Always be thinking of escape routes and save enough stamina to use them. Nimble climber —Nimble climber allows you to climb walls and vault railings faster. Max out this skill early and use it to survive dangerous situations. Simultaneous actions —Unlike some other games, ARC Raiders is able to walk and chew gum at the same time. You can perform most actions even if your teammate is interacting with you. For example, if your partner is downed and they're activating the extract, you can revive them at the same time. OPERATIONS Vision during daytime —Seeing into buildings is easier than seeing out during the day. Use cover near windows to avoid being spotted by enemies outside that you cannot see. Get closer to windows to improve your vision. The world of ARC Raiders is intricate, beautiful, and worth exploring. Explore the maps —You naturally learn the world of ARC Raiders as you play, but being more familiar with your surroundings than your enemy is a huge advantage. Explore unfamiliar areas when you have time and look for unlikely flanking routes or firing positions in the high ground. Use them to surprise your foes the next time you're in the area. Solo play —As a solo, the odds are stacked against you. Do what it takes to win. Finish-off downed opponents, disengage for better positioning, third-party fights, or use stealth and deception to ambush enemies from the shadows. Use proximity chat to gain your enemy’s trust and sink a dagger in when the opportunity presents itself. It is just you against the world, so do whatever is necessary to secure victory. The solo life is a dangerous and lonely one in ARC Raiders . Have a backup plan —Mike Tyson once said, "Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth." Set secondary goals to accomplish in raid in case your primary goal cannot be completed. This allows you to get something out of a raid even if it all goes to hell, which it probably will. Teams spawn in waves —Not all players spawn at the same time. Teams enter raids in successive waves at timed intervals. Keep this in mind, since you may have fresh teams arriving at the worst possible time. Spawning early means you can loot high-value areas first, but you will have to fight your way out to the extract. Spawning late means you may miss some of the best loot, but you're more likely to survive. Note the time at the beginning of your raid. dapt to the changing situation —Exercise sound judgment and fire discipline when in contact with the enemy. Hold fire if raiders would have the advantage on you or a member of your team is not combat operational. Use decisive violence of action to gain the initiative and be ruthless maintaining it. Knowing how to act takes time and practice, so value your losses and the lessons they contain. Balance risk and reward —You don't have to kill everything in a raid to make a profit. Yes, the dopamine flows when the bodies start dropping, but extracting with a valuable quest item or a rare weapon will serve you better in the long term. Learn to recognize when it's time to take risks or cut your losses. Cover and concealment —Cover blocks vision and fire. Concealment only blocks vision. Know the difference. Fire into suspect concealed positions to root out enemies. Use grenades on suspected positions of cover. Avoid engaging the enemy without adequate cover. Do not fall for the false sense of security that concealment offers. Aim —Obviously, aim is a fundamental skill in shooters like ARC Raiders. Even if you're a God-tier strategic genius who could out-flank Sun Tzu himself, at some point, you will need to shoot the enemy before they shoot you. Aim is a function of reaction time, accuracy, and volume. Work on improving your aim, even if you feel confident about it. Use aim trainers like Aim Labs or even websites like aimtrainer.io . Warm up in the shooting range before your first raid of a session. Make sure that you have a light mouse and a wide desktop area to use it on. Do your research on the best settings for your equipment and setups. Fire positions —The surest way to get downed by your enemy is to keep using the same fire position over and over. Use a fire position once, then move on. Avoid using a fire position that your teammate just used. Only reuse a fire position if enough time has passed or the tactical situation leaves you no other options. Never hold angles in ADS —Holding angles in third person differs from first person. In third person, awareness is more important than beating the enemy to the shot. To effectively hold an angle, stay behind cover, keep your weapon down and reticle in line with where you suspect the enemy to be. When your opponent peeks, move out and take the shot. Corners can block your weapon in ADS if you're not careful. Give yourself time to master this skill if you usually play FPS games. Quick swapping —Switch to your secondary weapon instead of automatically reloading while in close contact with the enemy. Quick swapping allows you to maintain pressure in a fight while reloading gives your enemy a chance to respond. When it's time to reload, find cover and reload your weapons fully. Swapping to your secondary weapon helps you maintain the pressure. If you're an OG Hunt Showdown degenerate like myself, you can map the ‘Q-key’ to next weapon and leave previous weapon empty. Now you can quick swap back and forth like it's 1.3 all over again. Always be rotating aggressively —Seeing around corners in third person perspective allows you to catch enemy raiders off-guard if you position correctly. Inexperienced players tend to hold position when they become aware of an enemy's location. Avoid tunneling on a specific location and aggressively rotate to find new arcs of fire. Never stay in one area too long, or you risk being slowly cut off from other fire positions. Grenade corners before pushing —Third person view allows players to see around and over cover without exposing themselves. Make sure to grenade areas where you suspect enemies to be before pushing to avoid being caught in the open. Avoid danger areas —A danger area is any area that could expose your team to effective enemy fire without cover. Rivers, roads, doors, windows, hallways, and more are examples of danger areas. Coordinate with your team to provide covering fire when crossing danger areas to minimize the risk of a teammate being downed in the open. Team spacing —Maintain distance in open areas. This provides awareness of enemy actions over a greater range and lessens the effectiveness of weapons like grenades and machine guns. Keep closer in buildings. This will allow you to concentrate fire and support your teammates faster. But, never stay too close for too long, as a single grenade could take out your entire team. Always try to keep your teammates in view, no matter the terrain. Stay with your team —Nothing can hinder a team more than someone getting downed while out of position. It's important to take risks, but there's only so much you can do to detect an enemy ambush. If you're unaware of the enemy's location, use caution and stay with your team. Move as a team to concentrate firepower and overcome your foes. Sound traps —Everything in ARC Raiders is designed to make noise and draw attention to players in the environment. Simple things like opening containers, being spotted by security cameras, or going through metal detectors, is intended to alert enemies to your location. Enemy raiders and ARC in your vicinity will investigate sounds they hear. Learn to move quietly and avoid detection. Use what you know to detect enemies near you. Even simple tasks like opening a crate can give your position away. CRAFTING Recycling & salvaging —Right-click an item to recycle or salvage it. Use the materials you get from recycling and salvaging to craft other items in your workshop. You can also salvage items in-raid to condense your inventory. The Workshop —Buying from traders can be expensive. Level up the crafting benches in your workshop to craft items for cheap with the recipes you find in-game. Prioritize the weapons bench for access to better weapons and weapon attachments. Use the basic bench to craft basic healing items like shield chargers and light shields. Unlock the refiner and always ensure that it is crafting valuable items or crafting components before starting a raid. Vendors are very expensive and unfriendly. In-round crafting traits —ARC Raiders was initially developed as a survival game, and some of that DNA has stuck around. There are two traits in the survival branch of the skill tree that allow you to craft items in-raid. In-round crafting gives you the ability to field craft items, while traveling tinkerer unlocks additional items for crafting later on. Use these to augment your free loadout runs and help your team's chances of survival. Tracked recipes —You can track recipes from the workshop to help you find specific items while in raid. The recipes you are tracking are listed on the map below your current quests. You will receive a notification when you loot enough of an item. Items you are tracking will have an eye-icon in the top right-hand corner, as well. Refer to your tracked recipes in game to help you progress your workshop and crafting. Salvaging in raid —You can right-click on items to salvage them for basic crafting components in raid. Do this to save inventory space or deny enemies powerful weapons that you cannot extract with. Carrying capacity —Salvage weapons to free up carrying capacity. Weapons weigh a lot. With basic raider augments, you're limited to about two weapons before you become over-encumbered. Salvage low-tier weapons to free up your carrying capacity. ARC Power Cells and Fabric —Always fill excess slots in your inventory with ARC Power Cells and Fabric as you find them. ARC Power cells can be used to refill shields and will fill 20 charges, which is half of a light shield. If you or your teammate have in-round crafting, you can use the Fabric to make bandages. Fabric restores a small amount of health on its own. RESOURCES Traders —Traders specialize in things like security or selling guns, but two are especially important early game, Celeste and Lance : Celeste will trade basic crafting materials for seeds, smoothing out your crafting requirements. Seeds are light and can be easily salvaged from plants in raid. Use them to get the materials you need, like metal parts, which you will need a lot of. Lance will upgrade free loadout augments into uncommon augments. Bring him any you find to get the Combat Mark I, the Looter Mark I, or the Tactical Mark I. Selling items in your stash.* *Current as of the Server Slam. There are more higher rarity augments to come. Quick selling —Right-click on an item and select sell. No need to visit the traders to look for the best sale price either. Easy. Rarity & value —Higher rarity does not always mean more valuable. Items that stack are sometimes more valuable than higher rarity items that don't. Assess value based on sale price, not the color of the item. Rare isn't always better, do the math before picking up some items. Memorize sale prices —Right-click on things in your inventory and practice memorizing their value between raids. This will help you make faster decisions about what to loot. Memorizing is faster, but if you forget the sale price of an item, your inventory's value is listed next to your raider augment slot. Watch this value change as you pick up or drop an item. Comparing item value —Use sale price and weight to assess the value of an item. Lightweight items that stack are worth more than expensive items that are heavy. If you want to maximize loot during a raid, pay attention to the sale price per kilogram of an item. For example, an Accordion is only worth 667 credits per kilogram, while a full sack of ARC Alloy is worth 1,000 credits per kilogram. Choose accordingly. You can only carry so much, may as well take the most valuable. Max out your Stash early —There are hundreds of items in ARC Raiders , upgrade your stash early will help you sort through them as the come in. Keep your inventory small and diverse —Keep at least one stack of each unique item on hand unless you're certain something is not needed for a quest or crafting. Sell items you have no immediate need for. Scrappy, the Rooster —Scrappy is your pet rooster who ‘secures’ items for you while you are away on the surface. Scrappy does his work while you're online and in a raid, not while you're offline. Level him up early, and don't forget to tell him he's a good boy. Scrappy, the noble rooster and friend. Claim Scrappy's loot —Scrappy works hard for you, but the items he brings you have a limit. Be sure to collect them before your next raid if you're nearing capacity. Use the legend on the map —If you're looking for a particular type of item, the in-raid map can tell you where to find it. Loot has a designated type, like commercial, technological, industrial, and more. The corresponding icons are listed on the map. Go to these locations to find what you need. Hidden raider caches —There’s hidden loot all over the map if you know what to look for. You can find hidden raider caches by looking for the interaction prompt that appears when you get close. The caches also emit a ticking sound during a special event. Loot them fast, or, well… I'll let you figure that out. Field Crates contain valuable loot if you can open them. Field Crates & Field Depots —Field Crates you find on the map can be opened at nearby Field Depots. If you're close by a Field Depot, you'll see the symbol for it on your map. Read th e tooltips —It may seem obvious, but a lot of players miss vital information right in front of them. The tooltips in ARC Raiders are very detailed and tell you what an item is and what it can be used for. If you don't know what to do with an item, look in the tooltip and save yourself some time. Inventory status icon —It’s not always necessary to open your inventory to see if it's full. Picking up an item activates an indicator under your reticle, showing you the status of your inventory. Empty slots have nothing in them. Gray slots have a stackable item with more room. White slots are completely full. Blinking slots indicate where the item you just picked up was placed. Learn to read this indicator to spend less time in your inventory menu and more time scanning for enemies. EQUIPMENT Loadouts are unrestricted —There’s no restriction on the type of weapons or equipment you can take with you into a raid. You can even take backup equipment. Having a full shield in reserve or another weapon can give you the initiative in a fight. Unfortunately, this is incredibly expensive and leaves little room for the loot that you find. Use with caution. Use your flashlight —Thanks to the glory that is Unreal Engine 5, bright and dark areas in ARC Raiders can greatly obscure your vision. Some areas and buildings are incredibly dark, so use your flashlight to illuminate campers sitting in corners with shotguns. Always carry at least a light shield —Light shields have no movement reduction, and they're relatively cheap to craft. You can also equip them without having to have a raid or augment. Always carry Ziplines —Use Ziplines to flank unsuspecting enemies in high ground or create escape options when backed into a corner. Always try to carry at least one. Ziplines cannot be recovered once placed, meaning enemies can use them to counter-flank if you don't cover them with mines or observation. Carrying a spare barricade also provides some creative solutions to this problem. Always heal first —In ARC Raiders, shields mitigate damage. They're not an extra health bar. It is possible to be downed with shields remaining, so your health is more important than your shields. Always heal first before refilling your shields. "I'm just gonna take a nap right here. This is fine." Keep meds in safe pockets —Meds and shield chargers can be expensive, especially in the early game. Keep these in your safe pockets until you find more valuable items to replace them with. Shield movement reduction —Some shields reduce your movement speed. Heavy shields reduce your movement speed by 15%. Medium shields reduce it by 5%. Light shields have no movement speed reduction. Shields give protection to the detriment of movement speed. Raider augments —There are four basic types of raider augments, looting, combat, tactical, and free loadout augments. Each of these varies in the type of shield that you can equip, the number of quick use slots, and their weight limits. You cannot swap raider augments while in a raid. Raider augments must be equipped and unequipped in the lobby. If you find a raider augment that's better than the one you have, you must extract with it to use it next time. Consuming items in raid —Food like Expired Pasta can be consumed for a small amount of health. Fruit like Lemons can be consumed for a small amount of stamina. And items like ARC Power Cells can be used to charge your shields if you find yourself in a desperate situation. Gain access to locked areas —If it's locked up, it's probably valuable. Use key cards to open doors to high-value loot areas or enter by other… ‘methods.’ Raider keys —Raider Keys are very valuable items. They allow you to extract from raider hatches, which are much faster and less risky than normal extracts. Carry one in your safe pockets whenever you deploy with valuable loot. Raider Hatches only open for a short time, so enter immediately to avoid being left behind. These keys are extremely valuable. WEAPONS Low-tier weapon proficiency —Being effective with low-tier weapons will help you immensely in the early game when you're getting your stash built up. Find a cheap gun that fits your play style and learn to love using it. Rely on it like an old friend when the going gets tough. Lower tier guns may be outmatched against higher tier weapons, but they will still down players if you maneuver correctly and hit your shots. Upgrade your weapons —You can use crafting materials to improve your weapons and get more power from them. Upgrade them if you can afford it. Level IV low-tier weapons are highly effective against most enemies. Upgrade them when you can. Ammunition —Take a lot of ammo. You're useless without ammo. Try and fill the first row of your loadout's inventory with just ammo. Always fill excess slots in your inventory with ammunition you find in raid. There's no excuse for running out of ammo. The right ammo is key when dealing with the ARC threat. Pool your ammo reserve —Carrying weapons that use the same type of ammo allows you to pool the ammo reserve, giving you more flexibility in a fight. If you take weapons of a different ammo type, like a rifle and a shotgun, make sure you take enough ammo for both so that you don't run out. Durability —Weapons and shields deteriorate with use or when damaged. Make sure you repair your equipment regularly or it will fail to function in raid. Upgrade items to reduce their durability wear when possible. The practice range —The practice range is a great place to experiment with the game's mechanics before you go into a raid. Items or weapons you use in the range will not be consumed or lose durability. There are practice dummies you can beat up on to your heart's content. Basic weapons, attachments, and equipment are available in the range for you to experiment with. Weapon ballistics —Generally, the travel time and bullet drop for the weapons in ARC Raiders is not too punishing. It is noticeable enough to require your attention, however, especially at long range. Use the practice range to get a feel for each weapon when you have time. Adopt a custom crosshairs that allows you to gage these factors on distant or moving targets. Camera swapping —Third person places the camera behind your character above their shoulder. Make sure to swap from left to right as needed to avoid overexposing your body to the enemy. Map this ability to a button you can always press and let it become second nature like crouching, jumping, or sprinting. No friendly fire —Tragically, there is no friendly fire in ARC Raider s. You must find other methods to kill your teammates. Yes, I am very sad about this as well. Melee when possible —Your Raider's hammer is a versatile tool that allows you to travel on Ziplines, breach doors, and open containers. Use it to maintain stealth and save ammo by killing small ARC within reach and disabling sou nd traps. When all else fails, pull out your hammer and charge at your foes. It takes several swings to down an enemy raider with a hammer, but it's exceedingly rewarding when you can pull it off. Put skill points into sky clearing swing and fly swatter in the skill tree to increase your melee damage on drones and turrets. COMMS Communicate quickly & effectively —Hearing the audio in fights is vital, so keep comms as clear as possible. Do not unnecessarily backseat your teammates or offer complaints and excuses. Communicating while downed —When you're downed, your primary objective is to remain silent and find a safe location where you can be revived. Only communicate with your team to convey crucial information that they absolutely need to know. Once you've reached a safe area, observe potential flanking routes. If the tactical situation allows, eliminate downed opposing players who are reporting on you to their team. Use proximity chat —Spontaneous organic interactions with other players are some of the most memorable moments you can have in gaming. Use proximity chat to your advantage. Form ad hoc teams in the heat of battle, or take pressure off your team by getting enemy teams to fight one another. Disable proximity chat if it becomes a distraction to your gameplay. Mute overly toxic people immediately and never become toxic yourself. Enemy callouts —If you spot an enemy, ping their location and communicate the following to your teammates. Description of the enemy, direction and method of travel, weapons, probable intentions, and your actions and recommendations. Here's an example of a good call out: Enemy callouts convey crucial information in a timely manner. Not all of the above information may be necessary, especially if time is short. Use your judgment. Good call outs take practice, so give yourself time to become proficient. The ping system —You can ping pretty much everything in ARC Raiders . Your character will give a contextual voice line when you ping almost anything while in a raid. You can ping items in the world, consumables, weapons, ARC, buildings, other raiders. You can ping items in your inventory. You can even ping empty slots in your inventory by right clicking on them. Ping other pings to confirm that a ping, your teammate is pinged, has been pinged. Use the ping wheel to provide more context to your pings. The ping system in ARC Raiders is robust and detailed. SETTINGS Sort out your settings —Get comfortable with your settings in the practice range to avoid distractions in your first raid. Make sure your sensitivities are set for your mouse, remap your key binds as desired. Controller players, you're on your own on this one. Get your setting sorted before you start raiding. Custom crosshairs —You can customize your crosshairs in the settings menu. I use a bright green dot with a black outline. The human eye can see more variations of green than any other color, so bright green makes it less likely that I'll lose my reticle in visual noise like foliage. Maximize your field of vision (FOV) —Awareness in combat is essential. Widen your FOV to see more of the battlefield and find enemies in your peripheral vision. Quick use hotkeys — ARC Raiders uses a hybrid of a selection wheel and hot keys for your consumables. To use a consumable quickly, press your quick slot use key and then the corresponding number from three to six. You can always select the last item you used quickly by pressing on your quick slot key once. Hopefully, we get the option to remap these keys in a future patch. ARC ENEMIES Deal with ARC or it will deal with you —ARC should never be underestimated. Before starting any engagement, take a moment to assess the ARC threat first. If possible, quietly eliminate ARC in the area so that they don't become an issue during a fight. Some ARC are more deadly than opposing players. Never take them for granted. ARC will call for reinforcements —Deal with ARC quickly to avoid being overrun. If you're spotted by a snitch, you only have a few seconds to destroy it before it drops ARC on your location. Never linger in an area too long after engaging ARC. ARC has a tendency to swarm and can easily overwhelm your team. Cut off their limbs —ARC enemies are intricately designed, and use physics for their mobility. Destroying a limb or a thruster will be destabilize them for a short period of time, giving you the opportunity to deal damage to the main body. ARC are terrifying and deadly, just how we like it. ARC deaggro while downed —ARC enemies are mean and powerful, but they seem to be nice enough to stop attacking if you go into a down state. They will attack teammates coming to revive you, however. Use caution when assisting downed allies. ARC armor —Ammo varies in its effectiveness against ARC armor. Light ammo is the least effective, while energy ammo is the best. Always have a way to deal with ARC or you risk being overrun. No matter your primary weapon, carrying a heavy ammo secondary, like an anvil, isn't a bad idea. Fear —Games like ARC Raiders are designed from the ground up to make you feel fear and ramp up the tension. Focus on relaxing in tense situations, more than on whether you win or lose. Over time, this will give you more control over your actions in fights. Control your fear, but don't get rid of it entirely; fear can be fun, even addictive. The excitement that accompanies fear is why most people play extraction shooters in the first place. MINDSET Gear fear —Among the worst types of fear is gear fear. Having good gear gives you an advantage, but valuing it too much creates a mental block known as gear fear. Gear fear will hinder your performance, so don't reinforce this behavior by hoarding your good equipment. Try to take in your best gear on a regular basis. This will make you more effective when using it, but most importantly, you'll be accustomed to losing it. All of your gear is borrowed. Get the most utility out of it while you can, then pass it along to the next person. In the long run, overcoming your gear fear will enhance your progression and profitability. That Torrente in your inventory needs to go for a walk every so often. Get over losing quickly —The odds are stacked against you in ARC Raiders , so don't exaggerate losses. When you lose, try to learn from it and move on quickly. Dwelling on a loss distracts your focus from the things you can control, like doing better next raid. Never criticize your teammates —Literally, the whole world is against you in ARC Raiders . You're gonna lose at some point. Blaming anyone for a loss is a waste of time. Most people tend to be hard on themselves. Reminding people of their mistakes is destructive to teams and friendships. If you lose, say, "Good try," and move on. Accept that you will die, often — ARC Raiders is a hard game. You can do everything right and still lose. You'll be fighting lots of enemies, deadly ARC, and even your own incompetence at times. Don't sweat it if you don't extract a lot when starting out. The game is designed to be difficult and punishing. Focus on getting better, having fun, and as your skills develop, the wins will come. Enjoy this ride — ARC Raiders is potentially the best extraction shooter we will ever have. Play at your own pace and enjoy this game without worrying about stats or rankings. It's not a race, and rushing through the content will only frustrate you in the end. Savor this experience. This is a fun one. The real fun is the friends we made along the way. These tips should be enough to get you started in ARC Raiders, but ultimately how you play the game is entirely up to you. Don’t take anything here too seriously; it’s more important that you play in a way which is the most fun for you. Remember to check out the full length video version of this guide on YouTube. Good luck and I’ll see you on the other side, Raiders. ARC Raiders 2025 Share Send Send Send Send Track Name 00:00 / 31:45 Link Copied! 100 Starter Tips & Strats For ARC Raiders Everything you Need to get Past the Initial Learning Curve Guide

Death's Review on Black Myth: Wukong: BMWK Attains Enlightenment "Incredible Boss Fights Make Up for a Narrative Designed with a Specific Audience in Mind. " Sep 17, 2024 15 Mins by Death After years of anticipation, Black Myth: Wukong (2024) was finally released in August 2024. On its first full day, BMWK reached a staggering 2.4 million concurrent players on Steam, with a reported gross revenue of $850 million at time of writing. This was the second-highest concurrent player count ever recorded, with Counter-Strike 2 (2023) retaining the top spot. By all accounts, this is a remarkable feat, especially for single-player games. Undoubtedly, one of the most significant reasons for this success is the game’s source material, the beloved Chinese fable Journey to the West . it's obvious that this is a work of deep cultural and artistic meaning to these developers. It is hard to overstate the role of Journey to the West in Chinese culture. From an early age, Chinese children fantasized about the stories of Sun Wukong, the fabled Monkey King, who arose from a stone and went on a series of incredible adventures, even attaining immortality. The myths act as a cultural touchstone in Chinese culture and are comparable to the works of Shakespeare or Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in the West. At its heart, BMWK is an action game with an easy-to-understand but hard-to-master combat system and incredible visuals, thanks to Unreal Engine 5. BMWK is heavily influenced by games like God of War (2005) and Elden Ring (2023) and shares many of the same features with these games, like drawing on mythology for its narrative, the bonfire system, and punishing epic boss fights. The bosses of Black Myth: Wukong (2024) are truly something to behold. Despite the apparent influence of these games, BMWK still finds a way to create its own identity and is a strong contender for Game-of-the-Year on its own merits. But, as impressive as BMWK is, issues like an inaccessible narrative, questionable world design, and a poorly implemented camera keep it from achieving greatness. BMWK is a game that unapologetically assumes that the player knows Journey to the West intimately and relies heavily on this knowledge to build out the world. Knowing or not knowing these stories makes the difference between following the narrative or experiencing the disorientation of something like Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland . BMWK ’s narrative is grand and incredible, but it is intended for insiders familiar with its traditions; this game is not made for a Western audience despite being fully translated to English and heavily marketed in the West. Everything is strange and wonderful; it also makes no sense. Before playing this game, I highly recommend that players familiarize themselves with Journey to the West to maximize their enjoyment of the game. It is disappointing that Game Science hid the narrative this way; it’s like making a movie and telling the audience they should bring the book to the theater so they can understand the plot. There are themes of redemption, forgiveness, and self-awareness that arise from what I can understand, and I am interested in reading the stories myself. Still, not putting the actual tale of Wukong in the game seems like a missed opportunity. Whether you find the narrative enlightening or nonsensical, depending on your perspective, graphically, BMWK is one of the most beautiful games ever created and is a visual triumph. Every asset is beautifully crafted, and each area is stunningly detailed. The power of Unreal Engine 5 is very much on display in BMWK . I have never seen a game with graphical fidelity, detail, and jaw-dropping visuals like I saw in BMWK . During my playthrough, I must have stopped at least thirty times to marvel at the scene around me, even taking the odd screenshot in photo mode. Visuals to drool over. Unfortunately, as beautiful as this world is, it is empty. Between the boss battles, there is nothing to do except collect herbs, open chests, or wander aimlessly through the game’s all-to-frequent empty spaces. I encountered many beautiful yet dead areas that seemed to serve no purpose. After a while, moving through BMWK ’s world becomes tedious. The lack of an in-game map doesn’t help, and the game forces the player to navigate by memory. The verticality and similar visuals in many areas make getting lost frustratingly easy. In a later chapter, I received a cloud to fly on, and I was excited that my navigation frustrations were finally over. But, it is only usable in a single specific area. After about ten minutes of flying, I found only a few scattered bosses and many more empty spaces. Cloud flying quickly became a chore since I was again in these vast areas with little to do but slowly fly through them on my cloud. I appreciate the developer’s attempt to immerse the player and avoid an Ubisoft-like in-game map and icon system. Still, I was often frustrated by the lack of things to do or a direction to head in. Navigation was a definite low-lite of my playthrough. At least, it's a dry heat. Compared to a game like Elden Ring (2022), BMWK ’s world design sadly feels shallow and confined. In Elden Ring , every space serves a purpose or has a reason for the player to be there and a way to access it; you can go anywhere you see if you find your way to it. BMWK , however, is filled with invisible walls—a relic I thought games had ditched decades ago. Throughout my playthrough, I walked towards areas that seemed accessible, only to be stopped by an invisible barrier. Eventually, I gave up trying to explore off the beaten path, likely causing me to miss some of the game's secrets. Similar to Destiny (2014) at its release, BMWK tries to compensate for the world's lack of purpose with beautiful visuals. While the scenery is stunning, players will quickly become bored without any reason to be there. Much of the game’s world feels like it could be cut without losing anything meaningful—less is more, as the saying goes. More isn't always better, even when it is this beautiful. The levels also seem designed without enemy encounters in mind. Some areas are so large that the enemy population density was sparse, and their placement felt like they were just there as filler. One area was more reminiscent of 90’s MMOs than a modern triple-A action game; enemies were wandering around in plain sight, evenly spaced apart, with little thought to making the encounters unique. Regular enemy encounters were mainly bland compared to the boss fights, and I spent more time skipping them than engaging with them. Rendering this world, as empty as it was, was not an issue. I had no problems getting BMWK running on my primary gaming PC, with an Nvidia 4090 and 64 GB of RAM. With all settings on cinematic, ray tracing off, and DLSS enabled, the game ran smoothly at around 130 FPS with stunning visuals. DLSS introduces some blurriness for distant objects, which did not detract from my enjoyment; BMWK isn’t a competitive FPS where details at a distance matter. I strongly recommend avoiding ray tracing. It adds to the visual fidelity but eats up a lot of resources, even on high-end PCs. I experienced severe stutters during fights with ray tracing enabled, which got me killed more than a few times. The simulated lighting looks excellent anyway, so you won’t miss much. I would advise prioritizing a smooth frame rate over visual fidelity since BMWK ’s combat system requires split-second timing for success. BMWK ’s combat system isn’t doing anything other games haven’t done before, but it is doing a lot well, considering this game has a single character who only wields a staff. There is a surprising amount of customization for players to discover. Players are not confined to one play style and can tailor their builds using spells, stances, primary abilities, or transformations. There's a surprising amount of depth and flexibility to the combat system. Your build will flow from the unique abilities of the armor you receive from chests and defeated bosses. Each armor set comes with one or two of these abilities and activates if you wear a specific number of pieces from that set. Players can mix and match pieces from different sets if they want to utilize effects from other sets. It is an easy-to-understand system that hides a surprising amount of depth, which matters much more in the late game. In the early game, I did not have to think much about the armor I was wearing. The set with the highest defensive rating was usually the best. I mainly focused on learning the skill tree and doing damage with light strikes, trying to proc the critical hit chance and critical damage as much as possible. (This is how I play most games. I’m a burst damage one trick, and I feel no shame. I know who I am.) In the first few chapters, players will frequently receive new armor sets with higher armor ratings, making my old ones obsolete. Later on, there is a blacksmith who will upgrade armor sets to keep pace with higher-level ones, making all those old abilities relevant again. Introducing armor this way is a clever way to nudge players to explore the armor sets' abilities without forcing them to stick to the set that appears to be best on the surface. This plants the seeds for late-game builds, which are needed when the difficulty spike comes in later chapters. This guys ability to upgrade your armor outweighs his incessent scarcasm. Around the middle of Chapter 4, BMWK goes from feeling like a God of War action adventure clone to one of the more challenging Souls games very fast. Refining your build and knowing what type of damage your enemies do becomes incredibly important, regardless of the fighting style you find yourself drawn to. I completed most of the game with my light-strike crit damage build, but eventually, I had to switch to an armor set that would give me a base damage boost based on a status effect while still offering a lot of damage mitigation. If you have cat-like reflexes and can time your dodges better than me, some late-game armors have more damage output at the cost of damage reduction; they also look really badass. You gotta admit, I look damn good in this. Overall, the combat system is accessible, allowing players to use their preferred playstyle. There is also a surprising amount of depth to explore, making NG+ runs worth it for those who want to hone their builds even more after their initial playthrough. As interesting as the combat can be in BMWK , the camera can sometimes ruin the experience, especially when fighting in enclosed spaces. The lock-on works well in open areas, but in enclosed areas, like the cells of the Pagoda Realm, the camera becomes your enemy. While fighting enemies in this area, the camera would zoom in extremely close, causing more than a few deaths and much frustration. Video: The camera is an enemy npc when fighting in enclosed spaces. If an aggressive enemy attacked my character against a wall or into a corner, the camera would pile on to ruin the encounter. This didn’t ruin my overall experience, but I hope it gets addressed before the DLCs are released. Thankfully, this issue didn’t affect the best moments in the game, the boss fights. I hate the Pagoda Realm, with a passion that will burn through the ages. At its core, BMWK is a game about fighting incredible bosses in dramatic setpiece battles that are so detailed it should be considered a privilege to get your ass handed to you over and over again. If one thing makes BMWK worth its admission price, it is the bosses. There are over eighty bosses, secret and non-secret, to be found throughout the game. Having fought about seventy-five during my playthrough, I was pleasantly surprised that no two bosses were the same; even if I did encounter a reskinned boss, they still felt like they had a unique fighting style and personality. I did face some similar skills, with minor variations in their timing and frequency, but this was infrequent enough that it didn’t affect the individual personality of any given boss. BMWK is undoubtedly not the first game with challenging bosses; any Souls-like game does the same. However, what makes BMWK different is the level of detail the bosses possess and their pacing. Traditionally, players only get to fight the boss after fighting through an army of boring lesser enemies. Failing a boss means making the ‘walk of shame’ from the last checkpoint and fighting everyone all over again, ad nauseam. Game Science does away with this tired formula and makes the interlude between the epic boss battles, the place the players would rather be, as short as possible. Shrines locations are placed with player convience in mind. It was appreciated. It is a simple enough spin on the traditional action game formula, but it’s a refreshing take on something no one has innovated for the last forty years. I spent more time fighting bosses than regular mobs. Almost every boss lair has a shrine close to its entrance, making return trips painless. It’s as if Game Science understands what the players want (i.e., to fight fantastical epic creatures in heated pitched battles) and provides it; it sounds so simple said like this. The boss fights deliver some truly incredible moments. On almost every encounter, some big moment would arise where my eyes would widen, and I’d yell out in excitement. I never knew what to expect from any individual boss, and even if a fight failed, I was mainly happy to return and reengage, even taking over twenty times to beat some bosses. (Except for the Yaksha King. That guy can go fuck himself!) Would you believe I lived through this? I didn't think so. As engaging as the boss combat is, it would only be half as engaging if not for the exceptional character design. The artistic design of the characters is the best I have ever seen in a video game. The character artists, modelers, and animators did their absolute best to make the characters look incredible and tell me something about their backgrounds. Above, I talked about how the narrative is somewhat inaccessible without knowing the source material; the incredible characterization on display partially recovers this. Every character model, weapon, item, and special effect is so detailed and exacting, down to the pixel, that it makes other action games look like they belong on a PlayStation 2. With Unreal Engine 5 powering these stunning visuals, this game sets a new industry standard for characterization and graphical design. This level of detail is impossible without a caring and dedicated team who is passionate about their work. The developers at Game Science should be applauded for what they have accomplished in BMWK , and I look forward to what is next to come from this first-time developer. With its engaging combat systems and obsession for detail, BMWK delivers some of the best-designed boss fights to grace your GPU this year. The game’s focus on big epic moments, when they matter most, makes it a memorable outing into the mythical Chinese countryside, one that will surely be on the minds of gamers and other developers going forward. Despite an inaccessible narrative and questionable world design, Game Science’s Black Myth: Wukong is a strong contender for Game of the Year. Black Myth: Wukong 2024 Share Send Send Send Send Track Name 00:00 / 01:04 Link Copied! BMWK Attains Enlightenment Incredible Boss Fights Make Up for a Narrative Designed with a Specific Audience in Mind. Review