Why Arc Raiders Should Have Stayed a PvE Raid Game

[Foxens]

When Arc Raiders was first announced, it caught the attention of many players with its atmospheric sci-fi setting, third-person perspective, and, most importantly, its focus on cooperative PvE gameplay. The idea of a squad working together to fight off overwhelming machine invasions was fresh, tactical, and full of potential. It promised an experience built on teamwork, strategy, and immersive world-building. But then came the disappointment: instead of staying true to that original PvE vision, Arc Raiders shifted toward becoming an extraction shooter.

This change feels not only disappointing but strategically questionable. The extraction shooter space is already saturated—with titles like Escape from Tarkov and countless indie projects all revolving around the same formula: drop in, loot, extract. What once stood out as a unique PvE co-op experience is now at risk of becoming just another loot-and-run shooter with little to no lasting identity.

The original concept was exactly what made Arc Raiders special. The idea of fighting massive robotic threats with a coordinated squad, using tactics, loadouts, and real objectives, could have offered something genuinely different. Instead, the game trades that potential for a short-term trend that prioritizes quick action over meaningful progression.

A PvE raid-based game could have delivered depth, long-term engagement, and real co-op synergy—elements that are hard to replicate in a fast-paced extraction format. What’s left now is a game that may still look polished but feels like it’s lost the soul of what made it stand out in the first place.

One can only hope the developers realize that not every game needs to chase the current trend—and that Arc Raiders' original vision was worth sticking to.

[HashNetwork]

im so tired of ppl who too scared to play pvp games....

[Grimmsch]

They did not chase a trend. As they said they did not manage to make it fun so they started prototyping internally and this is what they had the most fun with.
You have to realize that they have a dedicated PvP background and a rather small developer team of around 60 developers.

In my opinion fun is the greatest compass making games.

I read dozens of threads like this. Some people still seem to be unable to accept it after three years. I already see the clowns coming from the PvE purists.

Personally I would not play this game without PvP.
For me Arc Raiders is the perfect blend of PvP and PvE.
It got the formula right better than any game I played in this genre before.
I have very little gripes like the decision for third-person view and even that kinda grew on me.

[FalcoNSaiyajiN]

If they made this game PvE, barely anyone would be playing. just a small group of chillers maybe.

[Thorgen]

Ya a friend just asked me to look into this game. We both have jobs with long hours, I run my own business. Games like this were built for the unemployed. It's why you always see those youtube videos with similar games "1 man takes out entire clan solo". Then you browse and find he played about 60-70 hours a week more than that entire clan of 5 combined.

[Grimmsch]

Weird take. They don't even plan mandatory wipes like most other extraction games.

[Undefined_user_]

Originally posted by HashNetwork:

im so tired of ppl who too scared to play pvp games....

and that's the reason Helldivers 2 was a total success

[Kashra Fall]

Originally posted by HashNetwork:

im so tired of ppl who too scared to play pvp games....

They aren't scared, it's just PvP has two settings, to gank or to grief, there is no in between. The reason extraction games are popular, is because people can get rewarded for very little effort on their part. Sit in a bush? Camp an extract? Paid. The people you got the stuff from had to actively interact with the game through PVE AND PvP exchanges. Quite frankly, it's the reason I don't play PVP in survival games. Not wasting 20+ minutes of my time, for you to get all that work in a 5 second exchange and a lucky shot.

[Ya Boi Fed-Ex]

Originally posted by HashNetwork:

im so tired of ppl who too scared to play pvp games....

it blows my mind how people are crying over PVP, where there are HUNDREDs of dead PVE games. i love PVE, and im not the biggest fan of PVP these days, but in this game it WORKS. and it will only sustain the game. at this point either play or dont, so tired of these whining posts.

[We.Are.Simulated]

Originally posted by HashNetwork:

im so tired of ppl who too scared to play pvp games....

Different people like different things. I am not "too afraid" to play PvP games. I play The Finals which is another game Embark put out. My issue with this game is the fact that it is an extraction shooter and 3rd person, so people can literally peak around corners and see you coming.

The moment they decided to switch to this, they should have went first person. It isn't like the team doesn't have experience making first person work and feel right.

They also could easily provide both options, keeping progress separate between each realm. With some minor adjustments to progression the PvE realm could work flawlessly and open them up to the many people who will not play an extraction shooter.


Also good luck with cheaters. We already have hacks being created during this closed test. Extraction shooters are ALWAYS infested with cheaters and no you will not know when someone is cheating. Most hacking is done in a way that is not obvious. Aimbots are advanced enough that they can just coax your aim onto the target a bit and it makes a huge difference.

Plenty of extraction shooter hacking is just wallhacks which is obviously a massive advantage in an extraction shooter.

You should be very worried about this, you will never be able to know for certain if you lost a fight legitimately or if they were cheating. The game doesn't even have a kernal level anti cheat and that means its anti cheat is literally irrelevant. It will do NOTHING. Even kernal level isn't unbeatable.

[We.Are.Simulated]

Originally posted by Ya Boi Fed-Ex:

Originally posted by HashNetwork:

im so tired of ppl who too scared to play pvp games....

it blows my mind how people are crying over PVP, where there are HUNDREDs of dead PVE games. i love PVE, and im not the biggest fan of PVP these days, but in this game it WORKS. and it will only sustain the game. at this point either play or dont, so tired of these whining posts.

Who said they have to take PvP away? No one is arguing that. We are arguing for both. They could easily make a PvE realm that has separate progression. With a few tweaks to enemy AI spawn rates and progression speed, they would have something both kinds of players could play.

[Kashra Fall]

Originally posted by We.Are.Simulated:

Originally posted by Ya Boi Fed-Ex:

it blows my mind how people are crying over PVP, where there are HUNDREDs of dead PVE games. i love PVE, and im not the biggest fan of PVP these days, but in this game it WORKS. and it will only sustain the game. at this point either play or dont, so tired of these whining posts.

Who said they have to take PvP away? No one is arguing that. We are arguing for both. They could easily make a PvE realm that has separate progression. With a few tweaks to enemy AI spawn rates and progression speed, they would have something both kinds of players could play.

People have this illusion that optional modes= player base split, but if people weren't going to play PvP before, what makes them think they will if it is the ONLY option? Personally, I won't buy the game as it currently stands because I've been part of that extraction shennanigans before in multiple different games. It "Can" be fun, but most of the time, it's just annoying. Arc caught my interest cause of the PvE co-op settings in a sci-fi world and after seeing the recent gameplay, it's still there. Just take the player vs player out, put a few more bots in, separate the progression and boom, you have more sales.

[SimonRed]

Originally posted by HashNetwork:

im so tired of ppl who too scared to play pvp games....

I think OP is correct. nothing is more boring then having a game where you most gather everyhing . bring stuff in and then just have someone corner camp you. like okey I played it just for 15 hours but damn every singel fight was either a flatout kill or it ended up with both sitting on a corner waiting, waiting... waiting and nice I made coffee back to waiting.

the only thing to realy do if you dont kill someone right away is to just go back forgetting about them sense pushing is dumb af in its current form

[SolutionS]

The change was public year ago. This game is EPIC and will be super successful. Its time for the PVE only crowd to simply move on.

[PhellAsleep]

Originally posted by FalcoNSaiyajiN:

If they made this game PvE, barely anyone would be playing. just a small group of chillers maybe.

More importantly, the Devs stated that they weren't able to make a PvE experience that felt fun. Why would they insist on releasing a game that they admittedly didn't know how to make?

[Lets Go Brandon]

lol this topic is 3 years old it was never officially a pve game it was and is officially a pvpve extraction shooter. if you read the old discussions you would know this