Stella Montis Turns Arc Raiders Into Pure Chaos
Arc Raiders has had a wild week. Embark Studios opened the doors to Stella Montis, a new tight and brutal facility, and players immediately threw themselves into it. The result is a mix of impressive victories, ridiculous deaths, and some very generous teamwork.
Stella Montis arrived as part of the Breaking New Ground project, and it did not take long for the community to dive into the tunnels. The mood from the developers is clear: this update landed hard, and players absolutely showed up.
In just under a week, Raiders turned this claustrophobic maze into a full on warzone.
A Week Of Huge Numbers And Hilarious Deaths
Embark shared some early stats from the first week of Stella Montis, and they tell a story that is both impressive and a little bit cursed.
- 25 million visits to Stella Montis in under a week
- 26,923 Matriarch kills
- 2,270,576 players knocked down by the new Shredder arc
- 37,218 players killed by their own Deadline mine
- 117 players somehow knocked themselves out with volcanic rock
Those numbers say a lot about how intense the new area is. The Matriarch is one of the main threats in Stella Montis, and nearly thirty thousand kills in a week is no joke. For many players, just seeing one is enough to cause a mild panic. Taking it down is another level entirely.
Then there is the Shredder, the new arc enemy that clearly lives up to its name. More than two million knockdowns from a single enemy type shows how punishing the tunnels can be if you are not paying attention or if your squad is not quite ready for the heat.
The Deadline mine might be the most entertaining stat of all. It is a powerful new tool that can one shot heavy enemies and help delete some of the worst threats in the game. It is also very good at deleting the person who placed it. Tens of thousands of accidental self destructs prove that giving players a strong explosive will always result in some spectacular friendly fire.
And then there are the 117 Raiders who managed to down themselves with volcanic rocks. Nobody is entirely sure how that happens, but it feels very on brand for Arc Raiders. When the environment is trying to kill you as hard as the enemies are, mistakes turn into comedy very fast.
Community Power And Arc Raiders Momentum
The story of Stella Montis is not just about deaths and boss kills. It is also about how much the community has thrown itself into Arc Raiders as a whole.
Before players could raid Stella Montis, the tunnels to reach it had to be opened through a community event. That meant donating resources to unlock access. One single player donated 24,375 resources on their own, a huge contribution that shows how committed some Raiders already are to pushing the game forward.
The community event itself finished in under 40 hours, even after the developers increased the goals because players were being so generous. That speed, combined with the insane number of Stella Montis visits, makes it clear that the player base is extremely active right now.
On top of that, Arc Raiders has been hitting impressive player counts on Steam. The game recently peaked at around 480,000 concurrent players, which is serious territory for any online title, especially one still finding its footing. Those numbers suggest that the mix of extraction shooter tension, sci fi setting, and now hardcore tunnel crawling is working.
Stella Montis in particular seems to be a perfect showcase of what makes Arc Raiders tick. It is packed, tight, and dangerous, with enemies that can drop you in seconds and loot that makes you want to risk one more run. That loop of fear and reward is exactly what keeps players queueing up for another expedition, even after they just got flattened by a Shredder or blown up by their own mine.
If you are new to the game or just returning after some time away, Stella Montis is a good snapshot of where Arc Raiders is right now. The core combat feels sharp, the stakes are high, and the community is active enough that events get cleared faster than the devs expect.
There are also plenty of systems to dig into if you want to survive a little longer in those tunnels. Field Depots and Field Crates help you gear up in the wild, story quests send you across ruined cities and strange locations, and skill choices make the difference between barely scraping out and walking out stacked with loot.
All of those pieces come together in Stella Montis. It is a place where one squad can drop a Matriarch in style while the next wipes because someone misjudged a Deadline mine or got surprised by an arc around a corner. The update has turned into a shared story generator for the whole community.
In the end, the first week of Stella Montis makes one thing obvious. Arc Raiders is in a strong spot, with players eager to push into new content, break developer expectations, and occasionally blow themselves up in the most spectacular ways possible. If Embark keeps delivering updates with this level of chaos and replay value, those tunnels are going to stay busy for a long time.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/arc-raiders-players-are-dominating-stella-montis-with-25-million-visits-26-923-matriarch-kills-and-117-self-kos-with-a-volcanic-rock-ok-that-last-one-isnt-great/
