Arc Raiders And The Surprise Of Friendly Raiders
Jumping into Arc Raiders for the first time, many players expect a harsh world similar to hardcore extraction shooters like Escape from Tarkov. You land, you loot, and you assume anyone you meet is going to shoot you on sight.
But Arc Raiders has surprised a lot of people by doing something different. Instead of pure kill on sight chaos, there is a strong streak of cooperation running through its matches. Strangers routinely help each other out, even though the game’s systems reward you for grabbing other players’ loot when they go down.
According to Robert Sammelin, art director at Embark Studios, even the developers were not sure this would happen. During internal tests the devs themselves tended to be far more ruthless than the live community is now. Once the game went public, players began treating each other far more kindly than the team expected.
This is where Arc Raiders finds a clever sweet spot in the PvPvE formula. Everyone in a match has a shared hatred of the robotic enemies called arcs. These mechanical threats are dangerous enough that teaming up often makes sense, even with total strangers. At the same time, there is always the temptation to betray someone for their loot. That mix of cooperation and tension is what gives Arc Raiders its unique feel.
Sammelin notes that the team wanted players to feel a constant layer of threat when meeting others, but also to feel that the greater danger from the arcs might nudge them into working together. Seeing that hope actually come true at launch has been “heartwarming” for the studio.
Interestingly, internal stats back this up. The number of players being downed by other players is surprisingly low for an extraction style shooter. Of course, how you experience the game depends a lot on whether you go in solo or with a squad, but overall the community has been more cooperative than toxic.
The Dark Side Of Aggression And The Stella Montis Death Maze
That does not mean Arc Raiders is some peaceful wonderland. The game uses a form of behaviour analysis in its matchmaking, often referred to by players as aggression based matchmaking. In short, if you play like a bloodthirsty maniac, you are more likely to be grouped with people who do the same.
The result can be some brutally hostile lobbies. Players who have mostly enjoyed friendly encounters have also reported matches where everyone seems out for blood from the very first minute. When the system funnels high aggression players together, you can end up in a true warzone.
This is especially noticeable on the Stella Montis map, which Sammelin openly calls terrifying. Some maps in Arc Raiders lean more toward PvE, while others are clearly designed to encourage PvP. Stella Montis falls solidly into the second category.
This map is not just dangerous because of its enemies, like the vicious Shredder. It is also become a playground for creative raiders who love building traps and griefing others. One dedicated player has turned Stella Montis into a maze of evil routes and dead ends, proudly calling themselves an engineer of chaos. Others fill rooms with explosives like trailblazers, showstoppers, and snap blast grenades, locking victims inside and turning the whole area into a death trap.
For players who are faint of heart or who prefer cooperation over constant ambushes, Stella Montis can be a nightmare. It is a reminder that Arc Raiders still allows for plenty of cruelty and trickery between players, especially for those who go looking for that experience.
Maps With Personality From Safe Starts To Deadly Curiosity
Not every map in Arc Raiders is built to crush your spirit. Sammelin has a particular fondness for Dam Battlegrounds, the first map most players encounter. It is designed to be well rounded and approachable, giving new raiders a good taste of what the game is about without overwhelming them.
Dam Battlegrounds balances PvE and PvP in a way that introduces tension without immediately throwing you into hyper aggressive chaos. It is a place where the cooperative side of the community can really shine, as players learn the basics and feel out how they want to interact with others.
Then there is Buried City, which Sammelin loves for its complexity and visual style. This map encourages a lot more exploration. You weave in and out of buildings, check hidden corners, and follow your curiosity to see what secrets and loot might be waiting.
Of course, curiosity can get you killed. One player recounts following their nose in Buried City only to end up crushed under the foot of a Bombardier in Plaza Rosa. Even so, every raider they met before that point had been friendly, highlighting again how often cooperation wins out over random violence in Arc Raiders.
The game’s wider ecosystem reinforces this mix of danger and discovery. There are guides and resources focused on helping players find Field Depots and Field Crates, understand quest lines like Greasing Her Palms or A Reveal in Ruins, and master advanced tasks like looting armored transports. There are also breakdowns of the best skills to survive topside and explanations of how expeditions work when it is time to retire your raider.
All of this shows how Arc Raiders is evolving beyond just another shooter. It is becoming a shared world where community behaviour matters as much as aim and gear. Whether you go in as a helpful teammate, a sneaky trap builder, or a pure PvP hunter, the game reacts to you through its matchmaking and maps.
In the end, that is what makes Arc Raiders so interesting. It is a PvPvE extraction shooter where kindness can be as surprising and impactful as betrayal, and where every map feels like its own social experiment. If you are looking for a shooter that gives you room to be either a hero or a villain and sometimes both in the same run this one is worth keeping on your radar.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/arc-raiders-devs-are-uplifted-by-how-kind-players-have-been-to-one-another-but-admit-were-way-worse-people-than-the-community-when-it-comes-to-engaging-in-pvp/
