Arc Raiders, extraction shooter from ex-Dice CEO, opens sign-ups for its closed alpha later this month
Announced back in 2021 before ending up delayed into this year.
Arc Raiders is yet another extraction-style shooter sat in this year’s calendar of releases, but this one’s been kicking around a while longer than most: it was originally announced at The Game Awards back in 2021, before being delayed into 2023.
If your mind needs a bit of rejigging given that years-long time gap, here’s a reminder: Arc Raiders is the co-op/PvPvE third-person shooter that marks the debut of Embark, the studio founded by former Dice CEO and Battlefield exec Patrick Söderlund.
Originally announced as a co-op PvE experience, it’s since transitioned into becoming an extraction-style game built around PvE encounters between teams of human players as they venture out of the underground colony of Speranza to search for resources on a post-apocalyptic future Earth.
The game’s latest trailer shows player characters creeping through forests, peering down manholes and trying to survive both raiders - i.e. other players - and machines, including a spider-bot thing with an ominous glowing eye and a dangerous-looking red triangle of light from the sky. Among all that, you'll be wanting to complete various objectives and scavenge enough materials to trade with the folks left underground.
There’s plenty of po-faced narration about living with your choices, as the player looks down a sniper scope at enemies and sneaks up on someone looting a body, presumably to bonk them on the head and scavenge some ammo.
The trailer accompanies the announcement of a closed alpha due to kick off on June 29th, which you can now sign up for over on Steam.