A few years ago, Patrick Soderlund, a chief designer from Electronic Arts and DICE CEO, left the company to form a brand-new game development company, Embark Studios. Soderlund had teased a few times that a new project was in the works, though nothing had been heard about the game until now. The studio's first game will be an upcoming third-person co-op PvE multiplayer sci-fi shooter known as ARC Raiders.
The first look at ARC Raiders was shown off at this year's The Game Awards showcase, with a trailer showcasing the game's premise and gameplay features. The main threat that the players will be facing are an invading force of mechanical aliens, known as ARC. Players take the role of human resistance fighters known as Raiders, taking on these mechnanical menaces in increasing strength.
These enemies start off small, with drone-like enemies that players can shoot down with various weapons, with one fighter showing off a grappling hook that can be used to bring these drones down and finish off with a stomp. The threats in ARC Raiders, however, will seem to grow in size and strength, as these enemies start scaling up and fighting back. One of these includes bigger drones that can rain fire on unsuspecting players on the battlefield, with another being a giant crab-like mecha.
To overcome these threats, ARC Raiders is emphasizing the usage of teamwork and tactics to succeed. The bigger enemies in particular seem like they will require the most co-operation from players in order to take them down, along with on-the-fly strategies, and utilization of the game's environments and physics. According to Soderlund shortly after the game's reveal, more gameplay of this upcoming co-op action title will be shown in the coming months.
ARC Raiders will launch as a free-to-play title on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S in 2022.
