Back in 2018, a DICE CEO and chief designer from Electronic Arts left the company to form a brand-new one. After Patrick Soderlund stepped down from his position at EA and formed Embark Studios, he began teasing a new project that was in the works. There was little information provided about this project up until its announcement at The Game Awards showcase in 2021. This project was known as a third-person co-op PvE multiplayer sci-fi shooter known as ARC Raiders.
ARC Raiders' first trailer at The Game Awards showed off a lot of the game's premise along with the main threat. This threat is an invading force of aliens, which are the titular ARC, who are mechanical in nature. The other half of the title is represented by the players, who are a part of a group of resistance fighters, appropriately named the Raiders. While Embark Studios announced this game would be targeting a 2022 release year when it was revealed, the game will be missing that window and is being delayed into 2023.
This delay was announced on the game's official Twitter account, where the developers note that they are looking to have the game live up to its full potential, with ambitious ideas. This extra time provided from this delay will be used to polish the game and expand what's been done. More details regarding ARC Raiders will be shared at a later date, though the post notes that there was a lot of excitement behind its PvE multiplayer gameplay.
A lot of the replies to the post have been noted to be positive, with fans encouraging the developers to take their time with making the game. Some expressed their excitement regardless of the push to the next year, while others noted that they saw it coming since there hasn't been anything new about ARC Raiders since its announcement at The Game Awards last year.
From what has been shown so far, the enemies will come in shapes and sizes, starting off small with drone being easy fodder for players to shoot down. They will eventually start growing into even bigger drones that can rain bullets upon a group of players, with one of the biggest enemies being a giant crab-like mecha. To overcome these mechanical menaces, the Raiders need to use teamwork and co-op tactics in order to succeed, utilizing on-the-fly strategies, in-game physics, and the environments.
ARC Raiders will launch as a free-to-play title on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S in 2023.
