Forward to Stella Montis

 I've been putting my gaming hours into ARC Raiders over the past week, and it's been a blast. The game is a perfect mix of PvP and PvE mashed into an extraction game that sometimes features shooting from a third-person perspective. It is fun and addictive, and only getting better with its first major patch going live today.

 Before we get into the patch, I want to say a few things about the game because I am having a ton of fun playing solo and with friends. Every raid is tense. Every successful extraction hits the joy center of my brain. Quests, workshop upgrades, projects, and more keep me going back topside over and over again. Even when I end up dead and leave everything with my corpse, I am still enjoying it.

 The game threads the needle on making death sting yet bearable enough that you want to come back for more; replacing lost gear always feels within reach. This encourages better player interactions across the game, as everyone is not a walking loot box. Chances are if you don't shoot first, others won't shoot back. Everyone is currently working on something—a quest, project, or upgrade—and they don’t want to be hassled any more than you do.

 The game has bred a unique community camaraderie because the real enemies are the ARC robots that infest the world. They are the reason humankind was driven underground and why we have a job as raiders to head topside and scavenge for scraps. Getting into a fight with another player is a surefire way to attract the attention of nearby ARC, and even the weakest of them have no problem dropping players. Many an aggressor has found themselves in the same downed state as their targets—all thanks to a sting from a hornet drone.

 PvP still happens. Some players play the villain and ambush you at the extract points. Other players just have itchy trigger fingers. As players get further along in the game and have more supplies stashed away, they are more likely to risk losing some gear to a PvP fight. When playing in the trio or duo queue, you are much more likely to run into a fight, while the solo queue has been friendlier. Lots of players are in the “just on a quest; don't shoot!” mode in solo lobbies.

 The “just on a quest” aspect also plays a key role in how we are experiencing the game currently. Quests and other objectives give a reason to be in the world beyond just looting and looking for a fight. So far, the game has offered me, as a more casual player, plenty of quests and upgrades to work on—each one gets progressively harder and forces me to step that much farther out of my comfort zone during a raid.

 Which takes us to the patch—and one of the major things the patch is adding is a community event to unlock the next zone, Stella Montis. All players globally are being asked to contribute supplies to work toward unlocking the zone. While the patch has only been live a short time this morning, the community had already made 14%+ progress—much faster than the developers intended—so it’s been reset back to 1%. It will be slower now, which means we'll all be back topside grinding away toward a shared goal, encouraging good behavior even more.

 This type of event will be key for ARC Raiders in the long run. Anything that keeps raiders going topside to loot and extract will keep players engaged. Add in their optional character wipe system that resets progress at the promise of a permanent reward, and players will be cycling through low-end and high-end content. With how clever and dangerous the ARC enemies are, including new ones being added in the patch, and how conditions on maps can change with weather and special conditions (night, lightning storm, etc.), there is a lot of replayability and fresh experiences to have.

 Overall, I am really enjoying this game, and it's a welcome refuge from thinking about the demise of New World. Patches are adding content faster than my more casual playtime allows me to complete it, which is a perfect combination for my needs. Friends are playing and enjoying it as well, and there is nothing better than having a buddy to pick you back up after missing yet another shot on a swarming ARC drone. See y’all topside.

Note: this post was edited with the help of AI (ChatGPT). The thoughts are my own.  The grammatical correctness and em dashes (—) are the AI.