I was wrong. ARC Raiders was not shadow-dropped at Summer Game Fest last week, as many of us had hoped. That was probably for the best, considering I lost internet for most of the weekend. What we did get was a new trailer and a release date: October 30th. After that deflating announcement—like my internet—the hype dropped for ARC Raiders.
Am I less interested in playing ARC Raiders? No. I'm still looking forward to the game. I'll just have to wait a little longer. The game will likely be better for it, with extra time to add content and smooth out technical issues. It was unrealistic to expect a shadow drop. Shame on me.
But I can’t stand here and say I’m not irritated about how things went down—especially considering this is the second year in a row I’ve had my excitement for a game crushed by a lackluster Summer Game Fest announcement. Last year, it was New World and their “big announcement,” and in a shockingly similar series of events, ARC Raiders followed suit this year. Maybe it's Summer Game Fest?
Last year, I was able to shift my perspective and stay interested in what New World's announcement meant for the game. I expect to do the same with ARC Raiders the game. Just like then, I'm sitting here every day checking news feeds, waiting for the next bit of info about the game.
While I’m still excited for the game, I have to admit I’ve lost a bit of respect for Embark Studios. I really thought they were a different kind of developer—one that could actually surprise gamers. They built and fueled the hype after Tech Test 2: the hidden game files with the secret countdown timer, the bleeped troll video, the Summer Game Fest teaser featuring Scrappy the rooster. All of it now feels unwarranted, considering all they delivered was a ho-hum trailer and a release date. Basically, we had a secret countdown timer... to another countdown timer. That’s a fat L on Embark’s part.
With that said, Embark did issue an apology (see image below post)—and it seemed genuine. My main concern, though, is that they had to see this coming. They had to know the level of hype and the tactics they used didn’t justify what they were actually delivering. If they didn’t... oof. That wouldn’t reflect well on their marketing and community teams. If they did... oof.
I’ll hold onto my own dumb hope that Embark wanted to shadow-drop the game and just came up short. In my odd little gamer mind, that’s the only explanation that makes sense for revving the hype engine up as much as they did.
So, Embark takes a few steps back on my developer list. ARC Raiders stays at the top of my “want to play” list. Now I just need to figure out what to play until October 30th.
Note: this post was edited with the help of AI (ChatGPT). The thoughts are my own. The grammatical correctness is the AI.
Dune Awakening, the new survival game pretending to also be an MMORPG, launched this week into early access. The Steam charts are peaking, YouTube videos are flooding in—and yet, here I am, not playing. Can I really call myself an MMORPG gamer?
First, I want to note that I was a long-time tester for Dune Awakening. I’ve already gotten into a squabble about "breaking the NDA" once, so I’ll be careful not to let any of my opinions here be influenced by those NDA test periods. Even mentioning I was in the tests is technically breaking NDA... but whatever—the game is live now. My comments will be based on the public tests and general community feedback so far.
"I am in this weird state of equilibrium with the game where I don’t love it and I don’t hate it."
That sums up my feelings as well. It's why I haven't rushed to get into early access or the standard launch (yet). I’ll keep adding “yet” because I’m not playing much else right now, and a new game—even one I don’t see long-term potential in—is tempting.
One area of concern is Dune Awakening’s server setup. Players share servers, but different areas have different restrictions and player caps. Depending on demand for your “slice” of the servers, you might be locked out of progress entirely if you can’t reconnect to the area where your base is located. Can I move servers? Can I move my base? These questions are flooding community sites. It’s more confusing than it needs to be.
All of this server weirdness cuts at the heart of what makes an MMO an MMO: exploration and organically running into other players. Dune Awakening feels less like an open world and more like loosely interconnected hubs. There were many times in the public tests where I didn’t encounter another player at all. Later in the game, players are drawn together more often—but server caps and restrictions still undercut any sense of “massive.”
Then came the announcement: players can buy private servers. I groaned. When you add that to the already limited planned server capacity—which, when you do the math, is below the number of players trying to get in so far—it just doesn’t feel great. I’ve never followed an MMORPG that sold private instances to its players. It’s a baffling design decision.
Some readers may remember I heaped praise on Once Human, a game very similar to Dune Awakening. Like Awakening, Once Human was also a quasi-MMO survival game. Once Human was buggy and janky, with a similarly questionable server strategy (caps, instances, planned end dates and relaunches). And yet, I loved Once Human during the time I played it. I can’t explain why the server stuff bothers me more in Dune Awakening. Maybe it’s because I expected more from Funcom than I did from the relatively unknown developers behind Once Human.
Another issue: the combat. As a Dune fan, the thing that always made Dune’s combat interesting was how shields rendered ranged weapons mostly ineffective. Melee mattered. In Dune Awakening, melee combat... isn’t great. They’ve made changes, they’ve talked it up—but based on launch day streams, it still doesn’t look good. Meanwhile, ranged weapons are overused, making the game feel more like a generic shooter than something rooted in Dune lore.
Speaking of lore—that’s another sticking point for me. I get that the game had to make choices, but water feels too easy to come by. One particular source—blood—is used far too frequently. In Dune lore, purifying blood into water is a rare, revered act. In the game, it’s something you do every few minutes. Again, I understand the design trade-offs, but it breaks immersion. That’s a me problem, I admit.
Even though it’s been several months since I played Once Human, I still feel worn out on survival games. The idea of harvesting rocks for the hundredth time just doesn’t excite me. Dune Awakening adds a twist—you have to trace a pattern on objects to break them open. Neat the first few times. Tedious after that.
There are UI quirks I don’t like, either. The crafting menus feel cluttered and unintuitive. There are eight usable item slots, which you have to mix weapons and utility items into. Eight is a lot—it requires finger stretching to make use of them all. And you need them all. Everything from sucking blood to summoning your vehicle takes up a slot. Many of these actions could’ve been bound to separate hotkeys. I’d prefer weapons were statically tied to 1/2/3 rather than needing to assign them manually.
That said, there are things to like. I expect we’ll see strong peak player numbers (it was already nearing 100k on day one of head start). The atmosphere can be phenomenal. The desert at night, with ships hovering overhead, oozes menace. Your first encounter with a sandworm won’t be forgotten—though your gear will be if the worm catches you. Players always surprise with creative buildings. And there’s PvP later in the game.
We’ll see what comes out of Summer Games Fest announcements tonight for ARC Raiders, and I’ll also weigh whether I want to engage more with New World Season 8 before making a final decision on Dune Awakening. Launch periods of MMORPGs—even quasi-MMOs like Dune here—are often the most memorable. If I’m going to play, it’ll be soon. But for now, I’m watching Dune from the sidelines.
Note: this post was edited with the help of AI (ChatGPT). The thoughts are my own. The grammatical correctness is the AI.
Today (6/6/2025) is Summer Game Fest, and just like last year, I find myself waiting for yet another BIG ANNOUNCEMENT. Last year ended in tragedy with New World's nothing-burger news after hyping the announcement to the moon. Once again, a year later, many of us in the gaming community are waiting on bated breath for what's next for ARC Raiders, developed by Embark Studios.
They better have a banger of an update for June, otherwise this video will likely be forever held up as the moment "remember when New World died?"
The same could be said for Embark Studios and ARC Raiders. The hype for ARC is unprecedented, and Embark has a specific history that supercharges it. Embark's first game, The Finals, "shadow dropped" 32 days after it held a closed beta. No one expected the game to launch—and yet, BOOM, there The Finals was in all its glory. It was a very well-received launch.
Now we sit exactly 32 days from the last ARC Raiders tech test, which received universal praise and is responsible for everyone's excitement. Embark has left clue after clue about something BIG on 6/6. There was the secret game update pushed to Steam that teased 6/6. There's the counting of letters in the ARC Raiders slogan "Enlist. Resist."—6 and 6. And of course, there’s the aforementioned bleep video.
If this announcement isn't a banger, I will sincerely be worried that I’m cursed to follow games made by flunkies with poor taste in how to deliver a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT. So what do I think we're going to get later today?
Realistically? A new trailer, a release date, and a beta test announcement.
But I'm not known for staying within the bounds of reality in these situations, so here’s what I think is going to happen: Embark Studios is going to shadow drop ARC Raiders. By end of day, we’ll be playing it live. The buzz will be insane.
Why do I think it will be shadow dropped? I’ll spare you links to all the theoretical supporting evidence—like major streamers hinting at an undisclosed game they’ll be streaming tonight. For me, it comes down to my faith in Embark Studios. They are not your average dev studio. They feel very much like a "game-and-gamer-first, business-second" developer.
The Finals, while not as popular now as it was at launch, was an unexpected gem. Embark shadow dropped it to wild success. They can and will do the same for ARC Raiders—but this time, the hype is on another level. I’m also hopeful that Embark wants to maintain a reputation as a developer willing to surprise gamers. Again, that "game-and-gamer-first" vibe I get from them.
They will drop ARC Raiders today. See y’all on the surface.
Note: this post was edited with the help of AI (ChatGPT). The thoughts are my own. The grammatical correctness is the AI.
I did something recently that I haven't done in months: I logged in and played New World: Aeternum. Why? Because Season 8—Season of the Divide—went live, bringing with it the new Outpost Rush (OPR) map, Coral Divide. No more preview periods. No more changes. Just live smashing, slashing, and running on a new OPR map. So much running. Wait—where did all of this haste come from!?
First, the gorilla in the room for the Season 8 patch is the performance issues—frame rate drops, hitching, crashing, and confusion around flip-flopping between DX11 (now labeled as the "old client") and the current state of DX12. It’s definitely put a damper on enjoying the patch, and I hope the devs get a fix out sooner rather than later.
Gone with Season 8 are the PvP servers from Season 7. I transferred heartlessgamer2 to his new home on Hudsonland and checked out what happened to my PvP server gear. The advertised plan—that it would convert to 710+ GS items—was technically accurate, but not quite what we expected. What I wound up with was a mix of blue/green/purple 700+ GS items... basically junk. That was unfortunate, so I’m glad I didn’t waste time grinding PvP gear at the end of Season 7.
The Springtide Bloom event is live again, so I headed out with heartlessgamer2 to blow up some flowers and gather some goo. The event is the same as past years, with a few new rewards. The bug requiring you to do bleed damage to get goo seems to be fixed—I was quickly racking up goo this year. The only new reward I’m really interested in is the horse mount.
The patch also brought several changes that affected my main build (Frigid Dawn + Burnanator), so I logged out of heartlessgamer2 and into heartlessgamer proper to test how the build held up. The big change was to the Frigid Dawn armor pieces, which make up four out of five armor slots in my build. This set was great because it had an illegal perk combo—two of the strongest defensive perks. With the patch, the devs nerfed each of the perks to account for the illegal combo.
So, how did it feel? Not too bad. The decreased defensive effectiveness was noticeable, but the build didn’t feel gutted. Frigid Dawn was a popular armor set and long overdue for balancing. I think it's in a good place now, and it opens the door to trying new armor without feeling like I'm giving up a best-in-slot set.
The Burnanator fire staff and the rest of the build remain mostly the same. The defensive side is what gives the build staying power, letting me keep the flamethrower going and stack those burns.
There are also some new things I’ll have to try out:
New Gem Types
Jade:
Plagued: Basic attacks inflict a stack of disease, reducing the target’s incoming healing by 2.5% and outgoing by 1.25% per stack for 3s (max 10 stacks).
Plagued Ward: -6.2% disease duration per armor or trinket with this gem slotted.
Turquoise:
Penetrating: +12% armor penetration.
Hardened: +3% physical and elemental armor per armor/trinket with this gem slotted.
New Perks to Consider (or Defend Against)
Sundering Stacks: Main-hand weapon perk. Inflicts 4% Rend per stack (6s duration, max 5 stacks).
Alternating Enchantment: Melee perk. Basic attacks increase next ability hit by 10%, and vice versa, within 5s.
Vital Synergy: Chest perk. While below 50% health, gain 20% stamina regen. While below 50% stamina, incoming healing is increased by 20%.
Hardcore Parkour: Footwear perk. Gain 18% haste for 5s after a traversal action.
Stop, Drop, and Roll: Amulet perk. Dodging reduces the duration of all Burn DoT effects on you by 25%.
Heartgem Changes
Dark Ascent got buffed and may be worth using instead of Stoneform:
Increased iframes at startup from 0.5s to 1s (15 to 30 frames).
AOE size increased from 3m to 4m.
Open World PvP Camps Change
A big quality-of-life change: you can now destroy camps created by PvP-flagged players. Before, if you killed someone, they could just respawn right back at their tent a few feet away. Now you can hunt down and destroy their camp. This makes tent placement a lot more strategic—and placing; then hiding your own tent suddenly matters a lot more.
Coral Divide – New OPR Map
As mentioned at the top, Coral Divide is now live and is the big attraction of the patch. The map has way more nooks and crannies compared to the standard wide-open layout. I really liked the preview events and enjoy playing it. It’ll be even better once map rotation becomes hourly instead of static.
Capture the Flag – First Look
We also got our first hands-on with the new Capture the Flag mode. It was fast-paced and fun, and I had some nail-biter matches. The interaction with the flag felt inconsistent—sometimes I thought I had the flag, only to realize I didn’t. It’s also unclear what causes the flag to be dropped. I’d prefer they just block actions while carrying the flag to remove confusion. Looking forward to this being a full-time mode and not just a limited-time preview.
Barebones OPR – In Preview
While I was out on vacation, Barebones Outpost Rush went into preview. I haven’t tried it yet, but the concept is cool: everyone uses set 725 GS gear with all perks disabled. From what I’ve heard, it brings combat back to that early-game feel—no self-heals or haste perks. Slower, more tactical. Sounds fun, and I’m eager to try it.
Hardcore Seasonal Server – Now Live
Lastly, the new hardcore seasonal server is now live. I’m not sure I’ll jump in, but I’m sure it’ll appeal to some. It features accelerated everything, so you can level up quickly and see how long you last before becoming “fallen.” Unlike true hardcore modes in other MMOs, you don’t lose your character—you just switch status from “unfallen” to “fallen.”
Season 8 shows that New World is entering what I’d call its “experimental phase.” New game modes, twists on old ones, and another seasonal server with a gimmick. I don’t expect a wave of returning players, but for those of us still hanging around, there’s plenty of new stuff to keep us logging in.
Note: this post was edited with the help of AI (ChatGPT). The thoughts are my own. The grammatical correctness is the AI.
May 2025 has come and gone and with it so has 20 years since I started blogging! And as is expected with this blog I am woefully behind getting to posting anything of merit to celebrate that 20 year mark. Worry not dear reader for I am working on something that will be released.... sometime... soon... maybe. In the interim let's take a look back at May.
The Blog
Blogger stats for April: 41,137 (note: below graph includes some June dates and is missing May dates)
In other metrics:
Posts:
Target: 2 (I've been posting less these days so was honest with myself; post April review and post about 20 years; so 2 posts was the target)
Posted: 8
Difference: +6
Search Trends
This past month had some shakeups to some long standing search trends. Battlefield related search results dropped off the list while some old Once Human and some new New World searches popped in.
"once human end game" and similiar searches hit the top spot and drove visitors to my completely out of date post: End Game Thoughts on Once Human
I am sure there is some sort of patch change that brought interest to this unique round shield in the game; which I am not even sure can be obtained anymore even with the guide I posted.
"new world wispy spritz" was the next New World related search trend which coincides with the Springtide Bloom event coming back with the recent Season 8 patch. Searchers were probably disapointed to find my post just complaining about the cost of the crafting recipe... Why New World! Why!?
And poking around lower in the list of search trends I found "heartless 2012 game" climbing along with "heartless game"; my assumption is searchers first try "heartless game" and are confused when they end up on my blog so they go back and try the 2012 search only to wind up back here. Oh well!
What I Played
May marks the end of school for my kids and thus our annual beach trip so blogging and gaming were both limited. I did get some time to play New World Aeternum and shared my thoughts on the start of Season 8 here.
Honestly I am just buying time currently waiting for ARC Raiders to have another beta test OR more hopefully just shadow dropping after June 6th and Summer Games Fest!
Frozen Synapse also launched in May of 2010 and to this day I still have fond memories of the game. I especially liked the "publish to YouTube" feature of the game that automated recordings of games for easy publishing.
ARC Raiders includes gadget-like items such as binoculars, which have useful but relatively low-value functions. However, since they take up a full inventory slot, they're often among the first things discarded—or not even considered in the first place.
If the game added a dedicated gadget slot for items like binoculars, it would increase their value and usability. These items would no longer compete for valuable loot slots, allowing players to enjoy their benefits without sacrifice. Ideally, this slot would remain limited to simple gadgets like binoculars, and not include rare or powerful gear.
Idea 2: Let Us Upgrade Our Crowbar
One of the signature items every Raider carries is their crowbar. Doors, probes, fallen ARC robots, lockers, chests, electrical cabinets—you name it, and Raiders are busting it open with their crowbar (other Raiders' skulls included). The crowbar is so important that you always have it on you by default, without needing to equip it. You also don’t lose it when you die—a rare design decision in an extraction shooter.
There are even skills in the trees that affect how fast you can loot and break into things. It feels like a missed opportunity that these effects weren’t moved into an upgrade system for the crowbar instead. If crowbars could be upgraded, and those upgrades dropped on death like other gear, it would add an extra layer of risk and reward.
Idea 3: Let Us Bring Scrappy With Us
I love the concept of Scrappy—the lovable, loot-gathering chicken who’s become the de facto mascot of ARC Raiders. He passively collects materials and lets players retrieve them through the workshop menu. This system ensures players always have a cache of basic materials (and rarer ones as Scrappy levels up).
But wouldn’t it be awesome if you could switch Scrappy to an active mode where he follows you around on raids and gathers items at a faster rate? Imagine walking into a room and seeing another raider’s Scrappy picking through scraps. Upon spotting you, he squawks a loud BAWK and scrambles off, alerting you to where his owner might be but also having alerted everyone else to your arrival.
Once he’s loaded up, you could send Scrappy off to extract, even as you continue exploring. But if another Raider catches him before extraction, they could pop him like a loot pinata. Or maybe that Scrappy is just bait. Part alarm system, part loot chicken, and maybe even a clever trap—it’s honestly a brilliant concept.
Idea 4: A Shared Social Hub
Currently, everything in Speranza—the underground home of the Raiders—is accessed through menus. Visiting your workshop? Menu. Visiting traders? Menu. Forming a group? Menu. Meanwhile, in the background of the main menu, there's a beautiful, animated scene of a bar or shop with characters walking around, announcements playing, and life happening. It hints at a real depth of character in Speranza.
So why not let us explore it? Turn Speranza into a shared social hub and housing area!
I get that some players just want to jump from one raid to the next, and might get bored walking from one crafting station to another. But for those of us who enjoy social connections and showing off our accomplishments, a shared space would be fantastic.
In fact, I’d argue that adding housing or a social hub could take ARC Raiders to the next level—which would be impressive, considering the buzz it's already generating. Plus, this is an extraction game. What’s better than extracting with an amazing reward you can permanently display to other players?
And seriously—who looks at the stunning background of the main menu and doesn’t want to walk into that world and interact with the characters? Who watches the pre-raid “walking” loading screen and doesn’t wish they could walk there themselves?
Maybe it’s just the MMORPG player in me wanting more from the game than just the raids—but I truly believe ARC Raiders would be even more awesome if Speranza were a place we could explore.
Note: this post was edited with the help of AI (ChatGPT). The thoughts are my own. The grammatical correctness is the AI. Curious what edits were made? See ChatGPT's explanation below.
Explanation of Edits from ChatGPT
Here are the main types of edits I made:
Punctuation and Sentence Structure
Replaced semicolons and misplaced commas with proper punctuation to clarify sentence flow.
Broke up run-on sentences for easier readability.
Used em dashes (—) to emphasize interruptions or thoughts for a conversational tone.
Grammar and Word Choice
Corrected small grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement and verb tense.
Refined wordiness in places (e.g., “the higher level you upgrade Scrappy” → “as Scrappy levels up”).
Clarity and Consistency
Clarified ambiguous phrasing like “they are getting the benefits from them” to something cleaner like “allowing players to enjoy their benefits.”
Made style consistent (e.g., italicizing game titles like ARC Raiders).
Tone Preservation
Maintained your enthusiastic, personal voice. You use rhetorical questions and humor effectively, so I left those intact while improving grammar around them.
I recently participated in the Tech Test 2 for ARC Raiders, and I walked away wanting more. I haven’t had a game ignite a desire to keep playing like this since I picked up New World years ago. ARC Raiders is something different!
ARC Raiders is an extraction shooter where you play as a raider entering a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by ARC—robots hellbent on killing you—with the goal of scavenging items and returning (i.e., extracting) to your underground home. Of course, ARC robots aren’t your only concern; other players are also hunting for loot, and what better source than your dead body? If you die, you lose your stuff—both equipped gear and any loot. Thus goes the loop of an extraction shooter: loot and extract, or die.
ARC Raiders makes some changes to the formula to soften the sting of death. In standard play, you have a number of safe pockets in your pack. Anything stored in those safe pockets will be retained, regardless of whether you extract successfully. This ensures you can walk away with something, even if the run goes sideways.
Secondly, ARC Raiders offers the concept of “free loadouts.” When you opt for a freebie, you load into the world with a random set of basic gear: a gun, some bullets, and a few consumables like bandages. This lets you jump in and play even if you’re out of resources—or if you just want a quick run without risking valuable gear. I found this mode especially helpful after a bad string of deaths. It let me rebuild my supplies so I could gear back up for more serious raids. It’s also a great option if you only have a few minutes to play and want a shot at some loot. Worst case, you lose a little time—but at zero resource cost.
The resources you extract from a raid can be used in crafting stations or traded with vendors. Items can also be recycled into other materials or sold for coin. Crafting stations are upgradeable, which of course requires increasingly better materials at each level. Vendors sell a variety of items for coin. Whether you craft your way there or trade your way there, resources let you gear up for your next raid. Sadly, there is no player-to-player trading.
You might think other players are your biggest concern, but the ARC robots are no joke. Every ARC enemy needs to be approached thoughtfully. For example, the Snitch may seem harmless—until you miss your shot and it has time to call in backup. Now you’re fighting multiple ARCs. Ignored that skittering noise in the next room? Now you’ve got a face-hugging Tick to deal with!
The ARC robots also get big. The Queen was the ultimate boss of the tech test—a giant, spider-like machine that required coordination and often multiple groups of raiders to bring down (that is, assuming players could resist killing each other long enough to cooperate). There are even rumors of a bigger threat—the King—awaiting players in the launch version. If you paid attention on the Buried City map, you could see massive walker ARCs off in the distance just outside the map's boundary.
As should be obvious, care must be taken every step of the way during a raid. Make too much noise, and you’ll attract ARCs—or worse, alert other players. Got a quest to collect parts from a fallen ARC? You’ll need a plan for how to take one down and loot the components safely. Then you’ll need an extraction plan.
Extracting in ARC Raiders is a tense sequence of events. First, you press a button to call an elevator or train. Next comes an excruciating wait for it to arrive. Then you have to board and activate it. To ratchet up the intensity, alarms and announcements blare across the area, alerting other players and ARCs to the extraction attempt. Escaping by the skin of your teeth is an amazing feeling! Just watch this video where my teammate escapes with 0:00 left on the clock among a very chaotic extraction point! It was in that moment I knew ARC Raiders was a game worth waiting for.
Fortunately, just like the free loadouts and safe pockets, there’s another mechanic that reduces some of the pressure typical in extraction phase: raider hatches. These are scattered across the map and can be accessed if you have a raider hatch key. Since they’re less frequented and require a key, there’s a better chance of using one without attracting attention. Only once did I run into another player trying to use the same raider hatch as my team—while nearly every normal extraction via elevator or train was contested.
Extractions aren’t the only source of tension during a raid. Every sound is a clue. Cracking open a locker? The metallic crunch will echo down the hallway. Jump on a zipline? That ziiiipppp will travel far. If it’s raining, footsteps are muffled and harder to hear. The scream of a probe crash-landing will get your attention—and that of nearby players. Most ARCs announce their presence with distinctive sounds. There’s no mistaking when certain ARCs are nearby. The brrrrtttt of the Bastion’s chain guns is as unforgettable as it is terrifying.
Visuals add to the tension, too. Flocks of birds will scatter when you walk by, revealing your location. Puffs of dust rise from the sand near corners. When a raider goes down, a flare shoots skyward—or ricochets around indoors. ARC robots often wear armor that visually flies off as you damage them, exposing weak points. Shoot one of the Wasp’s four rotors and it will careen wildly, trying to regain balance on the remaining three.
Visuals also serve as escape tools. You can literally vanish into brush or shadows. The game looks amazing at every step, and every visual plays a role in the immersion. The look and feel of this game are stunning. To go with that performance was buttery smooth for me the entire test (consistent 100+ FPS with no issues).
Amazing visuals and sound design set the table, and the combat and gunplay serve the main course. The game is a third-person, over-the-shoulder shooter similar to Battlefront 2 or Once Human. I personally prefer this to first-person shooters. This perspective lets you peek around corners and spot threats like those annoying Tick ARCs sneaking up on you. When you loot something, you aren’t locked into staring at a wall—you can stay aware of your surroundings. All of this helps soften the sting of ARC Raiders being an extraction shooter where you could lose everything at any moment.
A lot of attention to detail has gone into ARC Raiders, and it all comes together in an incredible experience. For a tech test, I was blown away. It felt more like a complete, functional game—one I’d argue is ready for release. I’d play the heck out of it with just the maps, modes, and gear available in the test.
Note: this post was edited with the help of AI (ChatGPT). The thoughts are my own. The grammatical correctness is the AI.
Folks, we need to talk about Camelot Unchained. Many moons ago I was a Dark Ages of Camelot (DAoC) fanboy. Mythic Entertainment (later gobbled up by EA) could do no wrong. Mark Jacobs leading Mythic Entertainment at the time was the voice of reason in MMO developers at the time. Micro transitions? No. Free to play? No. Real money trading? He hunted it down. Mark could do no wrong in a younger heartlessgamer's eyes
Then Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR) happened. I donned the fanboy suit again. I battled in the online trenches for WAR. For Mark. But it went sideways when EA gobbled up Mythic and WAR struggled to find an audience. Mark Jacobs exited and in 2011 showed up on Kickstarter with the spiritual successor to DAoC called Camelot Unchained. He collected my money and I waited. And waited. I am still waiting.
In that time waiting a lot of things happened. I am not here to dredge them all up but needless to say Mark Jacobs lost a lot of trust with the community. He lost me. I stopped caring about the game I had funded. Then there are refund controversies, misleading updates, and the debacle with the studio launching an entirely different game while we are all still waiting on the game we funded over ten years ago! But through all of the turbulence Unchained Entertainment pressed on with Camelot Unchained.
And finally we have a video with some of the results. The closest we've gotten to a real look at the game that has been in development for over a decade! Watch it below.
What do you think? Looks dated for a game in 2025 right? Not only do visuals look dated but animations seem stiff. Combat seems pretty static. Nothing in the video screams "new video game in the year 2025".
Yet I can't help but admit a tiny thread of optimism in seeing an actual game. I never expected Camelot Unchained to be a World of Warcraft killer. I knew it was never destined to be a AAA game. It was going to be a boutique experience; just as Stars Reach is Raph Koster's spiritual successor to Star Wars Galaxies so was Camelot Unchained going to be Mark Jacobs successor to DAoC. Give me decent combat, an open world, and Realm vs Realm and I'll have some fun.
I'm glad we're at the stage where its realistic to think there is a release coming for Camelot Unchained. It may be too little too late and Mark may have buried the hatchet too deep in the communities backs, but hey at least I may get a chance to say I gave the game a try.
Note: I've given up paying close attention to the game so if there is other info about release or testing; feel free to drop the info in the comments.
Something I've gotten into recently is completing some writing prompts. On the /r/fantasywriters subreddit there is an ongoing weekly challenge to write a 50 word (or less) blurb featuring a specific word. I just chimed in on the "honey" thread with this entry:
The man before Fritz was gaunt; hungry. Fritz worked through his pockets and pulled out a small honey fruit. He held his hand out to the stranger. "Take it."
Timid, the stranger reached out.
Fritz's motion was quick. The strike painless as the stranger collapsed in front of him.
Anger swelled as I fell to my knees before the ghastly visage. A dust cloud rose as my hands braced against the sandy cave floor. Cold air pressed against my skin, and the dampness of the cave settled.
The voice echoed:
"Liar..."
If this interests you feel free to drop by and leave your own. New prompts drop on Fridays.
I have more thoughts I want to share on my experience in the recent ARC Raiders tech test, but now that the test is over it has me waiting... waiting bad. I am going to love the heck out of this game at it's launch.
I've been playing the ARC Raiders tech test for the last day and loving every moment of it (well almost every moment). In a this-memory-will-stay-with-me moment I witnessed a teammate who barely missed our first extraction hit the afterburner and hustle his way to the final extraction point and make it, literally, with zero seconds left. And since the game is kind enough to let teammates spectate I was able to capture the event in this video.
April has come and gone and we are rapidly approaching this blog's 20 year anniversary later in May! But before we look forward let's check back in on April.
The Blog
Blogger stats for April: 33,990 (note: below graph includes May dates and is missing Apr dates)
In other metrics:
Posts:
Target: 0
Posted: 4
Difference: +4 (Have been doing other stuff than gaming or blogging so 4 is a win)
Search Trends
"Discord Install Failed: Can't find PresentationCore 4.0.0.0" and my post in regards to my trials and tribulations with this Discord install bug gained traction in April so I assume there was some sort of Discord issue (I also noticed my Reddit post on the bug gained some new comments). Read more about it: Discord Install Failed
"new world frigid dawn" and related searches continued for my heavy armor flamethrower build for New World: Frigid Inferno build page
"best
battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games","what is the best battlefield game" continues to stay strong driving traffic to my post Best Battlefield!?
"once human end game" was also a top click getter this month even though I've not posted or played Once Human anytime recently (nor do I have any plans to return)
What I Played
I didn't play New World at all in April. Actually I didn't play any game in April until the ARC Raiders tech test came out on April 30th. So really I didn't play anything in April.
With that said; I freaking loved my time in the ARC Raiders tech test so expect more blog content on it in the near future!
Years Ago
1 Year Ago
In April of 2024 I was testing Pax Dei in it's Wilderness Alpha phase. I enjoyed my time in the test but the game was a long, long ways away from being a game worth considering. Unfortunately it still launched into a form of early access and it has all but died off as a game of interest for me.
I started blogging in 2005 but not until May so come back in May for the big 2 0 extravaganza. Oh wait; it's MAY 20 FREAKING 25! OMG! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
“The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered modernises the 2006 Game of the Year with all-new stunning visuals and refined gameplay,” reads the game’s description.
“Every single asset in the game was recreated from scratch,” claims developer Virtuos.
I played a bit of Oblivion back in the day and enjoyed it for a moment, but it didn't catch me for any length of time. The game is available on Steam so maybe I'll have to give it a peak but I am going to wait for the early reviews to come in.
Yes it is April 18th and I am just getting to recapping March here on the blog (note: the publish date will reflect 4/1 as to avoid upsetting my OCD). Motivation has been scarce lately so you get what you get when I give it!
The Blog
Blogger stats for March: 28,632 (note: below graph includes Apr dates)
In other metrics:
Posts:
Target: 0
Posted: 6
Difference: +6 (Have been doing other stuff than gaming or blogging so 6 is a win)
Search Trends
"new world PvP server" continues from Feb to drive traffic to the blog. I am playing on the PvP server but haven't shared any thoughts yet. Still my post about the servers before they launched is where many folks land from the ole' Google.
Searches around my flamethrower build for New World continue to drive traffic to the Frigid Inferno build page
"best
battlefield game", "best battlefield", "best battlefield games" continues to stay strong driving traffic to my post Best Battlefield!?
What I Played
For March I had very little in the "played" category. I did play some New World but nothing serious. Sort of just checking the trading post and doing weekly objectives. By end of month I was not playing any games including New World.
I did play a few games of Magic the Gathering with my oldest son using precon decks we have sitting around. That was enjoyable.
And last but not least I was playing a lot of Battlefield Bad Company 2 in March 2010. It remains one of my favorite Battlefield games to this day! Scroll through the full month of posts to see my various BFBC2 posts.
20 Years Ago
I started blogging in 2005 but not until May so come back in May for the big 2 0 extravaganza.
I am going to attempt to catalog all of my characters in any game I put significant time into. Goal is to "remember" characters from the past 25+ years of gaming and include server and class/race information as I am able to recollect.
I finished the new main story quest for New World Aeternum on my alt character on the seasonal PvP server. Along the way I took some no-UI screenshots. Enjoy!
Riding past a shattered obelisk
Shattered Mountain in the distance
Not part of the MSQ, but a shot from the Glacial Tarn expedition
This ghostly tree was part of the original MSQ and I was happy to see it still there. One of the iconic moments from the original MSQ.
Finishing a soul trial (solo boss fight)
I always enjoyed the visuals of the corruption areas and while the MSQ no longer goes through the Tempest Heart expedition there is still a visual replacement in one of the new MSQ's solo trials.
More corruption.
This floating island is new and I was disappointed that so little time was spent here. I need to go back and see if I can get back to it now that I am done with the MSQ.
One underappreciated part of New World is that many of the props, such as this bench in a camp site, can be interacted with. Here I am catching a break sitting around the campfire.
Isabella still sits at the end of the MSQ.
Inside the new solo trial boss fight with Isabella.
When I saw this view I needed to stop and take a shot.
Riding off into Brimstone Sands after defeating Isabella and finishing the first leg of the MSQ.
I didn't remember this hidden chamber hiding in Brimstone Sands so grabbed a shot for the scrapbook as I mined away on a stone scarab I defeated.
Some gameplay videos have appeared online for the new Battlefield game!
In the first video we get a healthy look at a building being destroyed (grabbed a screenshot above). It will be good to have heavy destruction back in the genre! While there is some destruction in 2042 it pales in comparison to past games like Bad Company 2.
In the second video we get some infantry game play. The theme appears to be modern times which will be a return to the trend of BF2, BF3, and BF4. I am looking forward to a return to the modern battlefield for the series!
