I genuinely love this game, and that’s the only reason I’m writing this review. But after 70 hours of top-side runs, the game gives me no reason to keep going back.

Gameplay & Balance Issues

The game is incredibly unbalanced. For 95% of my top-side time I used Ferro IV and Rattler IV, because there’s zero incentive to craft anything better. I’ve killed every boss, completed every quest, maxed upgrades... and even after crafting Aphelion, nothing pushes me to use it.

Loot is way too generous. Dying with a Hullcracker or Bettina doesn’t even feel bad, because you replace everything so easily that the risk/reward loop becomes meaningless.

I also finished all Expedition requirements, but running the same broken paths again offers no excitement.

Ranked Is a Joke

Ranked “objectives” are literally about collecting mushrooms and plants. We ran a night raid with the free loadout and earned ~20,000 XP in a single match, jumping up the leaderboard without risking a single weapon. That alone makes the entire competitive side pointless.

And solo players? They are at a massive disadvantage, because duos/trios gain ranking progression as a group, which pushes solos down automatically.

Community Event

The event was supposed to last 3 weeks. Mine was done in day two.

Major Issues

1) Loot is far too easy to obtain.
- My 280-slot inventory is forever full, so the game turns into “hunt Raiders” instead of “loot places or fight ARCs.”

2) Weapons are unbalanced.
- No incentive to upgrade, no real progression curve.

3) Ranked system is terrible.
- Collecting plants/mushrooms or damaging arcs trivializes progression, and the whole system is easy to abuse. Solo players are also at a huge disadvantage.

4) Free loadout should not be freely available.
- It should only be unlocked if you genuinely run out of materials. Right now it can be abused endlessly.

5) Solo players get punished.
- Group XP scaling boosts duos/trios over solos.

6) Bugs.
- Critical issues that needed hotfixes remain unresolved.

7) Expedition
- For Expedition, they expected players to have 5 million coins, which is yet another questionable decision from Embark. This pushes the majority of the playerbase into speed-looting and quick extracting. If you spawn late, you basically have zero chance of finding any meaningful loot after the first 5 minutes. On top of that, most players enter with low-value or free loadouts, which further devalues high-level gear. High-tier loadouts took yet another hit from Embark with this change.

Conclusion

I wanted to enjoy ARC Raiders long-term. But after 100 hours, the game loop simply falls apart... no meaningful goals, no long-term progression, no reason to return to top-side.

I hope it improves, because the core idea is fantastic.

>>>10.12.2025 - edited section Major Issues, added point 7.