After 250 hours, I keep coming back to Arc Raiders not because it's surprising, but because it's predictable
When I gave extraction shooter Arc Raiders a glowing review in November, I wasn't certain it would keep me hooked.
Two months later and I'm 250 hours deep. Despite clear flaws – and developer Embark Studio's insistence on retaining AI-generated voice lines – I feel its pull every day, and not for the reasons I would've thought.
I used to think what was special about Arc Raiders was that every round was different, that anything could and would happen when you met another player mid-round. What's kept me coming back, however, is not the ways it's surprising but the ways it's predictable – the ways I can master its systems to squeeze more fun out of it, more high-tier loot, and more of its special, absurd moments.