Arc Raiders Wasn't What I was Expecting

(Intro)

Arc raiders is playable to the masses for the first time two weeks before its launch. And I have been excited to try this game for months now after seeing lots of footage from other players. Well, I’ve spent the weekend server slam playing the game, and to my unfortunate surprise, I don’t think this game is for me. It took me by surprise, well a lot of things about the game did. Some good and some bad. We’ll be briefly going over what this game gets right and then focusing more on what to me, from my personal experience, the game gets wrong and why I don’t see myself playing it when it fully launches. It feels weird to even say that; I thought this was going to be a no brainer purchase, but now, my feelings are very conflicted. Is it the game, or is it me?

(The good)

I was very surprised by all the good elements the game has to offer. Arc Raiders is genuinely beautiful to look at; from all the footage, I knew the game looked good. But seeing it on my own monitor I was like, damn, I’m very impressed. As much as I was impressed by the audio; the ambient sounds, the clicks and clacks of all the different mechanical parts of the world, it feels very much appropriate for the universe this game is set in. And the biggest shock to me was the performance; I thought I was going to struggle with running this game, but no; it runs buttery smooth. Easily over one hundred frames most of the time and not really having to mess with any graphical settings. I guess I underestimated the scope and scale of this game, because I just figured it would run okay, and I’d have to make some visual sacrifices somewhere. That to me is one of the most impressive parts of the entire package.

The out of raid experience is also such a breath of fresh air. The UI for the most part is easy to understand and coherent across the game. Plus, all the vibrant color makes it visually pleasing to look at. There are some odd choices here and there with the location of some options, but it’s nothing that would sour the experience. The biggest takeaway was how awesome the workbench is. You own little station that you can craft and upgrade modules, which takes zero time to make meaning you can just get straight back into the action without waiting around for crafts to finish. And the chicken that will go out and scavenge for you, so you always have materials to craft is also a nice touch. A lot of consideration went into the player just wanting to be into raids and having the tools and equipment necessary to do so at all times. I truly do appreciate this consideration. People seem to also have some concessions with the third person perspective, but I love it. I enjoyed PUBG only in third person and I think this perspective is kind of slept on. I like to look at my character, especially when I can customize them. So, for me, it doesn’t detract from the experience. But there are some things about the game that do. So much so, I feel like an idiot that doesn’t understand Arc Raiders.

(The bad)

The focal point of this video will be about where I have personal grievances with the core gameplay experience while being in raid. And again, I need to really stress and reiterate; these are my own personal feelings towards the game and some of the elements surrounding it. I don’t speak for anyone else. If you’re having a blast playing, please continue to enjoy the game. I’m glad you are.

The first thing is the AI. I’ve seen some people praise how it operates and how the fact that we are fighting robots instead of other AI humanoid characters is so smart. And while yes, it’s a clever way to add to the games lore and also excuse any potential mishaps the AI may have, I find the PvE elements to be somewhat not interesting. At least the lower class of the robots. They patrol, fly around, alert other AI of your presence and will try to pepper you down with either bullets or electric zaps. And while I’m sure the more powerful robots in the game provide a vastly more engaging experience requiring teams to work together or randoms to cooperate, the smaller robots that you see more often are kind of just there. If you can find some solid cover, you can peek out, fire at them, and then retreat to cover before they attack you. Repeating this cycle until they explode and you can loot them. I understand them being nuisances for the player, to ruin ambushes or to actually be a danger you need to avoid, but they don't feel intelligent.

(The PvP)

The biggest contention I have with this game is fighting other players. I find the PvP in this game awful. I... It's hard to explain, but the experiences I've had fighting other players feel like the messiest, scrambliest fights I've had when interacting with other people. And not in a good way. An opposite example would be the early game Tarkov, where people struggle to hit each other because of stock guns. You still have full auto for most options; you still have basic medication that if you bring enough deals with most problems you can run into. And people generally enjoy that part of a Tarkov wipe because it’s so ambiguous. Sure, the normal hot spots exist, but you’re way more likely to run into someone where you would least expect it, ironically enough. No, in this game, it feels obtuse and unsatisfying when it works, and miserable when it doesn't. I understand what they want to do; cobbled together guns gives them the excuse to not makes weapons uber powerful even at higher tiers of rarity and slows the game down so people kind of need to get close to each other. But it just doesn't FEEL good. It’s tough to articulate, but right now and what I assume will be the problem at release is that the top tier gear in the game won’t specifically be that powerful, but the starting and low tiered equipment doesn’t feel powerful enough. Especially the melee; it feels like it does way too much damage. I've died to more melee combos where my weapons are so slow, cumbersome, and inaccurate that by the time I can start to land successful shots, I've been hit four times by a melee weapon and I'm dead. It's insufferable and infuriating. Sure, I could try to keep my distance to prevent that, but then my weapons can't land accurate hits. The spawns in the game are hit and miss. Sometimes they feel perfectly fine, and other times I run into someone in less than sixty seconds. Very much like EFT, it's a take it or leave it circumstance, I suppose. But these problems with teammates don’t amount to much. It can be more manageable and even fun to have to juggle all these weird quirky guns. It’s when you try to play this game solo, where I feel as though it truly falls apart.

(My solo experience)

Solo play in this game is where I have the most issues with the game, emphatically. Unlike Tarkov where I can realistically take out a five man if I hit my shots, as far as I can tell, there is no way to quickly put someone down with a single bullet. The only way that would happen is if they didn’t have a shield. Meaning, if you are by yourself and run into two or more people, you can't fight them. It becomes a war of attrition; you are just going to lose that. I’ve heard that this game tries to put you into lobbies with other solos if you play by yourself, and if this game truly does have a solo priority queue, I haven't experienced it because every fight I've gotten into, my opponent has had at least one more friend if not two. I genuinely would prefer a solo queue because in this game, fights are so long and players can have so much health from shields, there is again, no way a solo is taking down two people who are even half coordinated with each other. If there was a way to put someone down in one or even two bullets, maybe I could see keeping everyone in the same queue. Having absolutely cracked aim and being able to land not even a headshot, but a face shot bypasses or ignores shields, that would be the only way I could see a solo player defeating a squad of any kind. But in a game like this, where the time-to-kill can be so much higher, the preference will most likely be people playing together. Hell, even in something like Apex, a good solo can take out a duo or trio because the munitions provided to them facilitate the ability to fight groups of people. But if you're using a gun that is lever action, bolt-action, slide action, or anything that requires a rechamber after each shot, if those guns don't do high damage to offset their slow fire rate, you're not taking down a trio or even duo. It's not happening. And this is coming from someone who likes PvP but doesn’t go out my way usually to find it. It’s just that I’ve fought other players whether I wanted to or not, and these problems at least in my eyes became apparent almost immediately.

Considering my frustrations with solo play, you’d say try using VOIP. It’s in the game and it works well. My VOIP experiences are non-existent even when I was going out of my way to try and at least talk to people. I double checked my settings to make sure it was on and working but alas, no one wanted to chat. Maybe just a bad example of people already in discord with their friends, but not a single person in the dozen or so I came across responded to me saying hello or anything. I'm glad it's in the game, but because squad play is going to be so favored (at least that's what I'm assuming) people will be less interested in having a random person assimilate into the group and potentially cause problems. Also, again the third person perspective is fine, in fact I really like it. I don't know why people get so upset about it. You get to look at your character wearing cool clothes. You can check corners effectively; your opponents can do the same. I always played PUBG in 3rd person because it just made more sense. I like the perspective; it's not going to ruin the game; it's better this way.

(Is it the game? Or me?)

As I kept playing, I found myself just getting more upset at not being able to win fights against other players, the AI feeling rudimentary, and the gameplay loop feeling kind of devoid of any tension or stress. Even though I wanted to stop playing, I put in an additional like, three to five hours into Arc Raiders almost out of spite because I genuinely felt like I was broken. I wasn’t having fun, I felt like I was seeing issues with the game while most people had generally positives things to say about the in-raid experience. And yet I kept playing. I don’t normally like to use this term, but I felt like I was somehow gaslighting myself. Does the game have any problems? Or do I just suck at it or is this just a weird ‘me’ thing? I was getting upset playing the game, and I kept telling myself, surely once I understood this or I unlocked that, then the game will make sense, and all will be forgiven. But that magical thing to make the game click never happened. And so, after this playtest I am kind of disappointed I don’t enjoy the game. I was really looking forward to trying it. But if I am going to be primarily playing solo, trying my best but always coming up short, I probably just shouldn’t play at all.

(Outro)

I don’t want to ruin this game for anyone who is excited. If you are looking forward to it, please buy it and have fun when it comes out. But from my personal experience as a solo player, this game left me feeling kind of empty. I don’t care about the world, I don’t care about my gear, I don’t care about anything. And the only thing I feel when I lose is frustration. Not because I lost or that I could’ve played better, but because it felt hopeless to even try. I know I'm in the minority with this mentality, mindset, and experience of feedback. I know this video will most likely get downvoted to hell and back. I know I will get clowned on for saying this stuff, and that's all fine. But from my experience, I am apathetic towards pretty much everything in this game when it comes to in-raid gameplay. I don't care about the PvP because it feels so bad, and dying doesn't fill me with dread or the fear of loss kicking in. I just throw my hands up and roll my eyes. It's frustrating. I see that this game is polished as hell, and that it will be hugely successful, and I want it to be. We need more competition in this genre, so people don't get lazy and slack off (looking at you BSG). But I don't think it's for me, and that's okay; I was really excited for it, but now I don't want to play anymore, which is a shame. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Let me know down in the comment section below your thoughts on the Arc Raiders server blast, whether or not you enjoyed it, what are your impression and be sure to subscribe for more potentially really hot takes that I didn’t want to be true, but the reality came crashing down on my sadly. I hope to see you in future ones.