ARC Raiders 2025 Roadmap: What the Future Holds

The developers of ARC Raiders, Embark Studios, have released their 2025 roadmap. This has the game’s community excited and talking about what’s next.

As the game establishes itself in the competitive PvPvE shooter space, players are eager to learn about new content, fixes, and what others think of the latest updates.

A Roadmap Packed With Content: What’s Coming in 2025

For players ready for new challenges, Embark has laid out a clear and ambitious plan for the year ahead.

Ongoing Additions and Improvements

According to the roadmap, players can expect a constant stream of improvements throughout the year:

• New map conditions: Changes to the environment to make familiar places feel new.

• New daily and weekly challenges: These will offer fresh goals to keep the gameplay loop interesting.

• New cosmetic items: A regular addition of new skins and outfits for your character.

• Quality of life improvements: Small fixes and tweaks to make the overall experience better for everyone.

November: The North Line Expansion

November brings the “North Line” update. Among its highlights:

• Stella Montis Map: A brand new area to explore with its own goals and enemies.

• Community Unlock Event: Players will need to work together to unlock new content as a group.

• New Enemy ARCs: Two new powerful enemies, the Matriarch and Shredder, will introduce new boss fights and tactical challenges.

• New Gear and Quests: More tools to use and new missions to complete

December: Cold SnapUpdate

December’s “Cold Snap” update shifts the battlefield to a frosty landscape:

• Snowball Map Condition: Battles will take place in snowy blizzards, changing how the game looks and plays.

• Flickering Flames Event: A limited-time event that will likely involve surviving the cold.

• New Mission System: A new way to start team missions.

• New Player Loadouts and Quests: Fresh options for building your character and new missions to tackle

The developer’s promise: These are just highlights; more is on the way as the roadmap unfolds.

Developer Notes and HotFixes

After sharing their plans for the year, it’s also important to look at the recent fixes and comments from the developers. It shows that even with a big roadmap, dealing with day-to-day issues is a constant job.

The Good News: Record-Breaking Launch

ARC Raiders got off to a great start. On its first day, it hit 264,000 people playing at the same time on Steam. This is especially impressive because it happened on a Thursday, before the weekend crowd even showed up. The game has kept a lot of those players, with around 200,000 still playing online recently.

Hotfix Drama: Bug Fixes and Unintended Consequences

With so many people playing, the developers had to act fast to fix some problems. Their latest update tackled a few key issues:

• Broken Abilities: Some character upgrades weren’t working right.

• A Voice Change: They fixed a “robot voice” bug, though some players actually liked the sound and were sad to see it go.

• Visual Glitches: Players with high-end computers were seeing some graphic errors.

• Lighting Adjustments: They tweaked the lighting in some areas

But the fix didn’t go perfectly. It caused a funny new bug for PlayStation 5 players: when their character crouched, it would sometimes make them do a “toast” emote by mistake.

The developers have admitted to the problem and have even temporarily reversed some of their changes while they work on a better solution.

Additionally, the developers are rolling updates out to Xbox, but delays are to be expected.

Long-Term Challenges: Problems Facing ARC Raiders

Beyond these small bugs, the community is talking about a bigger issue that could affect the game in the long run.

There’s a feeling that the developers should let players just experience the game for a while before making big changes based on early feedback.

Letting streamers and online comments drive all the decisions too quickly could be risky.

The Battle Pass Controversy: How Much Is Too Much?

The announcement of prices for the in-game shop and battle pass has been controversial. Many players are unhappy, pointing out:

• The prices feel too high, especially since ARC Raiders is a $40 game, but its prices are similar to free-to-play games like “The Finals.”

• You can’t buy a full skin with $10 worth of in-game coins; you can only get part of a set.

• The battle pass itself is expected to cost around $10.

Players feel that the cosmetic items are priced like those in the most expensive games, which doesn’t match ARC Raiders’ lower initial cost. The general feedback is that if the developers lowered the bundle prices, more people would likely buy them, which would be a better deal for both the players and the studio

Customization Concerns: Bundles, Skins, and Value

Many players online have also raised concerns about the game’s customization options. Unlike some other games that let you mix and match individual pieces of gear, ARC Raiders only sells full outfits as a set.

This has led to a debate about whether these bundles are a good value and if the developers should change their approach.

Player-Driven Quality of Life Ideas

If the developers are looking for suggestions, the player community has shared many great ideas to make the game better:

1. Flexible Item Turn-In for Upgrades and Quests

Players want to be able to hand in items for upgrades and quests even before they have the full amount required.

This would free up space in their inventory and make the upgrade process feel less frustrating. It would also let them make progress on a quest little by little.

2. Clearer Communication on Crafting Materials

The game needs to do a better job explaining what each crafting material is used for. Right now, it’s easy to break down an item you think is useless, only to find out later you needed it for an important upgrade.

For example, “rusted tools” can be broken down for parts, but they are also needed to upgrade your crafting stations. Clearer labels and tutorials would help stop these costly mistakes.

Beginner Tips: Materials, Upgrades, and Early Game Missions

For anyone just starting out, here is some useful advice:

• Don’t break down materials right away. Wait until you know what they are used for, as many are needed for important station upgrades.

• Some key upgrades need special items. For example, the “chicken” upgrade requires hard-to-find fruits like apricots and lemons. You can only find these in specific, marked areas on the first two maps.

• Communicate when playing solo. If you’re playing alone and see another player, use quick messages like “Don’t shoot, I’m on a mission!” to avoid a fight. This can lead to helpful teamwork

Solo Play, Cooperation, and The PvPvE Social Dynamics

One of the best surprises in ARC Raiders is how players interact. Many people enjoying playing alone have reported friendly encounters with others. During extraction missions, it’s common for random players to call a temporary truce and work together to escape.

The big question is whether this friendly atmosphere will last.

As the game gets older, will players who like to cause trouble for others start to take over the extraction points?

For now, there are great stories of up to nine random players working as a team, showing that the game can create unique and positive social moments.

A top tip for survival: Use the game’s communication wheel to quickly signal that you are friendly, even if you don’t have a microphone.

The Future of ARC Raiders