Copyright XDA Developers
As much as gaming has evolved over the decades, it isn't as old an entertainment medium as something like film, song, or theater. Our favorite interactive platform of storytelling is actually not even a century old, and over the course of its history, only a handful of titles have truly been monumental enough to push it forward in some way. Embark Studios' latest extraction shooter, Arc Raiders, is one of those games. It doesn't completely reinvent a genre, nor has it birthed one, but I'm certain it will be remembered for having changed the way we see enemy AI in games, raising the bar extremely high. The game has used real-world AI to train its in-game AI, and every minute I've spent playing it proves just how significant that decision has been. Arc Raiders' enemy AI comes in all shapes and sizes Everywhere you go, the threat is constant In Arc Raiders, it's humans vs machines. The ARC are an alien race that (apparently) landed on earth, and this mechanized, sentient enemy comes in all shapes and sizes. There's the most common threat in the form of drones with different weapons who constantly patrol each map to look for and hunt down players. Then there are smaller drones that aren't weaponized, but they're called Snitches for a reason — they'll call in those bigger guns as soon as they spot you. Try ducking into buildings to find shelter and cover, and you'll be met by crawling and rolling indoor enemies like Ticks and Fireballs that tear you apart if you get close. Outside, it isn't just drones in the air you have to worry about, although one particularly huge airborne Rocketeer enemy can decimate you in a single second if it gets right on top of you. There are other mechanized bots like the Bastion and the Leaper, which are humongous ground-based enemies that roam the surface of the earth. They're highly aggressive, spot you in seconds, and before you know it, you're back in the lobby, staring at the main menu, wondering what went wrong. This is what emergent gameplay truly is Every enemy will hunt you down relentlessly The enemies in Arc Raiders aren't just varied. They're all dangerous in their own right, and that's why it's almost always advised to avoid them. However, you won't realize just how truly dangerous the enemy AI in this game is until you directly engage with a drone or a ground-based enemy. Take a flying Wasp or Hornet, for example. They are drones that fly on four thrusters, and even if you play it smart and take out one, they'll immediately spring to action — you'll hear the other three thruster fans suddenly working overtime to keep the machine afloat. The Wasp will do everything it can to balance itself in the air, while still finding you to aim and shoot at. Similarly, there's the huge, arachnid-like Leaper usually found near extract elevators. This one will spot you, and immediately leap towards you using thrusters, and when I tell you it will stop at nothing to kill you, I mean it. The Leaper is always moving, always planning, and relentless in its hunt. It's no wonder that players have been complaining about the enemy AI in Arc Raiders being too tough — when you see a Leaper jump the length of a football field because it spotted you from far away, and land right on top of you, you're going to be complaining, too. These aren't just regular enemy AI movements and decision-making processes, though. The developers over at Embark Studios have used Machine Learning to teach the in-game AI its movements, its animations, and its reactions, all based on the player's actions and movesets. Arc Raiders enemy AI has been trained with machine learning Machine learning isn't new, but it's brilliantly implemented in Arc Raiders No, it isn't generative AI that Arc Raiders's PvE enemies use to learn their way around you. However, the studio has indeed used Machine Learning, a subset of the broader blanket of Artificial Intelligence, to train each singular type of mechanized threat in the game. While most games follow a set of conditional scripts where "if the player does X, then the enemy does Y" is followed, Arc Raiders helps its enemy AI learn and adapt to the environment. How? Machine learning isn't just a fancy "AI" sticker to slap on the game, and thankfully, Embark hasn't done that. ML is the process of feeding a system data repeatedly so it can identify patterns and improve, and Embark's research shows they used ML to train their AI-agents to walk, climb, and battle in complex terrain. So, instead of simply scripting each machine's choreographed path, the ARC bots in the game actually move like hunters. Arc Raiders helps its enemy AI learn and adapt to the environment. They survey cover, they flank you, and they even bait you out of safety. You're definitely not fighting a broken record, and if you hear the term "emergent gameplay" thrown around when it comes to this game, it's because no two fights against the bigger machines are ever the same. We're not talking about canned animations in a loop. These are trained models, reinforced through thousands of iterations, that generate movement and decisions dynamically. The Queen, in particular, which is the hugest enemy in the game right now, doesn't have pre-built walk loops. Instead, Embark has trained it via ML so it keeps moving realistically through terrain and combat. No, the ARC aren't actively learning from your playstyle But boy does it often feel like it Now, I want to be crystal clear: this isn't a full "learn-my-playstyle-and-evolve-within-the-match" system like many players might assume. Machine learning in Arc Raiders is used for locomotion and animation, and not necessarily for every nuance of "how I play". But from a gameplay point of view? The effect is nothing short of massive. You crouch in what you think is safe space, peek at the enemy, maybe take a shot or two, and that's when the realization dawns upon you — the ARC isn't walking towards you. It's coming for you. It changes lanes, it uses cover, it punishes repetition if you peek out of the same corner twice, and in a game where extraction is the entire prize, a threat of this level makes your heart pulse faster in every single run. The ARC don't walk towards you. They come for you. During my initial playtime with the game, I was peeking out of cover and shooting at a Bombardier — a huge ground-based threat. I was happy knowing I was safe behind a metal mesh, which meant that no matter what kind of artillery it threw at me, it just bounced off the metal wall inches away from my face. Three shots later though, the machine lost its right leg, which led to it immediately scurrying left and finding a new place to shoot me from. It even sent up a missile at my face just moments later when it realized that frontal fire wouldn't work, and a minute later, I was back in the lobby. Why does Arc Raiders' enemy AI matter? It sets the new gold standard in terrifyingly capable AI enemies You might ask: "Okay, cool, but why is this so important?" Because when enemies act like rote targets, the game becomes rote too. You memorize patterns, optimize routes, and predict waves of enemies. There's no reaction — just rehearsal. Emergent gameplay is rare, and seldom done so well as in Arc Raiders. When an ARC machine approaches your loot point differently than it did three rounds ago, the dynamics shift. The combat becomes adaptive, and every decision you take in the heat of the moment begins mattering. The Snitch that ran away to save itself and found a way out of a building's broken window while still on fire? It'll call in three more drones if that's the last thing you do, and just like that, your exit route is blocked completely. Even the shallowest loot run now holds potential consequences and room for an unforgettable memory. If you're tired of stale PvE, stale extraction modes, and stale enemies that walk to obvious chokepoints, Arc Raiders might be exactly what you need. Let the machines learn. Let the machines punish. Arc Raider's impressive AI makes me wish for PvE-only modes Arc Raiders is inarguably the best extraction shooter I've ever played. Over the six years it took to develop Arc Raiders, the decision to turn the game from PvE-only to PvPvE was made, and I can't help but wish for a PvE-exlusive mode. Considering just how impressive and pressure-inducing the enemy AI in the game is, it would be wonderful to be able to go up against bigger hordes of the ARC while not having to constantly worry about some other player swiping you with a rifle. In the meantime, though, I can't wait to go back into the game every waking minute, simply because of how new every run feels. Arc Raiders is inarguably the best extraction shooter I've ever had the opportunity to play, and after 50 good hours, I know this is just the beginning — for me, for the game, and definitely for the ARCs and their machinations, pun intended.
