Copyright XDA Developers
Extraction shooters are in a weird place in 2025. A lot of people, myself included, have expressed concern more than a few times about how the looter-shooter genre is becoming overly saturated, and that perhaps we might not need any more new ones to come out and possibly become obscure soon after. However, along comes Embark Studios' Arc Raiders, and it completely flips the script, making me happily eat my words with a new extraction shooter that is incredibly polished, impressively optimized, and overall, just a fantastic product altogether. The thing with extraction shooters is that they often prove difficult to play — or enjoy — solo. Most looter-shooters remind you that you’re not playing the game “naturally,” since they’re usually built around co-op or squad mechanics. Yet after 20+ hours on Arc Raiders' Server Slam weekend, almost all of them solo, I was surprised by how welcoming it is for lone players — those whose friends haven’t bought the game yet, or who just want to hop on for a few raids without rallying everyone online. Arc Raiders genuinely makes sure it could very well be a solo, single-player game if that’s how you want to play. Arc Raiders prioritizes putting solo players in separate lobbies Solo raiders will seldom be outgunned, if ever The first thing that Arc Raiders does when you queue up for a game just by yourself is line up solo-only servers for you. In my fifteen-ish hours playing by myself on the Rust Belt, I never ran into a single duo or three-person squad, as the game made sure to employ solo-only servers for the lone wolf raiders among us. You also get the option to fill your matchmaking queue if you do want partners alongside you, but with a solo-friendly matchmaking system that always prioritizes single players and puts them in their own lobbies, Arc Raiders is sending a clear message — solo raiders are more than welcome here. You're not going to be looking at immediate stomp scenarios where you come out of a facility to run straight into a three-player ambush. During official playtests, the priority for "solo vs solo" was clear as day, and in the long run, this will only improve the game's longevity, because if your friends aren't available, it won't have to result in hesitation on your part to simply queue up for a solo raid. The best part? It barely ever affected the matchmaking time, too. I queued up in the game as a solo player, with a duo, and even in the maximum three-player squad, and every single time, the matchmaking time never differed enough for me to notice. Chalk that up to either the servers working at full power with the influx of players, but even then, there's no doubt that solo players can enjoy Arc Raiders just as much as those in trios. . Proximity chat keeps players communicative It helped me countless times to co-operate with other raiders I don't always use proximity chat in a lot of games, and yet, in Arc Raiders, I found it to be perhaps one of the most effective means of communication for solo players. On more than one occasion, proximity chat came in handy to either request help from someone, or offer it to another player. In my last hour during the Server Slam, I approached an extraction elevator, only to see the AI-powered ARC swarming a small room right next to it. With proximity chat on, I asked out loud if the person inside needed help, and they responded in the affirmative. What followed was the two of us sharing bandages and ammo to take down three flying drones, and then finally waddling towards extraction. Another time, I was exploring a facility with the sole goal of looting and selling it all off later, before running into another player. As we both hid in our respective rooms, we used proximity chat to work out our I never heard from those guys again, and I definitely never will, but what I will remember is how effectively proximity chat helped me continue my solo adventure without frustration, and even embellished the overall experience with genuine human interaction. Loud and communicative emotes Even if proximity chat isn't for you, communication will remain key Yes, there are emotes in the game, but not the kind that you're thinking about. Emotes in Arc Raiders are more than just quirky dances or memes from pop culture, unlike Fortnite. Here, emotes play a major role, including communication with other solo players that the game puts you on the server with. These emotes range from offers to team up, requests to not shoot, or just greetings. The neatest part? You don't really have to be visible to someone inside their field of vision to use it. Arc Raiders' emotes are loud and clear, meaning you could hear someone asking you to team up well before you ever see them. Now, whether or not you decide to trust other solo players is up to you, but with auto-translating emotes on a communication wheel, Arc Raiders makes sure twice over that you can communicate loudly and effectively with fellow single players, even if you don't have a headset on for proximity chat. The moment-to-moment gameplay is malleable for solo raiders The PvP element is extremely balanced Here's where things get interesting. Arc Raiders is built around three-player trios, and yet, as a solo player, there will be hundreds of times when you realize that you can simply make your way through the map just fine by yourself. That only goes to show how accessible and malleable the gameplay is — the patrolling ARC machines aren't easy to avoid, but not impossible, either. As a solo player on a map, your job would be to chart out your path first, and when done right, ARC shouldn't be a problem for you if you hope to avoid them. The most interesting part, however? The "PvP" part of the "PvPvE" game isn't going to be overloading you. The weapons in the game, and in the game's lore, are built with different types of ARC enemies in mind. Some weapons, when upgraded, certainly pack more of a punch towards the machines, but when it comes to higher-tier weapons against human players? The difference isn't huge. What that essentially means, is that even if a player who puts in 10 hours a day crosses paths with someone who can only play a couple of hours during the weekends, the latter won't be one-shotted immediately, because the bulk of the firepower is only effective as such against the AI-enemies. When it comes to skirmishes between human players and raiders, the ground is mostly level, since the number of hours you put in isn't directly proportional to how good your weapons are against other players. Where this could go wrong The checks and balances for solo raiders may not last long As brilliant as everything about Arc Raiders sounds for players who have no plans to play the game with friends, things could go south eventually. How? Well, for starters, the solo-prioritizing lobbies could end up thinning themselves out if the player base dwindles down the line, which would mean two things. First, matchmaking times would increase, yes, but even more importantly, the servers would give up on prioritizing solo-only lobbies to be able to put players in matches. When that happens, we could surely end up with solo players going up against duos or even trios of raiders when they head to the surface. By and large, however, Arc Raiders is trying its hardest to give solo players a fair fight, and it's that effort that counts in making the game alluring as a single-player extraction experience as well. Arc Raiders celebrates solo players The balance could shrink if the player base does, but right now, Arc Raiders is one of the most solo-friendly online games in years. This isn't a case of the new, flashy extraction shooter tolerating players. Instead, Arc Raiders celebrates solos, and in my experience, the thrill, tension, and rewards are better for it. Could the balance shrink if the player base does? Sure, that could happen, but right now, Arc Raiders is one of the most solo-friendly online games I've played in years. You could just be a lone wanderer, or even simply waiting for your crew to boot up their consoles, but in the meantime, Arc Raiders is making sure that the solitude feels powerful, accessible, and enjoyable.
