Playing Arc Raiders was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced

I bought the game without watching a single video or reading up on it beforehand. I’m familiar with extraction shooters, but I’ve always had the feeling that it takes months for a beginner to really find their footing. That’s why I was curious to see what it would be like to join Arc Raiders right from the start.

After what I think was a very well-designed tutorial, I explored the menu a bit and decided to jump straight into a match. None of my buddies own the game, so auto-fill squad was the way to go. The round begins.. neither of the two random teammates has a mic. One runs left, the other right. Okay… I’ll just follow one of them. The first enemies spot us and wipe us instantly. Fair enough.

So I thought: let’s check the official Discord, maybe I’ll find some cool teammates there. But before that, I figured I should get to know the maps a little better, so I queued up solo. Spoiler: 70 hours later, I still haven’t joined the Discord. This game solo feels like a movie.

The very first “enemy” I met ran straight toward me: “Hey buddy, I’ve got a blueprint for you.” He dropped me the defibrillator blueprint and ran off. Weird guy, but nice. Moving on, I heard someone looting in the house next to me. I tried sneaking in, but apparently failed, because he started talking: “Friendly, friendly, hi brother, I need to do a quest at the scrapyard..want to come along?” Wait… are there only chill people here?

Coming from my admittedly shallow Tarkov experience, this was strange but kind of awesome. I went with him to the scrapyard and then back to Esperanza. On the way, we took down a bunch of drones. Which meant: another round, straight back in. It actually took five rounds before I had my first solo PvP fight.

After the first week, I felt things shifting.. lots more kill-on-sight, much less proxy chat. Then I got a tip: turn off crossplay and set the server to my region (Europe). Since then, it feels like 90% of the players are super chill again.

Yesterday, I had several rounds in a row where the entire server teamed up against the Matriarch. It was an absolute blast sending that beast back to hell. Honestly, it felt cinematic. Even Raiders with free loadout emptied their Stitchers into the beast and then, with a war cry and axe in hand, charged straight into death. They probably didn’t even scratch it but the whole scene was just epic. And when 15+ players danced around its destroyed husk, I thought: I need to make a thread to thank this community.

This game came to me at a very difficult time in my life, and it arrived at the perfect moment. You (the community) are the reason for that. I’ve been part of many communities from the very beginning, but none have been as cool as this one.

So, thank you!