Arc Raiders feels like the start of something bigger (from a PvE player)

Arc Raiders has genuinely changed the game and it feels like we’re only seeing the beginning. I’m very much a PvE leaning player. I don’t really have the desire (or honestly the skill) to chase PvP fights, even though a lot of the content I watch, for example BurntPeanut, Loochy, Arc Fades, is heavily PvP focused. It’s more wishful thinking than reality for me.

What does draw me back to the game are slower, more cinematic perspectives like directorofgametography and The Serialist’s Humans of Arc Raiders. That side of the game (atmosphere, survival, cinematography, connection-based tense exploration) is what keeps me coming back.

With the latest updates (ABMM, Arc-focused projects, new Arc, and even the confusing “damage dealt to raiders” stat), it feels like the devs are experimenting with ways to support different playstyles at once. And honestly, I’m okay with that.

I subscribe to the idea of tension in Arc Raiders from the possibility of running into other players with bad intentions and I think that that tension is important. But I don’t think what we’re seeing now is the peak of the design. It feels more like the early stage of finding the balance between two completely valid loops:

1. the cinematic PvE scavenger survival loop
2. the high-skill PvP risk/reward loop

For me, Arc Raiders sets a benchmark. After years of COD feeling repetitive and formulaic, games that prioritise atmosphere, player choice, and emergent moments with friends feel refreshing.

You want cinematic co-op survival with unpredictable tension? That future is coming. You want high-skill PvP extraction chaos? That future is coming too.

Arc Raiders might not have perfected the balance yet, but I think it’s laying the foundation for it.

Curious where others sit. Do you play Arc Raiders for the tension, the cinema, the PvP fights, or the survival loop? And do you think Arc Raiders should lean more PvE, or stay hybrid? Plus, how do you see this changing gaming in the future?

Personally, I don't see the point in getting bent out of shape about my personal preferences for what this game should be, for me, but get excited about how Arc Raiders might potentially change the landscape of games in the future.