Coal ARC Raiders Review

As an experienced gamer who is an old hand at FPS games but rarely plays them anymore—my first was the original Wolfenstein—and as someone who has never played an “extraction shooter” before, ARC Raiders has been a shockingly fun and absorbing experience. I mostly play duo with my son, and we are consistently matched on maps with other duos. I sometimes play solo as well. The game really nails its desired aesthetic, has incredibly fun gunplay, and every single drop feels new and fresh thus far. The sense of everpresent mortal danger pervades the game, where you might have a clean scavenging run or you might get murdered 2 minutes in while prying a container open. The only negative, to me, is that the PvP encounters sometimes feel unfair. Perhaps later in the game with better shields the “time to kill” will go up, but as it is a player can jump out from behind a bush and obliterate you in an instant. I like the danger that potential PvP adds to the raids, but I wish it carried some negative repercussions so “outlaw” style players were more motivated to think twice before killing you. Still, I wouldn’t want PvP removed entirely. It certainly adds to the danger. Fantastic game!