Preview: Arc Raiders Could Be the Definitive Extraction Shooter on PS5

Arc Raiders is an extraction shooter that wants you to pay attention. It wants you to scan the horizon and really listen to its soundscape, and that makes it one of the most exciting multiplayer games heading to PS5 this year.

We’ve had our eyes on Arc Raiders since its announcement back in 2021. However, once developer Embark Studios released The Finals, a breath of fresh air in the first-person shooter space, our anticipation grew.

Well, we’ve finally wracked up over seven hours with the game on PC, familiarising ourselves with its gameplay loop, its progression systems, and the overall feel of its experience. We walked away feeling like we barely scratched the surface, but also loving every second we spent with it.

Arc Raiders is a big old extraction shooter, with multiple huge maps, vendors dishing out quests, multiple Helldivers 2-esque battle passes, a grindy skill tree, and a whole crafting system that needs upgrading. We’ll get into all of that, but let’s start out with Arc’s base premise.