Recent reviews by Aeit

Finally a game where I can play as Android bot.
Its a great title with amazing devs thats worth your money, time and frequently invites you back to try new things.

⚠️ **DO NOT RECOMMEND**

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## Summary

ARC Raiders has potential but Embark Studios keeps failing on nearly every level—poor progression design, game-breaking bugs that are adjusted with silent nerf patches.

Balance changes that destroy builds without recourse, and a map/respawn system that makes the game unenjoyable.

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## The Good

✅ Core gameplay loop can be fun in first 10-15 hours in solo lobbies
✅ Decent extraction shooter concept
✅ Best AI enemies in industry
✅ Interesting art direction

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## The Bad

1. Unrewarding Progression System and Experience Nerfs

The experience gain from Arc skills (Bastion/Bombardier) has been significantly nerfed, making progression feel unrewarding and grindy. Since players primarily play in trios and must share experience, progression feels particularly slow. After 66 hours of gameplay, I have accumulated only 14 blueprints total—most of them being Bettina duplicates or free quest rewards.

The drop rates are unacceptably low; even gacha games offer more generous progression paths. Furthermore, drop rates from locked key doors (due to your failure to patch critical wall glitches) have apparently been reduced further in recent silent patches, making meaningful progression nearly impossible to achieve.
I haven't seen a single Tempest, and looted Bobcat only from other players.

2. Unresolved Glitching Walls (Game-Breaking Defect)

Critical glitches involving walls remain unpatched despite being widely reported by the community. These are not minor cosmetic issues—they directly impact core gameplay mechanics and progression. The development team's failure to address these defects entirely complaints demonstrates inadequate quality assurance and a lack of commitment to fixing fundamental game-breaking issues.

3. New Game-Breaking Glitch - Quick Swap Weapon Exploit

A new game-breaking glitch was introduced in a recent patch where players can abuse a quick swap weapon mechanic to instantly wipe entire squads. This completely ruins competitive integrity and demonstrates that patches are deployed without proper testing or quality assurance.

4. Broken Character Build Following Unannounced Balance Changes

The recent nerf to Security Breach completely destroyed survival character builds without providing any way to adapt. You offered no respec option, no refund of skill points, and no alternative viable builds. This shows a fundamental disregard for player investment and time spent building characters.

Furthermore, most other skill branches are severely underperforming or non-functional. Your development team does not understand the concept of "balance"—you only implement nerfs without creating viable alternatives. This is not balance design; it is poor game management.

5. Silent Patches and Lack of Communication

Multiple patches have been deployed without proper explanation or transparency. Turning off quick time events too. Players deserve to understand what changes are being made to their game and why. This lack of communication demonstrates a contemptuous attitude toward your player base.

6. No Duo Queue Implementation

Despite it being nearly 2026, duo matchmaking implementation remains critically flawed. Current "priority" queue system is meaningless and does not address the core problem. Other games like Apex Legends struggled with this years ago—you have had years of industry examples to learn from, yet you still cannot implement basic duo matchmaking properly.

7. Unexplained Matchmaking System

Your matchmaking queue system lacks transparent explanation. Players do not understand how they are being matched or why player loadout vary so dramatically. This absence of clarity contributes to a poor user experience.

8. Broken respawn system and map design issues

Respawn points are predetermined and guaranteed in trio lobbies, leading to constant camping by other players. The new map's close-quarters design creates a vicious cycle: players respawn 12+ minutes into a lobby only to find nothing to loot, are forced into combat immediately, then get killed by other recently-spawned teams in adjacent rooms.

This design creates an unplayable experience where progression is impossible and fun is replaced by frustration. Players cannot loot, solve puzzles, or engage in meaningful gameplay—only constant involuntary combat.

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## Summary

❌ **Not Recommended**

**66 hours in and I'm done.**
This game is fundamentally broken across multiple systems: progression is unrewarding, core mechanics have glitches, balance changes destroy builds without recourse, and map/respawn design makes gameplay unenjoyable.
This game has fundamental design problems, inexplicable development decisions, and an apparent disregard for player experience. Embark Studios either doesn't understand what balance means or care only for petting the loudest barking dog - streamers.

The concept has potential. The execution is poor and because they don't learn from The Finals mistakes it will takes ages to develop.

**Skip this game.** Come back in 6-12 months if (big if) Embark fixes these core issues.

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MKW annihilated. No other cart racing comes close and i say it as MK series fan who got MKW on preorder bundle.
Sega did with Sonic CrossWorlds everything that Nintendont.

- Full customization of vehicles (body kits, colors, accents, horns, decals and even own aura)
- Additional perks (can improve almost everything, starting from stats, items or events)
- No "transition" maps (pure dopamine rush)
- In race voting and track (rings teleport)
- Balanced items and recovery times (kids who cry about it never played MK8)
- Banger BGM (you even have Creepy Nuts tracks)
- Great levels, not overly complicated
- Cool interactions between characters
- Offline modes are actually fun especially on split screen


The bad?

- WTF is 60 frames cap on PC. Thats illegal. (can be removed by mod)
- DLC characters dont have VA which is unacceptable, its not free content. And Sega explanation that its due to interactions between Rivals which generates more costs also baffles me. Miku dosnt have those but has taunts and simple VA, every chatacter HAVE TO GET THIS. Its nonnegotiable. Will be modded in either way but thats unfair to console players.
- The flying sections are kinda annoying, zapping in vector like movements instead of fluid movement like in MK series.
- No online matches with friends on split screen. Kinda weird considering its basic MK feature
- Lack of cross-progression. Nothing super serious but yes, PC masterrace also plays on consoles. Maybe they will introduce it later as Sega account can be linked with everything and saves can be managed from there.

MKW annihilated.

Sonic CrossWorlds does everything Nintendont.
- Full customization of vehicles
- Additional perks
- No "transition" maps
- In race voting and track swap
- Balanced items and recovery times
- Banger BGM
- Great tracks
- Cool interactions between characters

The bad?

WTF is 60 frames cap on PC. Thats illegal.

Please be an Apex killer ... please

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As a former Nike enjoyer its great. The quests are fun, skins are great and even small additions like music notes buried underground ...

The only game where content is soo good that you dont need mods

The only game you really can suck at

̶G̶O̶T̶Y̶ ̶2̶0̶2̶5̶

Edit.

There was resurrection of Jesus.
And then was the Expedition 33.