Rank 1: ARC Raiders
What kind of game is this? ARC Raiders is an extraction shooter in which the world has been attacked by evil alien robots called “ARC” and the remaining humans have retreated underground. You are one of the brave raiders who venture to the surface to scavenge important resources and materials – and there you will encounter the aforementioned ARC and other raiders. The game thus emphasizes PvPvE, as you can fight against both the robots and other players.
Why this rank? ARC Raiders achieves many of the things that other games on this list accomplish:
- Good performance
- Beautiful graphics
- Great sound design
- Fun PvP
- Successful PvE with joy in looting and leveling
One thing makes ARC Raiders a truly unique gaming experience: Embark has managed to create a good experience for both PvE and PvP players in a single game. You can dive in and have exciting and action-packed battles with other players that even have tactical depth due to the various gadgets. Or you can focus on PvE, farm the ARCs, and even take on the stronger giant robots like a queen or a matriarch.
Peaceful players communicate with each other and go about their ways without fighting, while in the same lobby, two raiders engage in a fierce battle to the death. There are truly beautiful moments between strangers, but also malicious betrayal. And these stories that arise from the community make ARC Raiders a nearly unique gaming experience.
This is not only due to the community, as the developers built the necessary framework. There are emotes for basic communication such as “Hello”, “Thank you”, or “Don’t shoot”. There is also a voice chat through which you can communicate with players in your immediate vicinity. And if you don’t feel comfortable speaking in the in-game chat with your own voice, there is a kind of voice changer that uses artificial intelligence to give you a different voice.
Regardless of the technical details, the coexistence and/or conflict of the players also makes sense from a story perspective. In such a post-apocalyptic world with limited resources, you can’t trust anyone and should always remain cautious. But all humans have the same enemy, the ARCs, so it can also make sense to cooperate with others to take down a dangerous foe.
Everything you experience in ARC Raiders is situational, and each round can differ from the previous one – even if only in details. And even if you don’t have any special experiences with other players, you can just loot and level, grind, improve your gear, and complete quests, while still having fun.
If none of the new shooters from autumn 2025 appeal to you, check out MeinMMO. We regularly introduce new and old games. A possible stop for you would be this list: 10 shooters that are so beautiful you forget to shoot at your opponents
