ARC Raiders Invented a Whole New Genre and Nobody Noticed

ARC Raiders continues to stun audiences worldwide, retaining a player base equalling hundreds of thousands of users a month after launch. It has proven to be one of the most energetic, electrifying games of the year, storming up the charts and taking over social and streaming platforms with ease.

What many don’t seem to have noticed is that ARC Raiders didn’t just disrupt an existing genre; it created a new one. This stellar title from Embark Studios has been dubbed an extraction shooter by all comers, but it’s not… It’s something else entirely.

ARC Raiders is not an extraction shooter, but an extraction adventure. This naming convention hasn’t been used before, and every other game in the space that walks a close line to ARC Raiders typically refers to itself as a simple ‘extraction shooter’.

With ARC Raiders, Embark Studios has gone beyond the fundamental term and created a category that better describes the nature of this game. It’s a broader, bolder, and more sizeable extraction title than we’ve ever seen, packed with lore and an intriguing backstory that’s being explored over the next few years, all being well.

This is what I mean by the naming conventions, taking what other developers and publishers in the space refer to their game as on storefronts and in marketing materials:

• Escape from Tarkov – ‘Extraction FPS’
• Arena Breakout: Infinite – ‘Extraction Shooter’
• Incursion: Red River – ‘First-Person Extraction Shooter’
• Zero Sievert – ‘Extraction Shooter’
• Gray Zone Warfare – ‘Extraction Shooter’
• PUBG: Black Budget – ‘Extraction Shooter’

And then there’s ARC Raiders… Extraction Adventure.

The game’s blurb relays this sentiment perfectly:

ARC Raiders blends the tension from extraction shooters with atmospheric settings from the adventure genre. Lurking threats—from deadly machines to other Raiders—create a constant ebb and flow of intensity, where every moment is charged with the thrill of high stakes. Extract valuable loot and explore the unfolding mysteries of a vibrant, lethal world.

It has been dubbed an ‘immersive world’ that unfolds over multiple biomes, taking players from arid environments to cold, surgical facilities carved deep into mountainsides. The social elements of ARC Raiders make it more unpredictable than anything to emerge in the space in years, and it’s that uncertain edge that makes each raid ‘absolute cinema’.

With some RPG elements woven into the game’s skill paths, a far-reaching story that’s being drip-fed to players over time, and the ability to lead an experience over several iterations of characters, each with different opportunities, ARC Raiders really is in a league of its own.

Do you think it’s right that Embark Studios has dubbed ARC Raiders an ‘extraction adventure’, or would you call it something else? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord server.

For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Embark Studios always wanted balanced PvP in ARC Raiders