ARC Raiders needs to learn from 2019’s failed open-world robot game

ARC Invaders It has a lot of potential thanks to its attractive setup and decent-looking extraction gameplay loop. It comes from Embark Studios, who surprised everyone with their impressive competitive shooter, The finals. So, understandably, fans have pretty high expectations going into this. However, for it to truly succeed and become the game everyone wants, ARC Invaders need to learn some important lessons.

At the moment, ARC Invaders is one of the most anticipated sci-fi games, but if it wants to be as successful when it releases, then it needs to take some important advice from an old robot-focused game. When it was released in 2019, it received harsh criticism, much of which could end up applying to ARC Invaders if you fall into the same traps. Fortunately, they are easy lessons to learn and ARC Invaders has a good chance of avoiding the many flaws of its predecessors.

ARC Raiders need to learn from generation zero

It has to be launched with a lot of content

ARC Invaders Has the potential to be the next best extraction shooter if he plays his cards rightespecially since there are few games with the same kind of aesthetic and general tone as it. This is, of course, different Generation Zerothe 2019 open-world first-person shooter in which players defend themselves from terrifying robots. It shares many similarities with ARC Invadersespecially since both games prioritize stealth and survival mechanics and position their robot hordes as genuine threats rather than a group of easily expendable enemies.

The initial trailers for Generation Zero were incredibly exciting, promising a mysterious world set in 1980s Sweden, with robots that would withhold the damage inflicted on players and return for revenge when they least expected it. This concept of enemies that remember the player and actively hunt them down was quite impressive, and the Simon Stålenhag-inspired robot designs are quite impressive. Like this ARC Invaders which has a fairly new sci-fi aesthetic, Generation Zero it was set to be a success.

Unfortunately, the extremely negative reviews for Generation Zero destroyed the game, largely due to its lack of fun gameplay and extremely buggy state. It had an empty open world full of copy-and-pasted houses, little to no engaging worldbuilding, and a combat model that didn’t match the strengths of the horrible robots. Although updates have fixed many of the game’s initial issues, Generation Zero the initial launch was challenging for the developer and caused player counts to struggle to recover.

Although it is not yet known how ARC Invaders will end, It’s clear he needs to learn a lot of lessons Generation Zero. Although they are two different games in terms of genres, the shared genre, themes, inspirations and even game model can lead to ARC Invaders making the same mistakes. However, if you can avoid the pitfalls that Generation Zero dropped, it could become one of the best sci-fi games of the current generation.

ARC Raiders should include compelling worldbuilding

It needs to be more than just audio records

Worldbuilding is a big part of any game, including extraction shooters. As they typically don’t have very engaging narratives, they rely heavily on their worlds to compel players to play repeatedly. This works excellently on something like Hunting: Showdownwhich has a richly detailed fantasy Western world that oozes atmosphere. It’s a place that players want to revisit consistently and that helps intensify the otherwise familiar gameplay loop.

ARC Invaders has an important opportunity to innovate compared to other extraction shooters, namely through its unique setting and enemy types. However, if it doesn’t offer much beyond flavor text on the Steam store page or official website, then can end up feeling empty like Generation Zero. This game had a world full of possibilities, but ended up disappointing. It relied heavily on audio logs and written notes to drive its worldbuilding, rather than interesting visuals and compelling characters.

Generation Zero was positioned to tell a more compelling narrative as it is a cooperative PvE shooter, much like the one ARC Invaders intended to be before her gender change. So, considering ARC Invaders is an extraction shooter – a genre not well known for its narratives – it’s understandable if it doesn’t employ the same level of world-building expected from Generation Zero. However, it still needs to do more than simply feed players texts about its ruined world. Instead, it should provide compelling worldbuilding in the same way Dark Souls does, namely through context clues in the environment.

Robots in ARC Raiders need to be more than scenery

They should feel like a real threat

One of the few aspects that Generation Zero got it right, it was your robots. Although the combat was a bit confusing, the robots felt genuinely terrifying, as even a small group of weaker enemies could finish off the player. ARC Invaders needs to instill a similar level of horror whenever a player encounters their titular ARCsvery similar to how Hunting: Showdown Bosses cause players immense anxiety whenever they encounter them. They should seem like something players should avoid and try to escape from, as a fight with one could end in disaster and loss of resources.

ARC Raiders’ The game trailer showed several types of robots, but not that many or what they were actually capable of. For the most part, it seemed like people playing the game could easily take down the drone-type robots, which seemed to be the most common. This may end up being disappointing, as ARC Raiders’ robots must feel as life-threatening as Generation Zero. Of course, it remains to be seen how Embark Studios handles its larger robots, but we hope they’re just as deadly as the ones players face. Generation Zero.

Ultimately, ARC Invaders needs to ensure it has compelling and deadly world-building robots in order to avoid the many flaws of Generation Zero. While exploring a beautifully detailed world is always fun, without that all-important context it can feel like a shallow, repetitive experience. Likewise, fighting hordes of robots is fun, but making them feel like an unstoppable deadly force adds much greater stakes to the extraction shooter’s gameplay loop. ARC Invaders will probably please a lot of players, but if you want to be a smash hit, you need to learn these important lessons from Generation Zero.

Source: Generation Zero/YouTube, ARC Raiders/YouTube

Systems

Platform(s)

PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S

Developer(s)

Embark Studios

Editor(s)

Embark Studios

CERS

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