By: Alex Tilton

Some years ago I got into a video game called Sea of Thieves. It was my first time playing an ‘extraction’ game, where other players can steal all your hard work. There were things I loved about it, and things I absolutely hated.  But apparently there was more love than hate because I hung around for a couple of years and did essentially everything there was to do. But fundamentally, I could never escape the feeling that this game incentivized a practice known as griefing; playing the game for the purpose of making other players miserable.

I eventually lost interest as time rolled on. Other extraction games came into vogue and I had no desire to play them. I didn’t want to steal other player’s loot, and I didn’t want anyone stealing mine. So when Arc Raiders became the breakout hit of 2025, I had no intention of paying for it or playing it. But my brother wanted it, so I got it for him for Christmas. He retaliated by getting it for me as well, at which point it seemed rude not to at least try it.

A few weeks later I realized that essentially every scrap of my free time had been poured into this new addiction and, as much as that definitely needed to stop…I was clearly wrong about this game. 

Yes, people can kill you and steal your stuff…but most of them refuse to do so. Mostly they’ll leave you alone or help you out. The player community overwhelmingly condemns hunting other players, and refers to people who do so as rats. I can reliably count on someone I’ve never met before giving me a health item if I need one, and I always carry extras so I can do the same. It’s just a video game, but it created a legitimate esprit de corps. It was refreshing, highly addictive, and it made me feel like video games could be a pro-social force, which is something I haven’t experienced for years. 

The game itself is very well designed. Gameplay mechanics are simple to learn but take time to master. You’re given quests but they’re entirely optional and you can go wherever you want and do whatever you want. Players feel well rewarded for taking big risks, and they can grind low-risk activities and still get a meaningful payoff. The game includes a mechanism where the player can (optionally) retire their existing character and start a new one with some additional perks during a weeklong window that comes around every 2 months.

On the down side: this game needs more maps to play on. They have 5 at present, and various ‘conditions’ go into effect from time to time making the map a different experience. But after a while the rewarding feeling of mastering a map starts to fade. The developers have a road map which promises several new maps a year and this will certainly help, but it’s not hard to see a massive drop-off in player activity over the next few months until this starts to happen.

In any case, Arc Raiders is worth your time and money if you enjoy a challenge with the risk of occasionally getting your stuff stolen by other players.