Most of those who have spent a significant amount of time playing ARC Raiders he should know by now that it's a game that's as much about listening as it is about seeing. It is actually worth noting that if one wants to succeed in ARC Raidersthey should probably play it with a gaming headset that allows them to hear more clearly. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who's played a competitive shooter before, but v ARC Raidersplayers have to worry about more than just other Raiders. ARCs tirelessly patrol the surface looking for humans to conquer, and hearing them can mean the difference between life and death. More than any PvP shooter, this makes the ability to hear everything paramount.
It ultimately comes down to how ARC Raiders was designed – with sound at the fore. According to the developers ARC Raiders is a “hearing game”, which is not something every shooter can claim. The extraction shooter Embark already has perfect visuals, but its sound design is top notch and offers players an immersive experience unlike many others. However, despite the fact that it is a basic component ARC Raiders' design philosophy was not nominated for a Game Award, which some gamers expected to be an easy win.
ARC Raiders wasn't always about listening to things
As with almost every game, ARC Raiders evolved drastically during its development. What the game is today is a far cry from how it was originally conceived. For example, Embark originally planned the extraction shooter to be a PvE experience, as detailed in the first episode of The Evolution of ARC Raiders docs posted on the official ARC Raiders YouTube channel. That's not the only thing the developer has changed though, as its pacing has also changed significantly, with the emphasis on sound design playing a more prominent role as a result.
ARC Raiders' emphasis on sound was due to a change of pace
It wasn't actually the developers who decided they wanted to ARC Raiders“Audio is supposed to be a core part of the experience that made it happen, but the decision to slow down the pace of the game to the point where players have no choice but to listen carefully to their surroundings rather than react to them. As audio director Bence Pajor stated during the first episode of The Evolution of ARC Raiders, “The game we're making now was kind of the game I envisioned when we started building it. It was a game about exploring and being in this world and the world was supposed to challenge you and you were supposed to go places to find things. The way the game was played before, it was this action game where things just came at you.”
Of course, the “stuff” is still coming at the player ARC Raiders in its current version, with machines in the world trying to track down and defeat any player they see out in the open. But there's no denying the fact that the extraction shooter fans play today forces them to have a slower pace than an “action game,” as Pajor calls it, might have. Originally designed as something closer Shadow of the Colossus missing 4 dead left missing PUBG, ARC RaidersThe game loop was once vague and action-heavy. Over time, the tempo slowed down, the environment grew larger, and the decision was made to highlight sound as the core of the experience. As Pajor stated,
“For me it's much better because it's slower paced. This is the best game I've worked on for me because it's a game about listening to things.”
As the sound director said, ARC Raiders it was meant to challenge players not only visually but also audibly, forcing them to listen in order to survive. Today, the extraction shooter is not about quick shots and quick exchanges, but about strategic planning, careful decision-making and extreme consideration for the environment, all of which are deeply rooted in its sound design. and yet ARC Raiders was left out of the list of games nominated for best audio design at this year's Game Awards.
ARC Raiders can't win Best Sound Design at the 2025 awards
Although there was a lot of heated discussion around it ARC Raiders should have been nominated for Game of the Year, it seems less controversial that it should at least be nominated for Best Sound Design. It was nominated for Best Multiplayer Game, along with similar ones Battlefield 6 and Elden Ring Nightreignbut it was rejected at the cost of highlighting one of its most favored and valued characteristics.
Here are the Game Awards 2025 Best Sound Design nominations:
-
Battlefield 6 (Battlefield Studios/EA)
-
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive)
-
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
-
Ghost of Yotei (Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
-
Silent Hill f (NeoBards Entertainment/KONAMI)
ARC RaidersThe sound design is good because it was treated so well during development. Embark's goal during game development didn't seem to be just polishing the sound effects at the end of it all, but building the entire game around them. Every ARC Wasp overhead, every shuttle rocket explosion in the distance, and even the wind blowing through the trees to tell players everything they need to know about what's going on around them. ARC Raiders the entire game loop depends on how effectively her audio creates context, so it had to be good.
That's why its absence from the Best Audio Design nominations is so strange, as few games lean as heavily or directly rely on their audio as ARC Raiders does Since the game's launch, players have even agreed that the extraction shooter has perfect sound design, with Reddit posts like this one from user KawiWarrior calling for players to pay tribute. Other posts on Reddit, such as one by ThrowghAway74, express a similar sentiment, with comments from fans calling out ARC Raiders“Incredible”, “too good” and “out of this world” sound design.
ARC Raiders It earned its reputation as a game built around listening not because of a marketing line, but because its entire identity grew out of a shift towards a slower pace and a world that forces players to pay attention to every sound it makes. This evolution has turned sound into the backbone of the experience, influencing how players move, plan and survive. With that in mind, its absence in the Best Audio Design category is notable, as few games this year have built their core loop around sound as deliberately as ARC Raiders. While the award was overlooked, the reality is that gamers know what the game has accomplished and the community has recognized its sound work since launch.
- Released
-
October 30, 2025
- ESRB
-
Teen / Violence, Blood
