Does Arc Raiders actually have a plot?

As a first and foremost PvPvE multiplayer game, it doesn't feel like it ARC Raiders it will have a lot of story. On its surface, the story of ARC Raiders It seems to serve more as a backdrop to why players are hunting ARCs and fighting other raiders. However, the depth ARC RaidersTradition shows that it has a much more impressive narrative than meets the eye when entering Speranza.

Community is the main theme ARC Raidersboth in its story and its gameplay initiative, as players can team up in groups of friends or with other solo raiders to take down the ARC game's biggest enemy threats. This co-op game fits well with tradition and history ARC Raiders' world, serving to enhance the experience for players who take the time to piece together the game's story. While ARC Raiders doesn't present a straightforward story in the traditional sense, giving players enough bits of lore and live service updates to create a cohesive story that goes beyond a simple game-framing tool.

ARC Raiders story so far

ARC Raiders is set in the distant future of 2180, where humanity has almost become extinct, except for those who have either fled Earth or taken refuge in the safety of underground cities, bunkers, and subway stations to survive. While global ecological collapse was the catalyst for humanity's downfall, the real fight came when the ARC machines attacked. Story ARC Raiders the player experience takes place in the Rust Belt, a location that was once part of Italy before the apocalypse, which has become a wasteland of deserts and ruined cities.

The Exodus caused a rift among the survivors of humanity

As a way to escape ecological collapse, the wealthiest members of society were able to flee Earth in rockets during an event known as the Exodus. While these human survivors had the means to colonize new systems outside of Earth's atmosphere, most of humanity's remnants were left to fend for themselves at home, creating a lingering grudge against those who left the planet. In the wake of this Exodus, a new faction of raiders arose to challenge the surface world in search of supplies necessary to care for underground communities such as the city of Toledo, where ARC Raiders players call home.

The first wave of ARCs pinned humanity to the wall

Sometime after the Exodus, ARC machines appeared in what became known as the First Wave. In response, the raiders banded together to confront this new threat to humanity's survival and oppose the invading ARC enemies. While it is unclear where the ARCs come from—whether they are the product of humanity or alien invaders—the raiders were able to learn their patterns and behavior during the first wave invasion, providing valuable data for future raiders despite the heavy losses they faced.

ARC Raiders missions reveal what happened in the Rust Belt

In the current timeline ARC RaidersIn this story, the Speranza neighborhood of Toledo hosts raiders and acts as a headquarters for those going on missions above. There are many quests ARC Raiders players can take over from various NPCs in Speranza. These quests play a major role in revealing some of the history ARC RaidersWorld, Exodus and First Wave.

For example, in the Keeping The Memory mission, Celeste wants the player to visit the memorial to those lost in the First Wave in the Formicai Hills on the Dam battlefield. Here, players will have to search the ruins of the First Wave arches to find the helmet of the raider who lost his life in the battle. The environmental narrative of this quest is representative of the types of lore drops and storytelling techniques ARC Raiders used to naturally fill players in on the details of the world they inhabit. Each of the quest creators usually provides some commentary on why the players do what they do to help piece together the story ARC Raiders.

ARC Raiders Dam Battlegrounds Control Tower

Each of the ARC Raiders maps fills in a piece of the puzzle

The first players of the map have access to in ARC Raiders is the Dam Battlegrounds, which was home to a major clash between the raiders and the machines of the First Wave of ARC. Throughout the map, players can find clues to what happened during this battle in areas like the Scrap Yard and the nearby Wreckage of First Wave machines, which depict the damage the ARCs have done to the infrastructure of the dam itself and its power grid.

ARC RaidersThe map of the buried city serves as a glimpse into life before the collapse of humanity, the Exodus, and the First Wave. It contains the ruins of buildings swallowed by the sand, including apartments, a library, a hospital and a shopping district. Most notably, the town appears to have once been called “Marano” based on the signs that mark the train station on the map.

Loss of transmission ARC Raiders Control Tower A6

It reveals a map of the spaceport ARC Raiders' history with Exodus, as it features locations such as the Rocket Assembly, Control Tower, and Launch Towers that players can explore to see how the wealthy few managed to escape Earth during the apocalyptic collapse.

Reduced to Rubble Quest Guide in Arc Raiders 5

Blue Gate seems to be quite a new discovery in the world ARC Raidersas many of the quests that take the player there involve exploring and repairing the structures around it. This map tells the story of the raiders rebuilding the place after the destruction caused by the First Wave.

ARC Raiders North Line Stella Montis Abandoned Facility Update

Perhaps the most mysterious map in the world ARC Raiders is a new Stella Montis map that takes place entirely in an abandoned research facility located in the snowy mountains north of the Rust Belt. The environmental narrative of this map suggests that humanity was preparing for some kind of apocalyptic scenario, trying to preserve humanity in the face of Earth's destruction.

Much of the lore surrounding these maps can be found in ARC Raiders Code.

While ARC Raiders does a great job of laying the foundations of its narrative through codex entries and environmental narration of its world's history, the actual story of the game is told in real-time through player interaction and live service updates. With release ARC Raiders update 1.2.0, players collectively worked to gain access to Stella Montis by contributing resources to unlock it. Now that the map is unlocked, players can take part in the Breaking New Ground event as they search for Stella Montis to find all the secrets it may be hiding.

This type of storytelling builds on the community theme of ARC Raiders, where not only is there a vibrant community of raiders dealing with past trauma in the game, but that community extends to players in real life. The nature of live play means story ARC Raiders ongoing and largely community driven. Players get some background ARC Raiders' lore, and they are left to uncover the rest as they clear maps, participate in community events, and send their characters on expeditions to expand the game world ARC Raiders.