Anonymous
10/22/2025, 7:22:16 AM
No.2023231
>>2023167
A month ago, like you, I got fed up seeing the nondescript praise for the game that didn't sell the appeal. So I dove into watching TT2 footage. The thing that piqued my interest was one post saying "the AI were more dangerous than players." I've played a few extraction shooters but AI were always obstacles at best. Going down that rabbit hole I discovered this used to be a PvE game that stapled a second genre onto itself. And I think that's the secret ingredient.
Because ultimately ARC isn't really doing anything new. If it were FPS it might look like every other Tarkov clone. But almost every individual element feels polished from a lengthy dev cycle that didn't sound like dev hell. Its greatest strength is the combination of elements: immersion. I just like being in the game. I think the gunplay is mediocre, but the sound and animations make it fun to shoot and be shot at. The loot is a blur of generic parts, but so many things can be sourced and repurposed mid-match. UI could use improvements, but getting back into matches is so fast. I felt none of the stress you get in other ex. shooters, but tension was thick in every encounter.
Fighting bots you're always nervous about players ambushing you, fighting players you're always wary of aggroing bots. You're never safe but the TTK is just slow enough to allow escape from all but the worst positions. It was chaotic and chatty and I love that in ex. shooters. The game subtly incentivizes impromptu teamups, from allowing enemies to extract together to allowing reviving of enemies. Negotiating, bargaining, bantering, it really sold the adventure vibe when other players were having a good time instead of acting like high threat NPCs. And frankly it's casual. If you die, you keep what's up your ass and earned exp. You're always progressing even when losing. It rewards learning and exploring without feeling like it'll inevitably demand hundreds of hours of mastery to keep up with the hardcore playerbase.
A month ago, like you, I got fed up seeing the nondescript praise for the game that didn't sell the appeal. So I dove into watching TT2 footage. The thing that piqued my interest was one post saying "the AI were more dangerous than players." I've played a few extraction shooters but AI were always obstacles at best. Going down that rabbit hole I discovered this used to be a PvE game that stapled a second genre onto itself. And I think that's the secret ingredient.
Because ultimately ARC isn't really doing anything new. If it were FPS it might look like every other Tarkov clone. But almost every individual element feels polished from a lengthy dev cycle that didn't sound like dev hell. Its greatest strength is the combination of elements: immersion. I just like being in the game. I think the gunplay is mediocre, but the sound and animations make it fun to shoot and be shot at. The loot is a blur of generic parts, but so many things can be sourced and repurposed mid-match. UI could use improvements, but getting back into matches is so fast. I felt none of the stress you get in other ex. shooters, but tension was thick in every encounter.
Fighting bots you're always nervous about players ambushing you, fighting players you're always wary of aggroing bots. You're never safe but the TTK is just slow enough to allow escape from all but the worst positions. It was chaotic and chatty and I love that in ex. shooters. The game subtly incentivizes impromptu teamups, from allowing enemies to extract together to allowing reviving of enemies. Negotiating, bargaining, bantering, it really sold the adventure vibe when other players were having a good time instead of acting like high threat NPCs. And frankly it's casual. If you die, you keep what's up your ass and earned exp. You're always progressing even when losing. It rewards learning and exploring without feeling like it'll inevitably demand hundreds of hours of mastery to keep up with the hardcore playerbase.