Arc Raiders Authors Argued About the Concept for Three Years - Slowing Down the Game Became an Important Stage in Development

Arc Raiders Authors Argued About the Concept for Three Years - Slowing Down the Game Became an Important Stage in Development

0 Источник: Embark Studios
21:04

The hit wasn't built right away. Embark Studios couldn't decide on the concept of the game for a long time.

The extraction adventure Arc Raiders has become a huge hit. However, the game originally looked different.

The developers argued about the concept of the project for three years. During the GDC 2026 conference, Production Director Kayo Braga shared his memories:

I came to Embark in 2020, a year after development began, and no one could tell me what kind of game it was. Or rather, everyone could answer, but the answers were radically different. If you ask one person, he will say that it is a "battle royale" against Arc; another claims that it is a cooperative version of Shadow of the Colossus; someone calls it a heroic looter shooter

For Kayo Braga himself, Arc Raiders was a "race to kill the boss with obstacles":

You appear on the map, determine where the big boss will appear, and rush to him like crazy, because the one who kills the boss wins. Everyone else lost"
Embark Studios
Embark Studios

Kayo said that "playtest battles" took place at Embark Studios — each test actually demonstrated one of several fundamentally different versions of the game. At that time, there were about 120 people in the team and each "faction" sought to defend its vision.

As a result, Embark Studios decided to invest in external game testing — it showed that the game "sometimes" gives pleasure. The authors of Arc Raiders believed in their ideas and were able to convince Nexon to continue investing in the project while the team was conducting a "reboot."

Subsequently, they were able to come to the version of Arc Raiders that the players received.

Kayo noted that one of the most significant changes was slowing down the pace of the game:

The first thing we did after the reboot was to reduce the speed of everything by about 60%. This helped the team realize how strong elements such as maps, sound design, sandbox-style mechanics with tools were. In other words, these are the foundations of the extraction shooter nature of Arc Raiders.
ARC Raiders

ARC Raiders

Экстракшн Шутер от третьего лица
30 Oct 2025 г.
To game page
Boris Piletskiy
21:04
Sources: Сайт gamesradar
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