Arc Raiders has only been out for a short time, but I already know it’s my game of the year for 2025. 

It’s rare for a game to grab me this quickly, especially in a genre I’ve never fully clicked with. Yet here I am, a few days in, thinking about it constantly and getting on my PS5 to play whenever I get the chance.

Extraction shooters have never really been my thing. I’ve never had a PC strong enough to run Escape from Tarkov. Even now that I do, I’ve avoided it because of the reputation and stress that comes with it. 

Before this, the closest I came to enjoying the genre was Vigor, and if I’m honest, the only thing keeping me there was the 80s and 90s Norwegian aesthetic.

The gameplay in Vigor was clunky and stiff — never fully fun. Delta Force had potential too, but it still felt like a cheaper imitation of something better. Arc Raiders is the first extraction shooter that didn’t just click for me — it hooked me.

It’s thrilling without feeling punishing and tense without being sweaty. It’s fun in a way that keeps me smiling even when things go wrong. Losing doesn’t make me want to quit.

Winning doesn’t require hours of studying loot metas or sweating through every engagement. It strikes the balance this genre has been missing for me. A huge part of that is its style.

Arc Raiders is full of 70s and 80s retro-futuristic charm. The soundtrack is made up of synth and analog sounds, and the character and weapon designs look like they fell out of a vintage sci-fi magazine. 

The environments mix brutalist architecture with overgrown wilderness, creating a world with personality most modern shooters lack.

CRT monitors, cassette tech and chunky gear add to the retro-futuristic look. It feels like a specific vision rather than a focus-tested product. The sound design deserves just as much praise.

The hum of old tech, distant gunfire echoing across abandoned landscapes and the mechanical screams of Arcs create an atmosphere that feels alive and dangerous. 

Small touches like radio static and ambient noise help immerse the player in the world. It’s the kind of soundscape that sticks with someone long after they turn the game off.

My excitement for Arc Raiders didn’t appear overnight. I’ve been following this game since its very first reveal trailer, long before we knew what it would become. I played Tech Test 2, joined the Server Slam and kept up with updates along the way.

A game rarely lives up to the fantasy of its first trailer, but Arc Raiders genuinely did. The game I imagined back then is almost exactly the experience I’m playing now. In one match shortly after launch, I ended up teaming with five or so random players.

Nobody talked or fought over loot or turned on each other. We all just silently grouped up and extracted as one massive squad like it was completely normal. I barely left with any loot, but I left smiling because it felt like the kind of spontaneous moment that only happens in games with the right mix of tension, charm and player freedom.

Supporting Embark Studios feels good, too. The company may not be as small as a typical “indie” developer, but they are nowhere near the size of AAA development companies. Their previous game, The Finals, has become one of my most-played titles. Arc Raiders will definitely be joining it.

Embark seems committed to making games that take risks instead of copying trends, and that alone makes them worth rooting for. 

I don’t expect Arc Raiders to sweep major awards, especially with industry attention already gravitating toward the big prestige releases of 2025 that everyone assumes will win before they even launch. Games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Ghost of Yōtei and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 are already dominating the conversation.

I haven’t played them, so I can’t exactly judge them, but I’d love to see Arc Raiders get recognition even if it’s not the one holding a trophy at the end of the year. 

Still, awards or not, Arc Raiders is already my game of the year and that means more to me than any title it could win. And the wild part? This is just the beginning.

Embark has already announced multiple updates for the next few months and they’ve said they want Arc Raiders to last around 10 years. If it feels this special to me in its first weeks, I can only imagine what it’ll become over the long haul. If a game can make me call it my game of the year this early, that says everything.

Whitford can be reached at [email protected].