Negative Arc Raiders review slams generative AI, reigniting debate about its role in gaming

The Embark Studios extraction shooter Arc Raiders has exceeded expectations for player counts. Media opinions are also positive, with an 84 Metacritic rating. However, one score sticks out like a sore thumb, as the only negative Arc Raiders review on the aggregator. Eurogamer awarded the game a 2/5 rating, primarily due to its use of generative AI.

Eurogamer’s article focuses on how the ping system and call-outs employ TTS to replace voice recordings. Embark claims it has limited resources to hire a large number of human voice actors. Its CCO, Stefan Strandberg, has explained in interviews that AI voice generators only supplement recorded dialogue. Still, while he argues that this process doesn’t qualify as generative AI, some critics disagree.

The speech in question sounds unnatural compared to other lines, according to the reviewer. More troubling, he notes how in the extraction shooter’s world, robotic Arc machines overwhelm humans. Having traders and voiced by machine-generated dialogue demonstrates a “total lack of awareness, or worse, wilful ignorance of Arc Raiders' own semantics”.

Arc Raiders is a social game that’s casual enough for teammates to have conversations. The article highlights how the robotic TTS seems even more jarring in this environment. The title also employs AI to make enemies respond to human players more authentically. This application is not new to game development and is less contentious to the reviewer.

How gamers are reacting to the Arc Raiders review

Audiences continue to express different opinions about how developers should employ AI, if at all. It’s not shocking, then, that the Arc Raiders review has caused a polarized response. Whether or not the low score is justified is being debated on Reddit and various forums. Some players contend that generative AI plays only a minor part in the experience.

Other gamers believe that reviews should deduct points for any implementation. Regardless, as more studios utilize the technology creatively or to program NPCs, websites will have to decide whether to penalize games.