This highly anticipated extraction shooter is getting another playtest as pre-orders go live

The extraction shooter genre has become quite crowded but Arc Raiders, from its most recent playtests in May, proved it has the potential to stand out. Most of the players who got to experience the game had positive feedback to share, not just about the graphics and gun play, but also the mechanics. The game is slated for an October 30 release and while it was believed that there will not be any more playtests, developer Embark Studios is giving everyone another chance to try it, and, pre-orders are now live.

Arc Raiders is available on Steam and Epic Games Store, as well as the PlayStation Store for pre-order. Microsoft store will list pre-orders soon. Before the official release on October 30, there is going to be a three-day Server Slam Open Test starting October 17 and ending October 19. This time around, everyone can hop on and access to the game will roll out slowly from day one. This will allow the studio to test server capabilities and gauge traffic. Notably, progress made during the playtest will not carry over to the final release.

Arc Raiders is priced at $40 for the Standard Edition and $60 for the Deluxe Edition. The latter comes with an exclusive Astro Bundle, 2,400 Raider Tokens, the Scrappy Cowboy skin, and more. Those who pre-order will get the Lucky Duck Bundle containing an exclusive Hatchling Backpack and Golden Rubber Duck Backpack Charm.

The game was first announced in 2021 and at the time, it was a free-to-play third person co-operative shooter.  Then, in 2023, the genre changed to PvPvE extraction shooter and Embark Studios started testing it privately. The first public playtest took place in October 2024, followed by another one in April this year. The tests were quite successful and players spent a lot of time in the game, over 17 million hours through the six days.