Recently, Embark Studios unveiled the ‘Abyss’ skin bundle in ARC Raiders, introducing an outfit that fans had been waiting for since the game came out. It featured a unique, armored skin that was shown in earlier marketing materials, and the company dubbed it ‘highly anticipated’ when it dropped.
However, the lower portion of the skin had fans disappointed. It featured what many described as ‘leg corsets’, and the memes and AI rewrites flowed within minutes of the bundle being revealed. As it turns out, the Abyss outfit is pretty damn accurate.
Abyss Skin is an Old-Fashioned Anti-G Suit
The Abyss bundle was added to the ARC Raiders store for a premium price recently, rewarding those who’d waited an age (read: a couple of months) to get their hands on it. It’s a unique outfit that includes a bizarre, otherworldly helmet, a mess of tubing, pouches, and small machines, and of course, the leg corsets.
Each leg is adorned with a tightly-laced wrap, open at the knees to allow for a range of movement, and admittedly, it looks pretty ridiculous.
But a little internet sleuthing by eagle-eyed fans has uncovered a fact about the Abyss outfit.
It’s actually accurate, and it’s based on an old-fashion ‘anti-g’ suit, worn by pilots to ensure high levels of compression along the legs when sitting and flying for long periods of time. It would ensure optimum blood flow to the brain and prevent pooling in the legs.
The running theory is that the suit applies to those raiders leaving Speranza in their high-speed capsules, rocketing along rails at breakneck speed. That doesn’t necessarily make sense, given the fundamental purpose of the ‘anti-g’ suit.
That’s the topic resolved, then. It might look silly, but no, the ARC Raiders Abyss skin is not some kind of gimp suit or skewed, sexy lingerie. It’s a legitimate, retro-futuristic element based on something that genuinely existed – and in some ways, continues to exist today.
Case closed.
Did you invest in the Abyss bundle? Let us know if you’re enjoying the skin on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that a new Life is Strange is being revealed next week
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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