ARC Raiders continues to hold firm high up the leaderboards on almost every platform since being released on October 30. The third-person extraction shooter has proven to be a refreshing change of pace for many fans of the genre, introducing a post-apocalyptic landscape that encourages social interaction and collaboration rather than mindless combat.
It’s a sensational title that has proven it can hold its own against the titans of the genre, so much so that it has managed to earn high enough ratings to become the top-rated multiplayer-only shooter in almost ten years.
ARC Raiders is the Shooter of the Decade
ARC Raiders has stumped up a Metascore of 87, which is admirable for a new IP created by a relatively young studio whose debut game earned a Metascore of 80. In terms of Metacritic alone, ARC Raiders is now the highest-rated multiplayer-exclusive shooter to hit the market in almost a decade.
It’s topped only by Overwatch (2016), which earned a Metascore of 91 and has a similar operating model in that it only accommodates multiplayer gameplay.
If it weren’t for Overwatch, ARC Raiders would be lining up to be the highest-rated multiplayer-only shooter to ever be released. It’s topped in the shooter categories by games that came before, like Halo 2 (95), Gears of War (94), and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (94), but they’re all games that feature other modes and elements, including single-player campaigns.
With a Metascore of 87, ARC Raiders is on par with some truly heavy hitters:
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Subnautica
- The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
- Batman: Arkham Knight
- Forza Motorsport 6
- Call of Duty: Black Ops
- Halo Infinite
- Kingdom Hearts II
- Fallout 4
- Silent Hill
ARC Raiders also shines in the ‘User Score’ rating on Metacritic. At the time of publishing, ARC Raiders boasted a User Score of 8.9, which is glowing. That aligns it with games like Metal Gear Solid, Max Payne, Resident Evil, Half-Life, StarCraft, A Link Between Worlds, Bloodborne, Portal 2, and Mass Effect 2, to name just a few games.
Embark Studios has created something truly special in ARC Raiders, and as the studio plans to support the game for the next ten years, it’s likely it’ll be evolving for some time to come.
Have you played ARC Raiders yet? Let me know what you think about the game on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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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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