ARC Raiders' 2026 Roadmap Has a Beacon on the Horizon that…

Embark Studios has revealed the roadmap for the first half of ARC Raiders' 2026 plans, and there is a lot for players to look forward to. Featured in this roadmap for ARC Raiders is the content players can expect from now until April 2026, including new map conditions, new ARC threats, and the next Expedition windows. However, arguably the most exciting part of this roadmap isn't slated to release until April, meaning ARC Raiders fans will have to wait a while for the game's juiciest content update.

With ARC Raiders' Cold Snap update now in the rear view mirror, the era of Escalation is descending upon the game and introduces new challenges to keep raiders on their toes. Having to face new ARC machines and learn their behavior is always difficult, but the roadmap for ARC Raiders also reveals that more map conditions are on the way to really force players to strategize for their runs topside. The piece of content ARC Raiders most needs right now is a new map to shake up the current gameplay loop, but players will need to wait until April for the next map to release.

ARC Raiders' Next New Map Isn't Coming Until April 2026

ARC Raiders currently has 5 main maps for players to explore:

Dam Battlegrounds
Buried City
Spaceport
Blue Gate
Stella Montis

Four of these maps were available at launch, with Stella Montis being added in November 2025. While the various map conditions available in ARC Raiders add some variation to these maps, giving players an entirely new area to explore goes the farthest toward keeping gameplay interesting. Now that the honeymoon period for Stella Montis is long past, it seems like the perfect time for ARC Raiders to drop a new map and reignite some of the hype that comes with discovering new locations in the game.

Stella Montis Was the Last ARC Raiders Map Added Back in November 2025

By the time the next ARC Raiders map is released in April, it will have been 6 months since the previous new map was added. Stella Montis can be somewhat of a controversial map due to it being entirely enclosed within a building, and it is a known hot spot for PvP in ARC Raiders. As such, a new map would likely give Stella Montis some breathing room as players flock toward the latest addition, potentially alleviating some of the stress surrounding a run on Stella Montis in its current state.

The 2026 roadmap for ARC Raiders also includes a "map update" slated for February, but it's unclear what this means or how significant an update it will be.

The Next ARC Raiders Map Has High Expectations to Live Up To

Due to the controversial nature of Stella Montis, there is already a set of expectations in place for the next new ARC Raiders map to live up to. After Stella Montis' indoor design, many ARC Raiders fans are hoping to see a new map that returns to the outdoor environments, balanced with a scattering of enclosed buildings like other ARC Raiders maps. Additionally, the designs of newer ARC Raiders maps were created with PvP in mind, so the next map shifting focus back onto PvE would likely go a long way toward appealing to players who prefer not to engage in PvP.

Pilgrim's Peak True Loot Hidden spot ARC Raiders (6)

The April 2026 update for ARC Raiders is scheduled to include more than just a new map, with other features being added, like:

New Large ARC
New Map Condition
Expedition Window

This update will mark the third Expedition in ARC Raiders, with the first optional player reset coming back in December 2025, and the next one slated for February 2026. A new large ARC, presumably like the Queen or Matriarch, along with a new map condition, are solid components for the new map's recipe for success. However, the longer ARC Raiders goes without introducing this new map, the greater the expectations inevitably will be, and all these factors need to support the new map's playstyle to help it succeed at launch.

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