Arc Raiders Has a Small Quality-of-Life Feature That Fits…

I've got to say, I didn't expect Arc Raiders to hook me as much as it has, but here we are. As far more of a solo PvE than PvP player, I half expected to jump in, get ganked a few times by some try-hards, and then call it quits. However, much to my surprise, almost 20 hours later, I'm still here. Don't get me wrong, I have been ganked once, and I do still occasionally encounter try-hards — but I just can't stop playing Arc Raiders. There are a lot of reasons for that, reasons that I'm sure are shared by the community, and it's a new obsession that's now verging on irresponsibility.

arc-raiders-watching — Arc raiders character watching

All I want to do right now is play Arc Raiders, but alas, I have to work. The responsibilities of life call me away from the needs of future earth as it continues to get torn apart by ARC, and I would much rather be there, helping Speranza and its citizens thrive amidst the devastation. I do have my gaming headset on and Arc Raiders running in the background, the sounds of its incredible soundtrack and the ambience of Speranza keeping me immersed while I write.

I will confess, though, that I have occasionally queued up for a round, as I simply can't resist the temptation to play when it's right there waiting for me. Fortunately, Arc Raiders has a small quality-of-life feature that's not only well-suited for a setting like this, but also fits my real life perfectly.

Arc Raiders Tells Me When It's Time to Go Topside

I'm an Arc Raiders newbie, meaning I didn't participate in the server slam prior to its official release, so going in, I only had a general sense of what to expect. The gameplay itself has surprised me, primarily because Embark has somehow managed to craft a PvPvE experience that effectively balances its PvE gameplay with PvP without it leaning too much in one direction.

Actually, I'd say if Arc Raiders does lean more in one direction than another, it's PvE rather than PvP, as ARC's machines are incredibly formidable, and it's easy to become overwhelmed by them to the point of a quick and very painful death. Most of the time, I've found myself teaming up with other solo players who are just out there trying to survive like me, and that general sense of unspoken camaraderie really makes the whole experience for me.

All of that said, one thing that has surprised me just as much as the gameplay is one very subtle quality-of-life feature that I've never seen firsthand in an online game, even though I know Arc Raiders isn't the first to do it. When I game during the day, I will sometimes keep whatever game I'm writing about running in the background, just in case I need to clarify terms or lore. Plus, as I mentioned before, I like the ambience. But I've been taking occasional breaks to actually play Arc Raiders rather than just bask in its soundscape, so I'll queue up for a round and then tab out to keep writing during matchmaking.

The first time I did this, once a round was ready to go, a small notification appeared in the bottom-right corner of my screen. "Look sharp, Raider: you're on your way topside," it said. At first, I didn't think anything of it. I'm actually not sure how I was ignorant of it at first. Maybe I thought the game window was somehow interfering with my work window. But after the second and then third occurrences, I realized Arc Raiders was actually letting me know that it was time to get back into the game because the round I had queued up for was about to begin.

Look sharp, Raider: you're on your way topside

Very briefly, I had taken this small quality-of-life feature for granted, but when I acknowledged how boring it can be to just wait around in a queue, that little feature meant so much more to me. In reality, it just means Arc Raiders itself knows how boring waiting in a queue can be. As a new Arc Raiders fan who is regularly torn between going topside on another raid and actually being responsible with his time, it's nice knowing I can get that little bit of extra work done while I'm waiting for my next round to begin. Even if I'm not working, though, I can do whatever I want while I wait, rather than staring at my character or mindlessly cycling through menus.