ARC Raiders Design Director Confirms Highly Requested…

ARC Raiders' developer Embark Studios is beginning to openly acknowledge one of the community's most persistent requests regarding the game's main hub of Speranza. In a recent interview with PCGamesN, ARC Raiders design director Virgil Watkins addressed player interest in expanding the game beyond its current state, confirming that a feature fans have long asked for is very much under consideration by the studio.

The discussion comes as Embark plans its content roadmap for 2026, focusing on quality-of-life improvements and larger structural additions to the core ARC Raiders experience. While Watkins was careful not to share any official timeline for the feature in question or even confirm that it would definitely be added at some point, his comments show that, at the very least, Embark isn't dismissing the idea outright, which bodes well for the game's future and those who have had their fingers crossed for the feature.

One of ARC Raiders' most defining characteristics is its immersion. From its sights and sounds to its atmosphere and lore, the extraction shooter has been known to get players lost in its world almost effortlessly. Naturally, that sense of immersion has fueled a desire in players to see more of its world, with ARC Raiders' main hub of Speranza seeming to encroach on the top ranks of that list. Specifically, requests that the game eventually make Speranza a walkable social hub like Destiny 2's Tower have consistently flooded in, though some players understand the risks of incorporating one and have expressed disinterest in the idea as a result.

During Watkins' interview with PCGamesN, the design director was asked about whether ARC Raiders would ever add a feature like that. "I mean, we've 100% discussed it," he stated. "I think it was like the first question asked when we started building the front end of the game, you know, 'what would that experience be like?' It always came down to time and scope for us. We can build a menu, and the menu will do its job. And, you know, all the extra time involved in making a hub wasn't worth it, really, or we traded other features for it."

Requests that the game eventually make Speranza a walkable social hub like Destiny 2's Tower have consistently flooded in, though some players understand the risks of incorporating one and have expressed disinterest in the idea as a result.

Currently, ARC Raiders' Speranza is little more than a menu, despite featuring brief interactions from the underground city's traders and its many inhabitants seen engaging in daily life. In this state, players can quickly and seamlessly do business with traders, change their loadout, and craft items in their workshop. If Speranza were transformed into a walkable social hub, however, it would give players the same sense of immersion they experience on the surface in ARC Raiders, but it would come at the cost of accessibility. Essentially, rather than easily clicking through menus, players would likely be required to travel between NPCs or stations in order to get anything done.

Watkins expressed both his desire for and concern about this as he continued during the interview. "For me, personally, I love the vibe and aesthetic of a walkable hub," he said, "but I would want to preserve the menuing so that you can do it quickly and efficiently, rather than run to Celeste and then run to my room, and then 'Oops, I forgot this thing at Shani.' But there's also, of course, an immersion factor to that. So yeah, it's something we have discussed, and we'll continue to discuss, and I think there's definitely a good appetite on the team for it as well. It's more about when the right moment to open that door is."

And, as previously stated, there are plenty of other players who share the same concerns about Speranza being a walkable social hub rather than a menu. In fact, a post by Reddit user rfrdty asking Embark to make Speranza a walkable hub has been severely downvoted, with several comments below expressing disdain toward the idea. At the same time, the post also includes comments from players who are in support of it.

Perhaps, if Embark ever decides to follow through with adding the feature, there could be an option to toggle a walkable Speranza on and off. That way, players who prefer a more immersive experience that takes a bit more time can activate it at will, and those who prefer the menu layout ARC Raiders currently has can continue to benefit from its accessibility. The feature hasn't been confirmed yet, though, only discussed internally. Still, there is hope on the horizon for those who have been asking for it.

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