Video Gamers Podcast - Arc Raiders DEEP DIVE! - Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: November 3, 2025

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan, and Ace are taking you on a Deep Dive into ARC Raiders, the long-awaited co-op shooter that’s shaking up the gaming world. From its jaw-dropping visuals to the intense battles against mysterious mechanical invaders, we’re unpacking everything this bold new entry brings to the table. Is ARC Raiders the next evolution of team-based gaming, or just another stylish shooter that can’t quite live up to the hype? We’ll explore its gameplay loops, survival mechanics, and that killer 80s-inspired aesthetic that’s caught the attention of video games fans everywhere. Whether you’re in it for the atmosphere, the challenge, or the community-driven action, this episode is packed with insights and hot takes. If you love video games and deep discussions about what makes them tick, this is one gaming episode you don’t want to miss on The Video Gamers Podcast!   Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Disratory, Ol’ Jake, Gaius, Jigglepuf, Phelps and NorwegianGreaser   Thanks to our Legendary Supporters: HypnoticPyro, PeopleWonder and Bobby S.   Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/videogamerspod⁠ Join our Gaming Community: https://discord.gg/WraYzbpx Follow us on Instagram:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/⁠  Follow us on X:⁠ https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod⁠  Subscribe to us on YouTube:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@VideoGamersPod?sub_confirmation=1⁠    Visit us on the web:⁠https://videogamerspod.com/⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The only thing more powerful than a girl's girl, a girl's girl with a law degree. All's Fair is the fierce new legal drama about a team of iconic women and friends. Created by Ryan Murphy and starring Kim Kardashian, Naomi Watts, Nisi Nash Betts, Tiana Taylor, Matthew Nosska, with Sarah Paulson and Glenn Close. All's Fair premieres on Hulu on Disney Plus, November 4th. Hello, fellow gamers, and welcome to the video gamers podcast. Arc Raiders is taking over the world. And whether you're already a massive fan or curious what the hype is, we've got you covered in this episode.

But before we get to why Ark Raiders may just be breaking the gaming world, some introductions are in order. I am your host Josh. And, well, if you want to know how bad it is, this is a real conversation that just took place. Hey, Ryan, we can record early since everyone's ready, and then we can binge Arc Raiders tonight. You said three. Yeah, I know, dude, but if we, the sooner we knock these recordings out, the sooner we can play together. But you said three.

I know, dude, but if we knock this out now, we can play all night long, Ryan. But you said three. Ryan, get help, buddy. Okay, and to make it formal, he's our resident recovering Ark Raiders addict. We're just hoping he can make it through this episode. It's Ryan. I need my fix. I need my fix.

We got to finish quick, guys. I am trolling Ryan, but I am so with you, dude. I, like, if it wasn't for the. dedication to this podcast, we would have just posted like, hey, I'm sorry, we don't have any recordings this week, people, you know, like legitimately, if I, if I didn't think the, like, outcry of just skipping a week of episodes would, like, would be loud. Like, this wouldn't be happening right now. It's just a sign. Playing Arc Raiders, be back soon. Yeah, be back next week. Sorry. Oh, man. All right. And joining us. He could care less about Arc Raiders because it's a mainstream

game. And we all know how he feels about those. But I do know he's super hyped for Constance. It's Ace. Oh, yeah. I'm saving all my energy for Constance. That's when you'll have to pull me away. I love this Ace because look, man, this is this is a one of our like tenets of this podcast is that gamers are all different and everybody loves different kind of games, you know? And it's like, well, Ryan and I are on the battlefield six and we just boy we just jumped off that train so oh my gosh that was so fast yeah art graders put in my veins like i love it because ace is like i don't know guys i'm not really this interested in that game i'm going to pass ace you're doing uh you're you're playing control so we can spill the beans you're playing control uh because you got hijacked by our community to play

that um but this is why i love this because it's like you know while the world is is going man, Arc Raiders, Arc Raiders, there are absolutely at least a dozen people out there that are like, bro, I don't care about Arc Raiders, you know? And so I like that we have this kind of difference in game takes and tastes and things like that. So... Good to have perspective. Exactly. Even if you are missing out, like crazy right now.

All right, guys, before we get into all things, Ark Raiders, we... Guys, we got a couple people to thank, man. Again. I like this. It's almost like it's the holiday season and people are feeling all generous and it's like, yeah, man, you know, I want to give back to my favorite podcast. These guys that are passing up playing Arc Raiders to sit down and record, even if we are talking about Arc Raiders, you know, like for the people. Yeah, exactly. We're here for everybody.

But there are the people out there that recognize the sacrifice that we're making. And we want to thank you. So, Mr. McSweddy upped his pledge from Rare to Epic. And not to be outdone, but Ricky L-U-F-C also joined him in that upgrade path and went from Rare to Epic as well. Oh, sweet. Boom. Boom, baby. Love it.

Thank you. Thank you so much for the sport. Both of these guys are awesome. They're in the Discord, very active. I think we've played some games with them too. So it's been cool to see them come on in and hang out and join the Oasis. was probably arc raters. Yeah, right.

That's probably what you're playing. I will say this. I like this is this is what's cool. We actually gave away a couple copies of arc raters in our Discord server. So if you're not in the Discord and you're like, hey, I don't really care about talking to people. You might be missing out on free games at the same time too. So come, come lurk, man.

It's okay. We don't mind. But here's what I love, dude. These are two people that took the time to support this podcast. And after doing so and become. part of the community, they went, okay, this is actually way better than I thought. You guys hype this up all the time, but you're not joking. This is actually like an amazing place. And to see people go from, I want to support to I want to support more is honestly one of the most humbling things

that we can see. You know, we, we do this podcast because we love it. We're passionate about video games. We're friends that just love talking games. But to see people that go like, I want to support that to no no i really want to support this really does mean the world to us everybody so yeah you know we we don't ever want to take that for granted we don't ever want to take for granted the time that people put into helping this podcast the fact that they support this podcast you know with their hard earned money and things like that it really it is not lost on us it will never be lost on us uh and we're always just honestly kind of shocked and humbled by it as well so i i agree dude. Real quick, too. I posted

in the announcements and I got goosebumps with you talking about that. I popped in just to check some stuff and I see just full white on the Discord and it was just because everybody's talking with each other and then I look

in the VC and I see two or three groups all just hanging out playing games together. So that to me it just means something different because I think that we just have such a cool community that is so rare in this space that I absolutely love. I think it's um I think it's fantastic if you're not a part of it you definitely should join like Josh said even if you're a lurker we love our lurkers hang out

for a while and then eventually you know hop in and and play games with people there's always somebody trying to play the game that you love so definitely check it out it is it is a safe space for everybody it is it is amazing and um we're we're very proud of it we are definitely proud of what we've created yeah it's beautiful that's how we met ace honestly and here he is dude I mean if you need any more proof

than to say dude we play games we play we love playing games with people I mean I've been jumping into Arc Raiders with multiple different people it is awesome to play games with people without the fear of them like getting toxic on you without worrying about what they're going to say everybody's just there to have fun so

there you go it's you know it sounds like a pitch but it's like because we know that there's people out there that want this type of community and it does exist and that's why we kind of talk about it all the time. So there you go. All right, boys. Oh, man.

Let's go, baby. It's Art Raiders time. Guys, do you remember when we first, dude, I think it's been almost two years now, if I remember right, where we very first covered Arc Raiders when it was very first announced. It was

part of a Twig episode that Paul was on. Ryan, you weren't even on the show yet. Okay. And we went, dude, this game looks crazy. Yeah, it was. And so this, we have been following Arc Raiders for a long time now. You know, famously, I got to play the closed beta test for like, I did three matches. I was instantly wowed by it, but I really didn't get to play enough of it to kind of really get a full scope of the game. I just remember hopping in and going, whoa, this game looks really good. And whoa, this game sounds really good.

And then I got wrecked instantly like all three matches. And I think. I think that's when Expedition 33 was coming out. So I went, cool. I'll just check this game out later when it's closer to release. Then we had the server slam. Yeah, buddy. And Ryan, you got to play the server slam. I got to play the server slam.

But here's the deal, people. Server slam happened the weekend after Battlefield 6 released. And anybody that has listened to this podcast for any length of time knows how freaking excited we have been for Battlefield 6 and still are and still are but to have this like temporary you know server slam come out and we went okay well we have to play it you know we really have Battlefield 6 on the mind but it's just a weekend let's play it Ryan that was your first experience with Ark Raiders yes yes okay when you I just want that initial impression of that of the server slam and you hop in and you you because here's the thing the game dump

you in a tutorial right away no no cut scenes no nothing boom your first time playing you're in this tutorial and i think the tutorial is instantly what like people are like okay okay like is this what the game's like so what was your very first impression hopping into arc raiders for the very first time um man in in the moment i was almost instantly a little overwhelmed when i walked in and i I looked at this world, looked at what they've created. And I'm like, okay, so I'm supposed to do what now? I got to go just collect stuff. And, you know, I know a lot of people have played Tarkov and all these other games.

And there's extraction shooters out the wazoo. But this one just felt a little different right off the bat. And to me, like my first impressions were just, I really, I really feel immersed in this world. looking around and hearing the sounds, the audible nature of what I've kind of been, you know, I've been put into, forced into, you know, it was something different than I've experienced before. And, uh, yeah, instantly I was like, okay, I think they may have something here. Does, uh, does the tutorial do a good job, like introducing you to the extraction genre without being too like handholdy? I would say no. It's very handholdy.

it no in my opinion what the tutorial does is it wowes you with the quality of game that you have just got put into like to me that's that's that's that's what sets the tutorial apart is the second you load in the graphics are freaking top notch dude there is dust blowing across the ground you've got broken down cars it's this post apocalyptic scenery and it says hey you know go go loot this car right and you start running forward you're like okay these controls feel good the animations are spectacular It's like you said, Ryan, it immerses you into this world where you were within the first, like legitimately, and I know this sounds crazy. Like within the first like 10 seconds, dude, you were just like, whoa, like is this the game? Does it really look this good? Does it really sound this good? And you go up and like you loot the trunk of a car. And while you're doing that, you know, they call it breaching. You're breaching the trunk and your guys like prying at it with a crowbar.

And you hear the sound of like bending metal and the metal shrieking and stuff. and you're like, ooh, this is kind of loud. Is this like, you know, but audibly, it sounds incredible. And then it's like the trunk pops open, you loot a couple things. And it's got the same Tarkov mechanic where the loot does not show instantaneously. It takes like a second or two for each square to show up, right? So then it's like, okay, it introduces you to that. And then you run up into a store and it gets dark and you have your little flashlight on and it gets quiet.

And you're kind of like, okay, well, this is now this is dark and scary in a way. And then it teaches you how to breach through a door. and while you're breaching the door, two people run up and kill you, just out of the blue. And you're like, what the heck, man? You know, and then the game fades, and then you kind of come to, and then you continue on. And then it puts you in a little bit of a, like a very easy combat scenario. And then right at the end, it does have like an extract. So you push the button and you wait.

One little drone flies over. You shoot the drone down. And then you escape. And now you're into the game. Okay. But, dude, like, it's hard to, it's hard to quantify, dude. but like, you know, instantaneously, you just get this, like, is this really how good this game is going to be?

Like, is this, this can't be the game, right? Like, this is just the finely crafted tutorial or something. Dude, it's the game, man. It's the game, man. It's the game. Yes. That's impressive. That's very impressive.

That honestly is the easiest way to quantify it. In 2025, in the world that we live in with Unreal Engine 5 and all of these things, arc Raiders just instantly is impressive. And you kind of go like, okay, but what's the gameplay like, right? Like that's the real kicker, right? So you go into your main base and it's this kind of just static base. You can click some vendors. This is very much escape from Tarkov at this point, right?

You go to your vendors, right? I think I asked you this, but you'd never played Escape from Tarkov, right? I have not. No, I've dabbled just a teeny little teeny bit, but never like really anything like worth anything. Right. Okay. I don't like escape from Tarkov. So anybody that's like, I don't like escape from Tarkov, like I don't like escape from Tarkov, you know, and I know that's going to upset people, right? Like, sorry, but I don't. It's too sweaty. We've talked about this. We did a deep dive on escape from Tarkov. Yeah. You know, and so here's the thing. You get into this world,

this game is absolutely copying points of escape from Tarkov. The loot system, the, the base system, the vendors, the, you know, you have a workshop where you can, you know, purchase workbench, and things like that that let you do crafting and that sort of stuff. Then you go into the world and you say, okay, I want to play the game. Ryan, I'm going to throw it back to you because now you get into your first map and this is the real deal. And you do know that this is a PVEVP game. So no matter where you are and what you are doing, there is no safe zone.

There is PVP. Any character that you come across can try to kill you. And if they kill you, they can loot your body and take all your stuff. So anything that you enter with can be lost. Ryan, take us through what that first match is like. Okay, so for me, my first match, I popped in and I was lucky enough to see some ding-dong solo running, because I was solo, going across this area, and there was a roll of columns. And it just, the atmosphere and the sound quality is so good.

you can see them off in the distance and you can see that they're there and you can hear them so I threw it maybe they were a little more you know non-experienced as I was I guess I'll say that

you know I wasn't better but we'll see I was hiding between the columns and you could pop out left to right left to right like you can't on any of these games and eventually they came up I smoked him because he was coming walking up he was just crawling up

he's like creeping up and he's like crawling like what was that he's like looking around and i i could see him because here's the deal with uh with this game is it it's third person so you can do that little kind of glitch where you can kind of get it and you can angle it like this and then you can see off that side over there and you can see him rolling up so he's rolling up i angled up shouldered my gun left side pop-b-bop he's dead and you can loot him up so once you loot him up then you you get all his gear you can pull up whatever he has but then it's you know and now i got some good stuff so so you're kind of stressed so you have to find these extraction zones you have to find a way to get out with that loot and uh maybe pick some more up on the way but everywhere you go there's the threat of what that guy

just went through running into me so like there somebody else could do that to me at any point which happened a ton i was killed more times than i care to admit trust me um So you get in there, and that first experience, like, I hope it's better for other people than it was for that guy that I faced. But you get out there, you experience the world, you try to collect some materials, and then you find an extraction zone. You trigger it with the button. Maybe it makes a lot of noise. We talk about the audio a lot of noise. We talk about the audio a lot in this one, is that noise attracts the arcs.

The arcs are going to come. They're going to check things out. so you have to hide you have to be careful and it also you know attracts the other uh you know the other raiders so you have to be you know cognizant of that as well so you get off to the side the thing comes to the top and then you're able to uh extract back down to the bottom and take your loop back with you get your XP get the things that you've been able to pull out and get from this land in that run or that raid but uh man it that that kind of initial experience was like nothing else. I was blown away

right away because just of that interaction immediately with another, another raider like that hooked me right off the bat. How it is, how integral to this game is the sound and the noise? Like, how important to the game plays? Huge, dude.

It's so big. It's so big. The audio, so we're going to, actually, I want to talk about this for a second, so that's good timing. I just saw Buddy pop up, said it is not playing Rick Raiders. I saw, I saw, I'm like, I can't come. Pink is playing.

I want to play. Let me in. Here's the thing, dude. I, you know, people that have been listening for a while, I love good audio. I talked about Senoa's sacrifice. Senawa's saga has some of the best audio. Good audio in a game is immersive and important. Dude, I don't make this claim lightly.

Arc Raiders might have the best audio I've ever heard in a game. Wow. Like, honestly, dude, honestly, crazy. It's, dude. I can. can't begin to describe. Yeah. The arc, so the arc are these weird robot things that are just, apparently they've taken

over the world. They live on the surface. Humans live underground. It's kind of like the matrix in that sense. But like they go from anything from these little drones that seem very non-threatening to these absolutely Goliath walking like mechanical nightmares that you don't want to trifle with at all. The beauty of the arc is that they are smart.

Dude, they're like the AI in this game. honestly pretty incredible and what seems like an innocent little guy can turn the tide of something really really quickly dude one little drone that sees you at the wrong time that is now flying down to try to attack you alerts other things around you it always happens when you're trying to avoid a player like dude and yes and it gets it goes from like normal gameplay to chaos and in a heartbeat but dude the audio in this game is unlike anything i've heard before From the sounds that the arc make, they sound like modems sometimes. They make these crazy, these crazy sounds.

It is exactly what you would think like alien smart robotic species would make. It sounds vaguely familiar as humans because, again, it kind of sounds like the old, like, you know, 56K bod modems when they're connecting to the internet. You know, you can find crash probes or live probes that you can hack into to get gear. But when you're doing that, they start like screaming and complaining and alerting other. arc around them. If an arc sees you, it'll kind of beep and chirp. And then you're like, oh, no. And then it'll come down to investigate. And maybe you can hide from it. But if it sees you, it'll start making different sounds. All while that's going on, you were just hearing explosions in the distance. And you were hearing players fighting each other. And the sound from that is

freaking incredible, dude. Yeah, you're, you're hearing these gunfights go off in the distance. And then when somebody dies, it's basically. Basically, like, Hunger Games where a giant flare shoots up into the sky and explodes, and you're like, well, there, somebody just died. Does that, like, add a lot of immersion to the game? Oh, dude. To the world. The immersion level is second to none with the audio in this, dude. So, like, go ahead, Josh.

I was just going to say, even from, like, looting. Looting is dangerous because of the sound it makes, dude. Like, when you go to loot a container, your guy has to pry it open. And I can't tell you how many other players we have realized, or. in the same building as us because you can hear them looting a container. And then we're like, guys, there's somebody around. There's somebody around. You know, like,

everything in this game is about the audio and about the noise that you make and what's going on around you, dude. It is, it is unlike another, like honestly, another game that I've experienced with how much it impacts the actual gameplay. Yeah. No, it definitely does. And then even as

atmospherically, like, you hear the wind in the trees. Like, you hear it blow through. you hear you know the water the rain yeah the rain

dropping down through the leaves and hitting the rooftops when you go into the house then it gets a little quieter and you're like okay cool but even still like Josh says when you come in

you have this pry bar everyone has this it's kind of a standard utility it's like a pickax kind it's like a ice pipe pri bar thing that you got

crowbar and you go and that's how you get in and breach all these things and when you do it like you said if there's a probe or something else, it's like,

and it's making all these crazy noises, and you're like, oh, my God, you know, and you're looking around, because you can, like, kind of 3D view around you as you're doing it, and probes will stop, and they'll be like, and they'll turn, and they'll come this way because they can hear it.

So the audio nature of this game, like, it's just, I don't know, it's something else. I have been blown away. This is something you really, really need to play with a headset. Kind of like we did with phasmophobia, like it makes such a big difference to really dive into this world because you just feel a part of it. You hear the footsteps. You hear people running. You hear the pop shots off to the side.

You know, a crew is fighting something over there. You know, let's go get them or let's go help them. You know, whatever you want to do. There's a million different. Somebody calls the extract. Yeah. So you hear the like the siren blairs, right? And it squeals and you're like, somebody's trying to extract.

Yeah. Yeah. And there's a reason they do that. That's why they do that. That's why they make the noises the way they make them. Yeah, I just think there's the audio is almost as important as the visual nature in this game. Like it's, it's, it's something else, man. It is really, really good. It's it's like I said this before, but I'm going to say it again, it might be the most impressive audio I've heard in a video game, dude. Like honestly, with the way that it's such high praise, dude. The way that it affects the gameplay and, how you play the game is incredible to me. So, all right, listen, we've got to take a quick break. We're going to hear from one of our sponsors for this episode, and then we'll be right back. Get no frills delivered.

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Use code VGP at checkout when you sign up for your free seven-day trial. Again, that is code VGP. Head on over to trophy. dot AI, T-R-O-P-H-I-D-A-I to up your game. All right, we're back. Look, I know we've been gushing over the visuals in this game, the audio in this game. Let's talk about the gameplay for just a second. One of the things that I think we take for granted

is there are a lot of people that don't understand what an extraction shooter actually is. Like, we've had people in our community say, hey, you know, I'm hearing all the hype for Arc Raiders. I don't understand what's an extraction shooter, you know. And so for anybody that's unaware, this is basically a game where you go into a world. They call it a raid. That's the common term for just going into a match, right? Is you go into this raid, you wander around this world, you loot items that, you know, you put into your inventory. There's always the risk of other players we've already talked about if you come across somebody you can kill them you can take everything on their body you are generally limited by the inventory space that you have these games

are they're cheap with the inventory and how much you can loot and get out with but you know so that that creates this like okay I'm full let's go extract guys and the way that you keep your gear is to go to the extract point wait a little bit there's always that very high tension moment while you're waiting for the extract because it's making a ton of sound and it's telling people that you're leaving with lots of gear and if they want to come kill you now's the time to do that you know and so it makes it very tense but if you successfully extract you keep that gear it goes into a stash back at your base and then when you go on another run you can decide which gear you want to bring with you again if you die whether it's to the to the arc or to another player you lose all your gear

that's it you know so it is very high risk high reward but they call it an extraction shooter because you're it's a shooter by nature but the goal is to extract with your gear, okay? And so these games generally are very high risk, high reward. They're not for everybody. I totally get that because some people hate the idea of losing all of your loot. I was going to say that's, it's a very off-putting thing for me to be like, I build this great load out. And then just because I'm not as good as someone else, I lost all of it. It's like, I don't like that. I'm not going to lie. It is not my favorite thing. I will say that Arc Raiders does a good job of giving you enough stuff that you don't feel too, too bad if you lose something. But at the

same time, you know, that's the high risk part, right? Like, it sucks. Dude, you go on with a good load out where you're like, bro, I just, I got this new weapon. I got this upgraded shield. I'm going to try out this new grenade I got. And then you get ganked by somebody. And you're like, oh, come on. Dude, 99% of the time when I go with a free load out, because you can select free load out, it'll give you a gun, maybe some other side options, and then, you know, some bandages and some ammo. And then that won't take away from your own stash.

So it's kind of no risk, you know, high reward if you want to go in. Every time I do that, no problems at all, I come back with a mound of loot. But when I set myself up and I get all my good gear and I'm like, this is the one, I am going to wreck house. I got some legit stuff now. I'm going to go and I'm going to wreck some people up. That's when I die. Every time, dude, I swear. It's every time.

This is one of my favorite things that this game does. And I know Escape from Tarkov does this, but I don't think they do it nearly as well, is you can go into a match with a free loadout. it just gives you a random kit that's it if you extract with that random kit you get that stuff so you now got that gun and you got that grenade and you got that shield charger that the random kit gave you if you get out and if you die it's like well it doesn't really matter because i got that stuff for free anyway you know now it's all very basic beginner level stuff but i'll tell you what if you're good at pvp you can kill somebody like the game is fair at that point you know like you still have a shot of downing somebody and then getting a massive upgrade and getting out

with it. All right, listen, we are starting to run low on time. I want to talk about some of the stuff that keeps this game going, right? Because, you know, I feel like this game has some serious longevity to it where they are, they have given you kind of permanent progression paths and they've given you things to work for. So while you were out in the world and you are looting things, you are acquiring materials and a lot of times you don't even know what the heck these materials are for right and you fill up your stash really quickly because i'm a hoarder and i don't want to spend anything because i don't know what to do you know and so it's like your stash fills up very quickly but there's a kind of a game within this game when you're back at your base where you are trying

to manage your stash because again you have limited inventory and your stash at the same time you have these vendors that are giving you quests right where they're saying hey you you You know, you're going topside. I'm doing research on these explosives. I need you to bring down one of the arc with this explosive grenade. And you're like, oh, okay, cool. I can do that. Another vendor might say, hey, I need you to go check out this point of interest on this map.

Okay. And so, and then come back and report to me. So the game is always giving you something to do while you're in the world at the same time that you're just playing the game and trying to survive and get loot at the same time. And for somebody like me that absolutely loves having. a purpose to why I'm doing what I'm doing and progression, dude, it scratches that itch for me, like so, it is just so great, dude. Like, honestly, you know, you're going to lose your gear and it's just, poof, it's gone. But if you extract with a toaster, you know what I mean?

Like, bro, you need three toaster to upgrade this bench. So now your bench can be level two and you can make higher level gear now. Toasters are rare. You're only going to find them in one spot only you're only going to find them in residential areas so it's like well you know so now you're looting apartments and you don't care what's going on in the rest of the map but guess what somebody else is probably looking for toasters too right and so now it's like what happens are they friendly because people in this game can be friendly you don't have to pvp in ace you mentioned it that proximity chat has changed the gaming world for the better in my opinion yeah it is my favorite modern thing we've added to games is proximity chat

I love it, dude. And there is many a moment where you realize that somebody else is in the same building as you, because again, you can hear them. And you just start going like, friendly? And then you hear it back go, friendly, friendly. And you're like, oh, cool. Don't shoot. You're looking for toasters?

You're looking for toasters? Yeah, man, yeah. Okay. Hey, I'll take this level. You take that level. And then people start actually working together, which is crazy in a game where it's like, you can kill each other, but you don't have to. And that adds to the game in its own way as well.

I have met some really cool people just randomly going friendly friendly okay cool man like and they're working together you know at that point that's you been betrayed yet they should have like a shirt I have not actually I'm surprised I'm shocked yeah I mean I'm sure that exists but it's it's one of those things where it's like I was hiding in a bush messing with some settings and I heard voice chat and apparently didn't have my microphone set up properly and this guy's like sitting there talking to me and I'm trying to talk back to him realizing my mic doesn't work so I start just doing the universe crouch up and down and then he's like

oh you're Mike not working it's cool dude just hey man watch out there's some dudes over there that are like killing people so just stay out of that area and then it's like and then I just crouch up and down some more to let him go like hey thanks dude

you know and it's like universal communication for I'm not a threat yeah exactly there are a multitude of maps and each level is spectacular dude from the visuals to the vibe

you start off in the damn battlegrounds you unlock The Buried City, which is this sandy, deserty, sunset-y-looking thing. There's a spaceport. There's the Blue Gate, which looks like you're in Nepal on the mountains. It's absolutely freaking gorgeous, dude. They're already talking about new maps. There's a new map that's coming later in November.

And then they're making snow levels where you can have snow weather effects on the already existing maps. Like, dude, this game came out of, I don't want to say it came out of nowhere because we've been talking about it for a while, but I never, in a million years, expected to like Arc Raiders as much as I like it, dude. Like, it has completely caught me off guard with how much I am enjoying this game. Are you the same way, Ryan? I'm exactly the same way.

It's one of those things where, you know, almost like a restaurant where you're like, oh, you know, I've heard that's pretty good. And then you go there and it's like, you know, like the music starts after you take that first bite and like, you know, the heavens come down and everything's amazing, you know, that's what, that's what it feels like, you know, we, we, we hopped in and we're like, oh, oh, this is, this is something different. Like, okay. And it, and then we're hooked. We're playing until two in the morning. We're waking back up at six in the morning and hopping back on again. And, you know, you're playing. We're thinking about canceling recording so that we

We can play more. Cancel recording so we can play, you know. And it's one of those games where you just are like, how can I fit my life around Arc Raiders instead of how can I fit arc Raiders around my life? Like it became, it became something that is so far. I mean,

and right now, as of this moment, there is 320,000, almost 320,000, 21,000 people playing this moment. And this is just, on SteamDB. That's a lot of junkies. That's, that is so many people. And this, this thing is like, man, it's, it's, it's, it's something different. I was not expecting this. I was, I was, I was expecting

it to be good. We played the, the, the, the beta and we, we got in early. We, we knew that it had some really good core base mechanics. We knew that it looked like it was going to be right. Were they going to execute? And you know, honestly, dude, they did. This has been, this has been phenomenal. What a launch what an amazing game I have had nothing but good times playing it I've had nothing but good times watching the content from other people playing it um it is something that is uh is taken over my life for sure like it's it's amazing it's it's it's really hard to quantify dude it really is it is we have you know we have a very active community it you know I can't tell you how many people that have been like I've been seeing people gushing it I got FOMO so I picked it up this

isn't really my kind of game, you know, but, but I can't not try it because everybody is talking about it. And then I love that like four hours later, I see, okay, guys, I'm three matches in. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. There's something special about this game. Like, I am having a blast. Like, I, where did this come from? And we see it over and over and over again. And it's $40. It's like, it's 40 bucks. It's not 70. It's not 80. It's not 90. It's $40. this $40 game blows some of these $70 and $80 games out of the water with how I have yet to encounter a bug now I did crash I think it was just a bad boot on my system I had a couple crashes I rebooted I haven't crashed since and sent the servers have been flawless up till today today this is the very first day where they had a couple server issues but again they just got a hundred plus thousand new people like almost overnight um you know it there is something special about arc raiders i did not expect to like this game as much as i liked it i'm with ryan i knew it was going to be good i had no idea that it was going to take over my life like this dude

i want to play this game every freaking available second that i have and i and i love battlefield battlefield was amazing and i'm just like battle what like i'm raiding baby like come on i have not touch battlefield since I have gotten on like just hooked by Arc Raiders dude here's the other thing this is a squad base game up to three man you can do solo runs dude solo runs to me are absolutely fun like you play it differently you're really

probably not looking for PVP when you're doing solo you're playing a little bit more stealthy but it's it's higher tension you can still try to gang people if you want the game does a phenomenal job of trying to group solo players with solo players which is fun you know that's that's cool great um you know it groups people by gear scores so that you're not super overmatched and feeling like you're just getting absolutely obliterated like this game like what's the worst part about

this game ryan like honestly if you had to if you had to say the thing that you're least excited for bugs you what is it oh man um the the server stuff today has been a little bit of an issue but other than that like uh it's just been it's been gosh i'm trying to think of what what was be the worst thing. It doesn't have. I asked you first because I want to know. Well, like, I mean, and Josh mentioned like dropping in solo. Like, it's really, it's almost like a, it's own separate community of the solo drops. Because when you drop in with the, with the squad, your three man running around, everyone wants to kill everyone. And that's what happens. And that's cool. It's whatever. But solo, I've noticed, and I've run a lot of solo is, uh, is everyone

seems to work together. Like you'd see someone friendly, friendly, friendly. And And then you're like, hey, man, what do you look for? I'm looking for some lemons, you know, and you go and you get, you get some lemons and you're running these quests or, hey, I'm just running challenges, you know. Occasionally you have guys shoot at you and whatever, you know, it is what it is. But, yeah, everybody works together. So the worst thing is, is, quick story, I worked so hard to get this challenge done. And I got all the things I needed.

And I'm near the end. I get to the extract and I see a crew there. And I'm like, hey, guys, hey guys, friendly, friendly. And they're like, yeah, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. and I see a drone coming across And I'm like, yeah, we're about to leave So I take a couple pop shots It comes at and it wrecked me

I was not expecting it to do it to do what it did And it destroyed me and I'm down But the cool thing in this game is if you're down You can crawl and you can get out You can extract and I'm sure if you've seen the videos You've seen people extract that way I'm almost to the launch hatch And I hear the guy over the voice coms

The world comes and he's like No, no, no, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait and the guy hits the thing and he shuts the door right in front of me as I'm walking up. So, like, there's just, it's a couple weird things like that where it's like, oh, come on, man, you know, of guys, but they didn't kill me on the spot. So I can't complain that much, you know, because there was two on one. So honestly, this game, other than the server issues we ran into today, it's launch was flawless. And everything we've experienced has been amazing. the mechanics, the system, all of it, I absolutely love.

So this thing is like, I'm addicted, dude. I'm a junkie. I can't wait until we can finish this dumb podcast that we do so I can go and play this game again. I'm with you, Ryan. Okay, look, I'll tell you what, let's do this. Rate the game and then we get out of here so we can go play some more. Let's go. How would you rate it, Ryan?

For me, I mean, gosh, I mean, I'm 15 plus 20 hours or so. This is like a 9-5. Like this is top, top-tier, dude. That is exactly my rating, dude. This is top. I'm sitting, I, look, I, I did not expect this. I don't know where it came from. I don't know why I am so addicted to this dude.

Even my family is like, they know. And my wife even said, you know, she, she, she is an amazing wife. She's a gamer wife. Like, she understands, but she's like, I'm glad that you're having so much fun with this game. Like, I have not seen you like this in a while, you know? and it's like I don't I don't know what it is I did not expect this I thought this would be a little diversion then we'd be back to Battlefield 6 bro I have zero interest in playing Battlefield 6 right now that's not a slam to battlefield 6 I freaking love Battlefield 6 it's just that arc raiders is really this good the gameplay loop is so addictive everyone gives you a story to tell you know like I love playing with different people everybody plays differently some people that I play with are like commander and want to just go wreck everybody.

Some people are like high rollers. Well, they'll bring the highest level gear they can into a match. And I'm like, guys, I don't know about that, man. And they're like, no risket, no biscuit, baby. You know, like, I freaking love it. Dude, I am with you. It is a 9.5. I know there are people that are going to be like,

oh, that's recency bias. Maybe. But, dude, you cannot deny that this is one of the most beautiful games I've seen. It has the best audio for a game, I think, ever. It's polished. It's fun. It is addictive. It's $40.

You can play with your friends. I mean, they have a roadmap already. It's an amazing studio. This is the same studio that made the finals, by the way. Oh, I didn't know that. They know how to make a game. This has everything in the world going for it, dude, right now. And I just want to be on this train, and I'm having a blast, dude.

I feel like I'm hanging my head on the train, baby. You know, just air that I don't have flapping in the breeze, you know, like just sun shining on me. Just like, ah. So 9.5 from Ryan and I, Ace. You're missing out. You know, I want to say you're missing out, but again, I get that this game is not for everybody. Like, honestly, it may not be for everybody, but oh my goodness, if it's for you, it is so for you. It is so for you.

I assure you, all the random squads that there are thanking me for not playing, right? Yeah, maybe there's no real healers in this game, Ace. You can revive your teammates, but that's about it. And if Tarkov was a little too sweat. for you, this is kind of where you can play. This is kind of a home for you there, man. This is, this is something that there's, it's almost like

I've met a lot of randos online. I met a lot of people well playing that we were talking about a game as we were, you know, meeting up in the match and it's just almost like the division dark zone. It's, it's there but, you know. It's PubG. It's PubG meets the division. Yeah, it's

yeah, it's like a crazy mix that just works, man. You're just like, everything about this just works and i and i absolutely love it yeah all right let's go play guys we're ending this episode everybody we love you uh you know we hope that if you were on the fence this kind of uh sealed the deal for you again you know it may not be your type of game and that's fine you know but again if you are even remotely interested or curious i think that you will absolutely be blown away by this as well so we say that as gamers because we want you to have fun we get nothing

out of people purchasing this game uh we just like to see people loving video games Ryan, you mentioned it. We love seeing, you know, multiple groups in our, in our discord, you know, playing together and, and just having a good time. So, hey, real quick, remember to follow this podcast. Click that plus button, that follow button. Rate us five stars. It's super important for the algorithm and for the podcast and other gamers to find us. There's a link to our Discord in the episode description. If you want to be like Ricky and Mr. McSweddy, you know, at the beginning to support the show, there's a link to our Patreon in the episode description as well. We give you a a ton of awesome perks uh behind the seas content pre shows all kinds of cool stuff um but we need your support as well so please take a second to do that that's going to do it for this episode everybody ryan you ready to go play let's go play buddy let's go all right until next time happy gaming see you peace out Thank you.