With the server slam playtest concluded and an October 30 release date just around the corner, all eyes are on ARC Raiders to deliver a much-needed shot in the arm to the extraction shooter subgenre. Certainly, this sliver of the games industry has been the "hot new thing" these past several years, reaching levels of popularity mirrored only by the likes of the battle royale formula.
This has led to a flurry of subpar and derivative games under the "extraction shooter" umbrella—but ARC Raiders is promising to deliver something more. There are plenty of reasons to be excited about Embark's pivot to the extraction shooter space, not the least of which being its apparently iron-tight grasp on the genre's fundamentals. Crucially, ARC Raiders features a dynamic loot system combined with cross-run progression via features like a weapon bench and skill tree. As such, one can expect various metas to form over the course of the game's live-service lifespan, and one weapon is likely to be a rising star from the outset.
In this context, "meta" refers to any combination of weapons, skills, or general tactics that a game's community deems most effective at any given time.
ARC Raiders: Why the Ferro Could Dominate at Launch
ARC Raiders' Ferro Rifle Is Easy to Master, With a High DPS Ceiling
In a standard PvPvE extraction experience, weapons that are the easiest to access can often serve as the most ubiquitous—sometimes, it makes more sense to optimize a low-level weapon than to constantly attempt to scale up and adapt new strategies accordingly. The Ferro rifle fits this description nicely, as there are only a few easy obstacles in the way of crafting it:
- 5x Metal Parts
- 2x Rubber Parts
- Level 1 Workbench
Thus, the Ferro can be comfortably called a "starter gun," but its damage-dealing potential isn't hampered by this. At its core, the Ferro is a heavy, single-shot break-action rifle, similar to what's often called a "marksman" rifle in other games. In other words, it's slow but packs an incredible punch. With its farther-than-average range, the Ferro can be an excellent resource for players with a keen eye for positioning, enemy movement, and route management.
It deals significant damage to other Raiders at a distance and is also particularly effective against certain types of ARC machines. For example, drones like the Wasp and Hornet have small weak points that are hard to hit with pistols, assault rifles, and shotguns, but this process is made much easier with the Ferro's pinpoint accuracy and long range. The mobility of drone-type enemies, as well as smaller, grounded ARCs, can also be suitably combated with well-placed shots from the Ferro.
And this is to say nothing of the gun's upgrade path, which can reduce its reload time by as much as 39%. Since the Ferro's biggest mitigating factors are its long reload time and low rate of fire, increasing reload speed by more than a third of the baseline can be extremely effective. Again, the Ferro is one of ARC Raiders' most accessible weapons, and this is reflected in its modest upgrade requirements: it only takes Metal Parts and Simple Gun Parts to upgrade each tier.
On top of all these advantages, the Ferro is simply fun to use, especially for those who love balancing risk and reward. Pulling off tricky, long-distance assaults with a powerful, single-shot rifle is immensely satisfying and rewarding, returning quite a bit of juice for the squeeze. Since it's so easy to access and maintain, I could easily see it dominating ARC Raiders' early days on the market. Only time will tell if and how it will be impacted by future balancing patches, though.
ARC Raiders
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 87 /100 Critics Rec: 92%
- Released
- October 30, 2025
- ESRB
- Teen / Violence, Blood
- Developer(s)
- Embark Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Embark Studios
WHERE TO PLAY
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- Yes - all platforms
- Cross Save
- Yes - via Embark ID
- Number of Players
- Single-player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- PC Release Date
- October 30, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- October 30, 2025
- PS5 Release Date
- October 30, 2025
- Genre(s)
- Extraction, Shooter, Third-Person Shooter, Survival
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
