The Cold Snap update for A RC Raiders is finally here, and with it, players can send their characters off on an expedition never to be seen again. From a gameplay perspective, this effectively resets the player to a level one account, removing all of their items, coins, blueprints, skills, and even their workshop tiers. However, it isn't all for nothing. Players are rewarded for resetting their characters with some nice bonuses that can't be gained anywhere else, like extra stash space and some additional skill points. The investment is pretty hefty, and the reset can be daunting for players on the fence about whether it is worth doing, especially given how long it takes to max out a character in the first place.
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There are a couple of very good reasons why the character reset is well worth doing. Some are pretty obvious, like the passive buffs, and others are related to ideas about replayability and further progression. It is a big decision to make, as losing even basic skills can feel very frustrating, particularly those that increase player speed and their ability to loot quickly. However, for those willing to take that big step, they will find that the reset can actually be an incredibly fruitful choice that improves their overall experience within the game, while also giving them plenty of reasons to keep playing beyond just pure enjoyment of the gameplay loop.
Permanent Bonuses
Everything From Stash Space To Skill Points
- Additional stash space that carries over.
- Five extra skill points maximum.
The most obvious incentive to resetting a character is to gain the permanent buffs that will carry through to the new one. For starters, players will gain one additional skill point for every million coins of value in their stash, up to a maximum of five, which gives them a few extra skills for free when they start a new character. Secondly, players also gain some additional stash slots, something that many have cited as a major frustration in the later stages of the game, making loot storage just a little easier overall. These two buffs may seem small, but in the context of the rest of the game, they are actually incredibly nice buffs that don't break any core fundamentals, yet still make the expedition worth doing.
Aside from these bonuses, players also gain access to a new outfit, Scrappy cap, and an icon to show off to the rest of the world that they managed to pull the trigger and depart from Speranza. Finally, upon resetting, players get some temporary buffs to their repairs, XP, and material gains from Scrappy, which is a handy way of giving them a head start as they head into a completely blank slate. For the most part, the rewards should be the main reason players choose to reset, as if they play enough, the initial period of low levels won't really be a problem. Once they grind up to max again, they will feel quite a bit stronger thanks to the bonuses.
A Fresh Start
Sending You Back To Square One
- Complete inventory reset.
- Encourages veterans to loot thoroughly again.
Resets in any game are effectively a way of giving players a chance to start anew and work their way back up to the maximum level or rank. For ARC Raiders, the reset removes pretty much everything that the player had spent so much time grinding to get, including their inventory and coins. This means that they can no longer easily or quickly buy or craft a brand-new loadout and will instead have to do things the hard way, slowly acquiring materials and money to gear themselves up. It also fundamentally changes how players need to play the game, as they can't rely on a backlog of guns or resources to carry them, forcing them back into free loadouts and weaker sets of weaponry, at least for those first few games post-reset.
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On top of the inventory and currency loss, players also lose access to any and all blueprints they may have found during their previous raids. Many cite this as the biggest change, one that will have a huge impact on future games, as those high-loot zones become supremely important for collecting high-tier blueprints and the resources to craft them. More specifically, events like the Harvester will once again become hotspots for activity, while in the past, it wasn't really worth trying to redo the steps inside just to get a duplicate blueprint. Instead, even players with 100s of hours in ARC Raiders will be running straight for that area, in the hopes of grabbing the loot inside or, failing that, killing those who got there first.
More Progression For Hardcore Players
A Reason To Keep On Grinding
- Incentive to play in order to level back up.
- Gives veterans a reason to keep on going.
ARC Raiders manages to do something that very few other extraction shooters have even tried: it creates a perfectly balanced gameplay and progression loop that is accessible for casual players while being deeply engaging for hardcore ones. Those who don't have the time to grind through the levels all over might want to give the expedition a skip, but players who have maxed out everything and are still hungry for more should definitely reset their characters to give them additional reasons to play aside from just enjoying the game.
Suddenly, specific areas and activities become more appealing, like helping others take down a larger Arc, as the XP gained is significantly higher than just running around murdering Raiders. They can also look forward to a far more risky experience than before the wipe, as it is pretty hard to feel upset about losing a tier four weapon when another can be crafted or grabbed from the player's stash immediately. Removing that safety net makes finding good loot way more exciting again, making even basic resource hunting feels just as enjoyable as it did right at the start.
Content Reset
Level One Benches For All
- Quests reset to be replayed.
- Workshop benches need to be reupgraded.
Players may be upset about losing their inventory, skills, and coins after resetting their character, but what they gain in return is the ability to replay a lot of the content that they may have already completed. Quests are completely reset, adding narrative depth to their runs and a focal point to aim for whenever they go Topside. Some of the quests can actually be quite fun to complete, so gaining access to them and the rewards once more is a pretty nice extra incentive to go ahead with the reset.
Is the ARC Raiders Expedition Worth it?
ARC Raiders’ first Expedition kicks off soon, and players are gearing up for departure on the 17th.
Also, players will find that their workbenches are all back to tier one, meaning that they will have to go out hunting for mushrooms and sentinel cores again, turning previously useful items into incredibly valuable ones. This aspect of the reset is arguably one of the most important, as many players will simply ignore many of the materials and resources found topside due to their lack of value or overall utility. Now that they actually need to go hunting again, the act of looting becomes far more focused and enjoyable, as players can go back home with an inventory full of things to use rather than just scrap or sell.
New Skills
Maxing Out Those Other Trees
- A chance to try out new skills.
- Further progression down a specific route.
One of the most frustrating aspects of ARC Raiders is the inability to reset the skill tree. Sometimes, players will find themselves progressing down one path, only to quickly realize that their points may be better spent elsewhere, without any way of actually switching them over. This expedition is the way around this, as the whole skill tree gets reset, meaning that players can try out otherwise unused skills that they may never have considered in the past, while also accessing later skills sooner.
More importantly, players will be better informed when planning their skill route, as they will now know which skills are worth it and which ones they should just avoid. Alternatively, they can decide to focus on a side of the skill tree that they completely overlooked in the past, which will drastically alter how they engage with the game at a fundamental level. At its core, the skill reset is all about choice. Players have the chance to carve out a better skillset as opposed to being stuck with the same abilities forever.
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
- Genre(s)
- Extraction, Shooter, Third-Person Shooter, Survival
