Embark is “pretty satisfied” with how difficult AI enemies are in Arc Raiders
By Kirk McKeand
I recently got the chance to check out Blue Gate and other new content in Arc Raiders before interviewing executive producer Aleksander Grøndal, who I begged to not make the AI arc enemies any easier once the full game launches.
Arc difficulty has been a controversial topic since the Arc Raiders server slam, with some people complaining that they’re too difficult and others, like me, loving the fact you can be murdered by a random drone.
Since the server slam, the developers at Embark have fixed an unintentional bug that allowed flying arc to see you through foliage and trees, but the team is otherwise “pretty happy” with how difficult the enemies are.
“It was always the intent for us to have the arc be this presence of danger on the surface, both from a conceptual perspective, since humankind is supposed to be living below the surface, but also the gameplay itself,” Grøndal says. “So we intentionally designed all the arcs to not be pushovers so that when you're moving through the terrain or considering where to go or what to loot, the arcs were this constant pressure around everywhere, and you needed to take them into account. They are intentionally made challenging.”
He goes on to explain that this challenge is more prominent when you start Arc Raiders and you’re scrapping for low-level gear, but eases off a bit once you get access to higher-tier weaponry. During the preview event, I got access to some of the later game tech, including a grenade launcher called the Hullbreaker, which took out a rocketeer in record time.
“When we talk about the tech tests specifically, we did identify a couple of issues with the arc,” Grøndal explains. “They were over performing a bit because they could see you through a lot of the bushes and trees. It was a pretty easy fix for us. So we've addressed that part, and that's what we're tweaking for launch. Of course, we always listen to feedback when it comes down to individual arcs, if they're over performing to their role or intent, or if they're underperforming, then we of course, need to give them more power. But overall, we're pretty satisfied with where they sit on average, minus some of the issues we saw.”
The devs recently revealed their plans for voluntary wipes in Arc Raiders.
Arc Raiders launches tomorrow for Xbox, PS5, and PC.