ARC Raiders is a game that you can approach in several different ways. As an extraction shooter that’s not technically competitive in any sort of Team Vs. Team-type style, you’ve got some options for how you want to experience Topside.
The most popular choice is to squad up with two other friends (or randos via matchmaking) to loot, shoot, and scoot around until someone decides they’ve had enough and wants to head back home. Of course, the game is incredibly popular thanks to this trio-based playstyle, and the merits of team play are pretty obvious.
But what about going Topside completely solo? It’s a scary world up there, so it might not seem like the most viable way to play the game at first glance. I’m here to tell you, however, that playing alone is awesome. In fact, it’s how I personally prefer to play ARC Raiders at the end of the day.
If you’re unsure about playing ARC Raiders without a team or feel intimidated by the very idea, let me explain to you why I think you should give solo-queuing a shot.
To play solo, you’ll need to toggle off “Fill Squad” from the main menu before you launch a round.
7 Increased Intensity
All By Myself
In many ways, ARC Raiders feels like an entirely different game when you’re playing alone. With a squad, it’s much more traditionally action-packed, with more actual gunplay on average, since trios are much more likely to come across other Raiders on the map and engage in combat. Of course, in its own way, this is an intense style of gameplay. But it just feels different when you’re solo.
With no one to rely on but yourself, the game just feels like it’s cranked up to eleven. Every solitary bullet matters. Every decision to engage in combat or avoid it entirely can make or break your run in an instant. Calling for an extraction and waiting for your escape feels like it’s taking ages. Bumping into another Raider is immediately worrying. The whole time, your heart will be pounding.
This feeling of isolation that solo-play brings has turned many, perhaps most of my runs, into adrenaline-filled experiences unlike anything found in many other games. To be totally honest, ARC Raiders isn’t actually my usual cup of tea. This feeling of intensity is what has me so hooked. There’s nothing quite like being alone, getting downed, but still crawling to an extraction point to make it back home just before your health runs out.
6 Wholesome Interactions With Random Raiders
Don’t Shoot! Don’t Shoot!
This one might sound a little counterintuitive since we’re talking about the benefits of solo play, but the random, wholesome, sometimes hilarious moments with other Raiders you’ll find Topside just don’t typically unfold if you’re with a team. Most of my squads have operated with a “Shoot on sight” mentality, so random Raiders interactions fall by the wayside as a result.
If you’ve played solo, you’ve lost track of the number of times you’ve used the “Don’t Shoot!” emote already when you stumble upon another player. In my experience, it seems like more often than not, the randos I’ve bumped into don’t really want to hurt me either. This leads to many fun moments and “Team up?” emote requests that are standout memories in my ARC Raiders experience.
It’s incredibly nice when you’re downed, and some Joe Schmo Raider stops to offer you a bandage. Or stops to at least get on mic and say, “Ah, I’m so sorry, bro. I don’t have anything for you.” Then there’s my personal favorite interaction so far, where I yelled “Don’t Shoot!” to a player at the end of a hallway, whose echoing voice (thanks to proximity chat) called back, “You’re good, man! I’m just chilling!” You don’t get all this in squad play.
5 No Shared Loot
It’s Mine. My Own. My Precious.
I’m not a greedy person in real life, but in ARC Raiders… Stay away from my loot. One of the things that makes me gravitate more to solo-play is the fact that I don’t have to share anything with anyone else. If you’re with a team, you know the feeling well of the other two players ransacking everything in sight before you’ve had a chance to clear a room with them.
Of course, you get XP even when you scavenge an empty container, but it’s still disappointing if your squad consistently gets to everything first. When you play alone, everything is all yours. Once you start finding keys and exploring locked rooms, the benefit of solo play becomes all the more clear in these situations.
I made the mistake of using a key to open a locked room with a squad precisely once, and I’ll never do it again. Locked rooms hoard the best loot hauls in the game, and it feels bad to spend your one-time-use key only for your teammates to follow you into the room and take all the good stuff. If you have a key, save it for when you’re alone.
4 Going At Your Own Pace
Exploring Your Options
I’m a single-player gamer at heart. If you’re reading this article, I imagine there are decent odds that you’re the same. Something I sometimes dislike about multiplayer experiences is that you have to sacrifice playing at a pace you prefer simply to keep up with your teammates. This absolutely applies to ARC Raiders as well.
In so many runs I’ve done with a squad, everyone is off to the races as soon as they spawn onto the map. This isn’t often how I want to play. I want to take my time, plotting the points on the map I want to hit. I want to explore around and take everything in at a methodical, deliberate pace. This feeling is really only captured solo.
At times, you can even get into a peaceful feeling loop if you’re going it alone. There’s actually something really nice about playing a round of ARC Raiders where you never even fire a single round of ammo, instead just getting some loot and extracting back home without a care in the world.
3 Improved Stealth, Sections Of Horror
Every Empty Hallway A Terror
Of course, as peaceful as ARC can be solo at times, this experience style also leads to sections that are just downright scary alone. If you’re into horror games, ARC can emulate this in sections of the map like the Hospital in the Buried City, which is full of dark hallways, winding staircases, and room after room filled with God knows what as soon as you turn the corner.
You don’t get this occasional horror-vibe with a team, nor do you get to implement your Solid Snake-like stealth tactics nearly as often as I prefer. If you haven’t noticed already, making noise in ARC Raiders is a big deal. ARC enemies will hone in on your location if you’re making too much noise breaching a locked container or simply running around all willy-nilly.
If you’re with a team, there are many more chances for someone to blow your cover, leading to you being surrounded by ARC wasps before you know what hit you. This can lead to fun, chaotic moments, but I prefer being in charge of my own destiny. It’s fulfilling to slink around a map and only make myself known to the world on my own terms.
2 Focus On Quests
I’m Here For One Thing, And One Thing Only
If you care about completing the quests in ARC Raiders, squad play can be a little frustrating. Sure, your buddies can help you complete your objectives sometimes. Or, they can just run around focusing on their own tasks/desires and drag you along with them. If you’re looking to get a specific quest done, it’s often better to just tackle it alone.
This goes doubly for if you’re on a quest where you’re looking for certain types of loot/items. Need six wires? You might find them, or your teammate might get to them first. Sure, they could always drop them for you, but you never have any guarantee. Then there’s me, the anxious gamer, who doesn’t want to inconvenience the team by getting on the mic and requesting we focus on my own wants and needs (more on this in therapy later).
Truth be told, a lot of the quests in ARC Raiders aren’t too complicated if you know what you’re doing, so I highly prefer queuing solo to get all of my personal To-Do Lists done and dusted.
1 A Feeling Of Accomplishment
No One Can Take This Away From Me… Till I Take It Topside Again
One of the best feelings in video games is a sense of accomplishment. In such a busy world, I put a premium on activities that leave me with a belief that I’ve just done something worthwhile. You can find this in ARC Raiders’ squad-based experience in its own ways, but I find myself feeling much more rewarded after a successful solo run.
This is a challenging, intense game, so it simply feels great to get back to Speranza with a ton of valuable loot in your backpack, completely thanks to no one else but yourself. The solo loop really makes me feel like I have accomplished something special if I’m able to extract with a collection of Epic items and a total loot value of over about 50,000 coins or so.
Yeah, you can feel accomplished with a team too, but I don’t feel it as often, particularly if it was a round where I didn’t walk away feeling like the most important cog in the machine. Playing ARC Raiders solo lets you control your own destiny, which means whenever you succeed, there’s no one to thank but yourself. Hey, Siri. Play “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
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