I took on an aggressive player, raced against the clock, and found some great loot to fund future trips Topside

So let’s say it’s a Tuesday night, you’ve got an hour-ish to kill, and you have a copy of Arc Raiders. In a game with menu-heavy navigation, a deep crafting system, and of course the ever-present threat of dying unexpectedly and losing all of your stuff, you might wonder just how much you can get done, especially if you’re a solo player.

Well, friends, I decided to document just such a scenario. On a recent Tuesday night (last night, in fact), I jumped in for about an hour and fifteen minutes of my time in Arc Raiders to get a sense of what this game looks like when you’re not mainlining it for tens of hours straight (my first run at the full game was a virtually uninterrupted 20-hour session). Also, as I mentioned, I ran solo last night. Arc Raiders is perfectly solo-able, so long as you’re willing to play a bit more stealthily. So let’s jump into what you can expect in Arc Raiders with about an hour or so of your time.

First, let’s set some expectations. I’m about 53 hours into Arc Raiders. I’ve built up every crafting workshop, leveling some of them up to level two, and my Raider was at level 38 when I fired the game up, so I’ve progressed up the skill trees a fair bit. This is what my skill tree looked like as of last night:

© Screenshot: Embark Studios / Claire Jackson / Kotaku

My first quest: Finding Rope; my first obstacle: My overflowing Stash

I’ve done a substantial number of quests in the game thus far. They’re all pretty much the same thing: Go somewhere, find a key location or object, flip a switch or gather a specific amount of materials, then head out. Hardly riveting subject material, but in a game this open-ended, you really just need some points to go to for random emergent opportunities to present themselves.

I was tackling the “Eyes In The Sky” quest, for which I’d already completed two out of the three simple objectives: Go somewhere specific on three different maps and install LiDAR Scanners. Fortunately, those LiDAR scanners aren’t actual inventory items I need to manage. I just need to go to a spot and hold down the E key.

But there was a problem: My final objective required me to build a zipline, which needs Rope and for whatever friggin’ reason, I haven’t come across much Rope lately.

I’ve also been avoiding going on Night Raids, which see any given map set at night with fewer extraction points, and the promise of better loot.

Read More: 14 Essential Tips For Getting Started In Arc Raiders

My first impulse was to just grab the Free Loadout. As I mentioned in my beginner tips, the Free Loadout is a perfect way to dust yourself off from a defeat or, in my case last night, warm up a bit without the concern of losing some precious gear. But like when a loose thread on your sweater gets caught on something, Arc Raiders said “not so fast.”

© Screenshot: Embark Studios / Claire Jackson / Kotaku

Yes, my Stash was full. This is a topic I’ve seen discussed a fair number of times over on the game’s subreddit and here and there in the official Discord. Hoarders don’t have it easy in this game. Keep in mind, I’ve expanded the storage of my Stash several times by spending the game’s non-premium currency (which you can just sell random items to earn). Still, the game wouldn’t let me go out with a Free Loadout because that would give me more items than I have space for.

It’s frustrating, but the game basically said “girl, use the stuff you already have!” The important takeaway is this: item management is a core part of this game and you should expect to dedicate a solid chunk of time to flipping through different menus, sorting and making the most of what you have.

And so I did. After trying to clear space (I spent about five minutes trying to rummage through stuff to see what I could use or get rid of), I just rolled out with what I had which included:

• Tactical Mk. 2 augment
• Medium Shield
• Burletta IV with a Compensator I and an Extended Light Mag II
• Ferro IV with a Compensator I, Angled Grip I, and a Stable Stock I © Screenshot: Embark Studios / Claire Jackson / Kotaku

Add in a bunch of gadgets (more than I likely needed, but I also needed an excuse to use the stuff I’d crafted, lest my Stash will always be full), and I was good to go.

I loaded into Spaceport at night with about 29:30 on the clock and one goal in mind: Find Rope. Is a Night Raid a little overkill for such a simple item? Maybe. But I was curious to see what would be available at night.

© Screenshot: Embark Studios / Claire Jackson / Kotaku

Turns out, the more minor POIs (the ones not surrounded by a yellow or red line on the map) were a little sparse. Loot or not, each area posed a challenge to my attention and awareness: I had to constantly ask myself whether a random sound I heard was a sign someone was nearby, possibly even sneaking up on me. I cautiously crawled through various buildings and eventually found my Rope. But then I ran into a tricky situation.

I just wanted Rope, now I’m running for my life

I took my time on the map. I was playing it safe. At night, with the world lit by sterile moonlight, it was very easy to see other people from a distance in open areas. In fact, I could see a few other Raiders far out on my perimeter. Every time I stopped to soak in the ambience, manage my loot, or observe an interesting potential sightline, however, I was reminded I was on borrowed time. Gunfire in the near distance meant I had to get moving. Fired shots means someone’s fighting to stay alive, and that’s a situation which could rope me in or result in collateral damage.

But more than anything else, I had to get moving because I was running out of time. I’d placed the marker for the extraction point incorrectly on my map (silly me). Now I was trying to split my attention between staying out of sight and making decent time in my trip to extraction and before I knew it, I was on top of a building with just a minute-thirty left of game time (if you don’t extract in time, you die and lose everything). So I had to make a split-second decision: Do I risk jumping off the building? I wasn’t sure I’d even survive, and if I did, I might be left vulnerable to attacks from drones or other players.

© Gif: Embark Studios / Claire Jackson / Kotaku

I took the leap of faith, which cost me about 70 percent of my health. I patched myself up quickly and raced to the extraction point, calling in the elevator with 20 seconds left on the clock while an explosion went off right near me and a Rocketeer hovered ominously nearby. Was it going to start something with me? I wasn’t sure. The clock ran out, but luck was with me, as it seems there’s a roughly 20-30 second grace period if you’ve called in the elevator.

I made it out with a bag full of supplies including my Rope.

Finishing the quest

© Gif: Embark Studios / Claire Jackson / Kotaku

I did some more inventory management and loaded out to Buried City to finish the quest requiring the Zipline. This match included some tense battles with Arc machines and a spooky encounter with another player who wouldn’t communicate. I saw them through a slit in the wall but despite my attempts to say hi and ask them not to shoot, they were noncommunicative.

I pushed forward on the quest, always watching my back for that other player. I didn’t know what they were up to, but if it wasn’t good, they were about to find out how good my battle rifle was. Or maybe I’d find out how much better their gun was. Who can say? That tension loomed over me for the rest of the quest.

I did some more looting, covering my tracks with traps in case that other player turned out to be stalking me. Once again, I made it out with a sizeable bag of loot and had enough time for one more match. I was just shy of hitting a new level, so I hopped back in.

‘Don’t mess with me’

I loaded back into the same map as I had two new quests to take on. But within a few moments of deploying onto the field, some rando started firing at me.

“Buddy,” I said out loud, “you don’t want to do this.” At this point I swapped out my Ferro IV for an Arpeggio IV (by the way, “Arpeggio” is a perfect name for a three-round burst weapon as three notes played in succession are the minimum you need to play an arpeggio on an instrument properly). It was fitted with a Muzzle Break and an improved magazine capacity. That meant my recoil was sufficiently under control and I had ammo to spare in any firefight.

So while this fellow was assaulting me with what sounded like an underpowered gun compared to mine, I audibly said “don’t mess with me,” spun around and took them down with 10 quick pulls of the trigger. They were down but had nothing of value on them, which I’d expected.

© Gif: Embark Studios / Claire Jackson / Kotaku

Hey, I warned them!

I encountered another player while scouting the locations of my quests. This person didn’t open fire on me, but they also weren’t communicative. In Arc Raiders, the emote wheel is sufficient enough to establish some kind of truce. “Hey,” and “Don’t Shoot” are things any player can communicate with a few button presses.

We teamed up silently, doing a bit of basic looting. My bag was full, so I took to watching over my “friend” both because they might need the help and, well, I wanted to make sure they remained “my friend” by never taking my eyes off of them. I did, however, gift them my Burletta as I had enough in my arsenal anyway.

We came across an Arc Surveyor. These little rolly things move fast and have a lot of armor. Kill them, though, and you’re bound to get some decent loot. We chased this thing around the map for a while before I landed the killing shot. We grabbed what we found and headed for extraction.

The extraction point was near the pharmacy, so I decided to let my comrade leave the map while I did once last pass for possible decent loot. There were four minutes left and, hey, I found a Rocketeer Driver! These things can’t be used for offensive attacks, but they are an important crafting ingredient I needed to expand one of my workshops. I snagged it, raced on to the extraction point and got out, hitting level 39 in the process.

While I didn’t end up finishing my quests, I did get a good sense of where those objectives were, so I don’t have to waste too much time finding out where I need to go and what I need to gather the next time I load into the game.

And so my hour dedicated to Arc Raiders on this specific evening reached its close. I was overtime, in fact, by about 15 minutes. I purchased a new skill in the Mobility Tree, did a bit more inventory management, and that was my evening.

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My hour with Arc Raiders included some tense shootouts with enemy AI, a few encounters with other players that could’ve ended any which way, a single encounter with someone trying to push their luck, and a whole lot of loot to help me go on better runs.

© Screenshot: Embark Studios / Claire Jackson / Kotaku

Stealth, tests of aiming, managing my time on the map, all of these are things I’ve loved in other third-person shooters, especially games like The Last of Us and any given Metal Gear Solid. But what I loved the most about this hour spent was how organic and spontaneous everything was. I now have a better sense of what loot is where, and can plan future missions accordingly. Plus, I got a better sense of how I can rely on my weaponry. I now know from experience how efficiently that Arpeggio IV works with the equipment I’d chosen to put on it. And if I die to someone and they take that gun, that gun becomes a part of their story; it could even end up being used against me. I don’t want that to happen.

I think had I not been running solo, there might’ve been less stealth and I would’ve felt more comfortable about exploring the more dangerous areas of the map, which do promise greater loot. But either way, in an hour, I made some great progress on my weapon builds, unlocked a new ability, finished a quest, and had some interesting encounters with players and enemy AI. I’d say that’s time well spent.