Embark Studios has published a new post on its official blog discussing an upcoming addition to ARC Raiders—the Hurricane map condition. In its opening paragraphs, the studio notes that, while Speranza has survived many storms before, the approaching Hurricane represents a new challenge altogether. Hurricane will be added to ARC Raiders through a free update on February 24th, and as is the case with any map conditions, there will also be major impacts on gameplay.
“Speranza has weathered storms before, but none quite like the approaching Hurricane. Citizens can hear the screeching winds from their refuge below ground; winds that batter and bruise Raiders fool-hardy enough to venture up,” wrote the studio. “Shani is preparing to lock down; nobody leaves. But to a Raider, that’s just too tempting isn’t it?”
There are three key aspects to dealing with the Hurricane: wind, debris, and visibility. Wind will have an impact on how you traverse through the map on your excursions. Headwinds, for instance, will slow you down considerably while also causing stamina drain, while tailwinds will give you a speed boost. Throwable items will also be similarly affected, with the direction of the winds changing the trajectory of your grenades. Smoke, gas, and jumping will also be affected by these winds.
This wind will also cause quite a bit of debris and dirt to fly around, which in turn will cause your shields to start malfunctioning, since it wasn’t built for this kind of constant onslaught. In gameplay terms, this means that shields will be degraded, and raiders will be more visible to each other when outdoors. This might prompt players to unequip their shields every now and then, especially when they want to sneak around. As you would expect from the wind and debris, visibility will take a massive hit. While a disadvantage for some, others will likely make use of this to get the drop on competing Raiders.
As for why you would want to step out into this hurricane, players will be able to find valuable Raider Caches, described as being “relics of the First Wave”, that got unearthed thanks to the strong winds.
ARC Raiders has seen a few map conditions added to its rotation over the last couple of months. The latest of these was Cold Snap, which originally made its debut as limited-time condition in December. It was brought back as a permanent addition earlier this month. Before this, we also got Bird City, which brought its own new challenges and rewards thanks to the explosion of the bird population in Buried City.
Embark Studios’ parent company Nexon also revealed earlier this month that the extraction shooter has been quite a hit. During its earnings report, it confirmed that over 14 million copies of ARC Raiders had been sold, contributing to the company’s “record-high” revenue that exceeded its expectations. Taking all platforms into account, Nexon also revealed that it peaked at almost a million concurrent players in January.
ARC Raiders is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Check out what its design director has said about its matchmaking systems.