With the conclusion of the Arc Raiders server slam, players came away telling tales of their daring escapes and close calls. But one shared experience linked many jumpy raiders together: getting spooked by tumbleweeds.
It sounds strange, but there’s a good reason why. In Arc Raiders and all extraction shooters for that matter, an enemy player getting the jump on you often means certain death. As such you’ve got to stay on your toes at all times, keeping your eyes and ears on high alert in order to avoid misfortune.
Tumbleweeds move around with the wind at ground level much like enemy players do, and as such were catching players off guard. They also kind of make a noise that could be mistaken for another player moving around in your proximity.
They are common too: any player who found themselves moving around outside during the server slam last weekend would have seen a few bouncing about. These were added to the game recently as part of a wide range of tweaks and improvements to Arc Raiders, so even experienced players who tried the game out previously were getting jumpscared by tumbleweeds.
Arc Raiders actually has a hefty amount of sound triggers that can give away your location, or just generally add to the stress of strolling across the map. This is true for bushes, flocks of birds resting on the ground, as well as far louder environmental triggers such as opening doors and busting open boxes with your big hammer.
Arc Raiders proved to be exceptionally popular during the first few hours of last weekend’s final public test, quickly attracting nearly 100,000 concurrent players on Steam alone. The game is set to release in full on the 30th October, at which point players will be able to experience the full scope of the game, tumbleweeds and otherwise.
