ARC Raiders Just Made The Matriarch More Intimidating, But Not on Purpose

An ARC Raiders player has stumbled across a horrifying new bug that seemingly gives the Matriarch the ability to become a gigantic magnet and engulf players, leaving them completely hopeless. Although ARC Raiders was one of the last-minute hits of 2025, even winning Best Multiplayer Game at The Game Awards, Embark’s third-person extraction shooter has been filled with bugs and game-breaking exploits, with the latest one practically forcing players to stay away from the Matriarch until a new hotfix is released.

Since its launch in October, ARC Raiders has received multiple content updates, with plenty more still to come. The first major patch was known as the North Line update, which not only added Stella Montis and the Shredder, but also the Matriarch, the most formidable and deadliest ARC enemy so far. Similar to the Queen, the Matriarch is a rotational map modifier for Dam Battlegrounds, Spaceport, and Blue Gate. Players who are brave enough to take on the Matriarch will need to bring in some of their best gear. If they succeed, they can loot her for Matriarch Reactors, which are a key component when it comes to crafting the Aphelion, a legendary weapon.

ARC Raiders May Have Just Leveled the Playing Field Between Consoles and PC

An unexpected ARC Raiders update may have just leveled the playing field between consoles and PC players with this one major change.

New ARC Raiders Bug Makes Fighting The Matriarch Even Harder

If fighting the Matriarch wasn’t already hard enough, one player has stumbled across a new bug in ARC Raiders that left them completely hopeless. As seen in the clip below, Reddit user handsoffmypie was revived by their teammate not too far from the Matriarch, only to instantly be flung through the air, right into the ARC enemy’s core. It’s unclear what caused this bizarre incident to happen, but it almost looked like the Matriarch gained a new magnet ability that brought the player right to her. While they made a valiant effort to place a Deadline explosive on the enemy, it looked like their efforts were in vain, as they appeared to be stuck inside of her with no way out.

Fellow players have been baffled by the bug, but one user did point out that the player had a Snap Hook in their quick-use slot, which could be the reason for the strange incident. “Must have died with the Snap Hook attached,” a fellow player pointed out. So, while this unfortunately resulted in the player being shot right back to the Matriarch after being revived, it looks like this is more so a bug pertaining to the Snap Hook item. “Did you get downed mid-snap hook? I wonder if it glitched since it didn’t finish the animation,” another player theorized.

This is just one of the many issues that fans are eager to see fixed. Thankfully, with the Christmas season now behind us, Embark will likely be returning from its break with a new update in the coming days. The studio ended 2025 with the highly anticipated Cold Snap update for ARC Raiders, which added brand-new Quests to the game, as well as a new Map Modifier, Raider Deck, and more. But with 2026 now upon us, Embark says it will be moving its update schedule from Thursdays to Tuesdays, which means there should be some new fixes coming to the game on January 6.

While the next patch will likely only include some new balance adjustments, bug fixes, and general improvements, plenty of players are eager to know what the studio has in store in terms of content for 2026. Embark says it intends to support ARC Raiders for the next ten years, and it’s seemingly already teased the addition of an even bigger and deadlier ARC enemy. On the outskirts of Blue Gate, players can often see a gigantic enemy roaming around. As of writing, it can’t be interacted with, but players have speculated that this is the Emperor enemy type and will soon be included as a new map event, similar to the Queen and Matriarch.