ARC Raiders Tests New PvE Map Conditions, But There's a Catch

In an upcoming Chinese-build of ARC Raiders, fans notice a previously unannounced map condition and potentially unique modifier which places a greater focus on player versus environment (PvE). The immense success of ARC Raiders managed to help sustain the game well after its initial launch back in August 2025. While still popular from a player numbers standpoint, Embark is about to enter a new phase for the game and with that, could be bigger content changes.

Following the launch of its final planned monthly update, Riven Tides, Embark announced a massive content release change for ARC Raiders. The monthly content cycle is ending in favor of two major content launches per year, which helps Embark to further achieve its aims for the game, while also making sure these content releases are much bigger in scale and more impactful as a whole. To help illustrate this point, Embark also revealed that the upcoming Frozen Trail update for October features a “sprawling new frontier” with the biggest map the team has ever designed. The added time to create could also see new features and modes added to the game as well.

ARC Raiders Studio Officially Clarifies How Matchmaking Works

After much debate from the community, Embark Studios officially clarifies how matchmaking works in ARC Raiders, recent changes, and what it can’t do.

What Is the Rebellion Incident Map Condition in ARC Raiders?

While not as popular in China as it is in the West, Embark is currently testing a Chinese version of ARC Raiders in partnership with Tencent, which will have its own separate and updated version of the game. However, during these tests, fans noticed a pair of unique new map conditions called Rebellion Incident and Double King/Queen. The latter condition appears to place two massive ARC machines like Arc Raiders‘ Queen on the map for players to contend with, likely forcing more collaboration and the hope of fostering more PvE-style gameplay.

Guess the games from the emojis.

Easy (120s)Medium (90s)Hard (60s)

Speculation is that Rebellion is a lower-difficulty style mode featuring a higher than normal amount of resources. At the beginning of the mode, players can’t damage or attack each other, but they can actively choose a “rebellion” option which allows them to attack at the cost of being marked by the lobby. On a surface level, it sounds similar to The Division‘s Dark Zone, a PvPvE area where players can go rogue against fellow players, but cause enough trouble and a manhunt will be placed on them. In this ARC Raiders mode, the PvP player will apparently be marked in red on the compass/map when they betray another player.

However, that doesn’t appear to be everything, as players providing information from the Chinese version have also teased “Safe Zone” and Dual Boss” map conditions as well. In addition, the person known as Babao also revealed that some testers have mentioned new devices like a healing grenade as well as acid grenades as well. It’s worth mentioning that none of this content has been hinted at for the Western version of the game, but it’s not unreasonable to think that any of it could make its way to the other versions at some point, especially with the promises of impactful and large-scale updates twice a year.

What’s That Weapon?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

What’s That Weapon?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)

Ultimately, it’s not uncommon for PvE-focused modes, such as this, to make their way into the predominantly PvP-heavy extraction genre. In addition to Escape From Tarkov having a PvE zone, Bungie is planning to add PvE-specific experimental modes to Marathon during Season 2: NIghtfall. Largely in an effort to appeal to a different sect of players and to jump-start its core player base, Bungie announced two separate modes, with the first offering a “light touch” of PvE, while another in the middle of the season to be a pure co-op-style PvE experience alongside Marathon‘s normal offerings.