Arc Raiders "Toxic Swamp" map event coming next week according to new raider trials, suggesting Embark has taken notes from FromSoftware

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A new Arc Raiders map modifier looks imminent

Arc Raiders best weapons
(Image credit: Embark Studios)

An Arc Raiders Toxic Swamp event is seemingly incoming. After the frosty winds of the Cold Snap update, it looks like Arc Raiders' next map modifier will plunge us all into poison swamps, just like FromSoftware games used to. I mean, they still do, but they used to, too.

Word of an Arc Raiders Toxic Swamp map modifier – not a new, separate map, it seems – has been making the rounds for several months, ever since players began scrying future details by fiddling with the date and time settings on their PCs to trick the game into displaying content planned for future weeks.

Arc Raiders trials page showing early swamp variant

(Image credit: Embark Studios)

This user also found a separate set of trials for the week of January 26. A Toxic Swamp trial in this lineup reads: "Keep Air Purifiers powered on during Toxic Swamp - Clean Air."

I tried to check these findings myself by setting my own PC's date to mid-January, but I ran into a problem: Arc Raiders was unable to connect to online services. However, when I tried loading the game and then changing my PC's date, I was able to view these planned trials by closing and reopening the raider page. So yeah, this is real. I wouldn't start picking out gas masks and high boots until the event is actually live, as there's always room for live games to swerve, but it sure looks like we're going swampin' soon.

From these trials, it sounds like the toxic swamp modifier will turn Dam Battlegrounds into a noxious, hazardous area with unique resources and interactive elements. My friends and I have already been calling the iron-reddened side of the map Caelid in honor of Elden Ring's red nightmare region, and it turns out we may be prophets.

Arc Raiders hotfix stops players from using a command that was "never meant to be player-facing" as Embark works to "protect fair play."

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.

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