This will sound like a leading statement coming from an obvious Arc Raiders fan: the cozy game boom annoys me a tiny bit. Outwardly cute, rhythmic, and familiar sims and RPGs dominate the space, though not without reason. They can be compelling, comforting, and deeply fun. But the cozy genre is loosely defined, and any game could be cozy to you. Elden Ring is one of my cozy games. I can play it when I want a moreish challenge but don't want to be challenged. For weeks, my cozy game has been Slay the Spire 2 on increasingly brutal Ascension difficulties. One of my best friends relaxes with Resident Evil 4 speedruns. For me, the coziest game in the past year has been Arc Raiders.
I've got no bone to pick with self-described cozy games or the genre as a whole. I just want to highlight the cozy relationship you can have with any game, because I think a mix of nostalgia and participation is a unique and powerful element of them. You want to do something again, either in the same game or in a game similar to an old favorite, a space where you can savor the unsurprising. More than a specific action or reward, you want a certain feeling. Whether to take your mind off things, kill time, or scratch an itch, you seek a warm blanket for your brain. That's Arc Raiders for me.
Sign me up
Steam informs me I've put over 350 hours into Arc Raiders since its October 30 launch. It's the most I've played a single game in a while. I've been on a bit of a break for a few weeks, lost in Slay the Spire 2 and now smitten with Pragmata, but I'm diving back in to polish off the season-end Expedition ahead of the next big map update. Arc Raiders is a competitive extraction shooter filled with ruthless players and even more ruthless robots, but the game's also cultivated a friendly community of peaceful players ready and eager to share resources, advice, and stories. It's about as comfy as extraction shooters get, far removed from the no-questions-asked bloodshed of genre kingpin Escape from Tarkov.
So, when Escape from Tarkov boss Nikita Buyanov says Arc Raiders is "an extraction shooter for casual people" and not at all what he wants to create, either in Tarkov or in his new sci-fi (and very Tarkov-sounding) shooter Fragmentary Order, I find myself nodding along. Yeah, man. That's the point.
The hardcore, "painful" vision of Buyanov's games is exactly what convinced me that I would never enjoy extraction shooters to begin with. Pain seemed baked in, and it kind of is, but not insurmountably so. I also just can't do mil-sims, and like many aging millennials, I got sick of PvP in virtually all forms many years ago. This isn't a blame game, to be clear, nor is it a debate. Tarkov is deservedly popular – and a cozy game to many people, I'm sure – and Arc Raiders is demonstrably casual. Buyanov's comment didn't seem condescending or dismissive; it simply prompted me to re-examine my relationship with Arc Raiders. Ultimately, I agree with him.
Even ignoring my job obligations, I'm not usually a casual gamer. A lot of my time, money, and headspace is spent on games, and I seek out difficult ones. But I like Arc Raiders specifically because it lets me play casually.
Here's one massive relief: I have barely touched it in weeks, and I don't feel like I've fallen behind at all. Sure, I missed some event rewards, but nothing whose absence I'll feel when I get sucked back in. There isn't much FOMO in Arc Raiders, and when some popped up by way of a misguided Expedition announcement, it was quickly hammered down.
As I size up my meager stash, unfinished work benches, and in-progress Expedition caravan, it's also nice to know this stuff won't take all that long to finish. The low time cost of Arc Raiders is underrated. It's not an easy game, necessarily, and you have to work for your stuff. But it is pretty forgiving – not least in its time-to-kill, mercifully slow compared to the breakneck PvP of Marathon, which I've put about 120 hours into – and it's generous with most resources. After launch, I had maxed everything out and collected every gun and gizmo I could ever ask for way before hour 300. You don't have to put a lot of time into Arc Raiders to make meaningful progress, and that's not true of every extraction shooter or live game.
Without the mandatory seasonal wipes common in extraction shooters, how you progress in Arc Raiders is also up to you. I've given myself a goal and a deadline by choosing to take part in the coming Expedition, but I don't have to. I skipped the first Expedition because I just wanted to mess around with all the stuff I'd collected. Inevitably, the game got stale and I was ready for a clean slate. This is all in my hands. That's not true of Marathon, where I have no say in the coming wipe that I am low-key dreading.
One of the biggest reasons Arc Raiders popped off the way it did is that it made the extraction shooter space more welcoming. By actively supporting casual play, it showed a lot of people that this genre could work for them after all.
I'm in that camp. I'd sooner touch a hot steel pan than Escape from Tarkov, but Arc Raiders continues to occupy my thoughts after months. I can absolutely see why fans of Tarkov, and its lead creator, wouldn't like it, and I could probably repurpose their list of criticisms to explain why I do.
