Negative ARC Raiders Reviews Mount Following Riven Tides Update

Riven Tides Lands With a Thud

Embark Studios' Riven Tides update was meant to be the grand finale of ARC Raiders' Escalation roadmap — bringing a new map, a large ARC threat, and new gameplay systems. Instead, it has triggered a wave of backlash that pushed the game's Steam recent reviews to 'Mixed' for the first time since launch.

The numbers tell a stark story. On April 29, the day after the update dropped, ARC Raiders received 364 negative Steam reviews versus 221 positive ones. The negative trend continued through the following days, briefly narrowing to nearly even on May 1, before widening again to 285 negative against 154 positive as of writing.

The primary complaints center on changes to PvP incentivization and weapon durability. In extraction games, encouraging PvP through system design is a delicate balance, and players feel the new mechanics push the game too far in that direction.

Overall Rating Holds — For Now

ARC Raiders still holds an 85% positive overall rating on Steam, a testament to its strong launch performance. But sustained negative reviews will erode that figure over time. Insider Gaming, which previously gave the game a 10/10, lowered its score in a recent six-month follow-up review. Without meaningful changes from Embark, the game risks losing the goodwill it built at launch.