Embark StudiosReviews 

Over 1,000 hours played and 7 weeks spent grinding for Cantina Legend rewards, only to get hit with a 30-day suspension for "irregular behaviour" with absolutely no evidence, explanation, or specific rule violation provided.

The anti-cheat system is a complete joke. If you're going to punish players, at least tell them what they supposedly did wrong. Instead, I got nothing but vague accusations and copy-paste responses from customer support. Every ticket was met with the same canned message before being closed without addressing a single question I asked.

The most ridiculous part is that support expects me to accept the suspension while refusing to explain what triggered it. If I don't know what I supposedly did wrong, how am I supposed to avoid being suspended again? What's stopping the same broken system from handing me a 60-day suspension next time for the exact same unexplained reason?

What makes this even worse is that this "temporary" suspension effectively destroys the goal I've spent nearly two months working toward. By the time it's over, the rewards and opportunities I was grinding for will be gone. For me, the damage is already done.

I genuinely enjoyed this game and invested over 1,000 hours into it, but this experience has completely killed my motivation to play. Between the dog shit anti-cheat system, the useless customer support, the lack of transparency, and the complete unwillingness to properly review cases, I won't be coming back.

Honestly, it's no wonder the player base keeps shrinking. When loyal players can spend thousands of hours supporting a game only to be suspended without explanation and brushed aside by support, people eventually stop trusting the company and move on.

The game might be fun, but the anti-cheat system and customer support are some of the worst I've ever dealt with.

Absolutely ridiculous customer support and a garbage anti-cheat system.

After spending over 1,000 hours in this game and grinding for the past 7 weeks toward Cantina Legend rewards, I got slapped with a 30-day suspension for nothing more than vague nonsense about "irregular behaviour." No explanation. No actual proof. No real answer. Just the same useless copy-paste replies over and over like I was talking to a wall.

That is not support. That is lazy, dismissive garbage.

I asked a simple question: what did I do, what evidence do you have, and why was I punished? Instead of answering, they hid behind vague anti-cheat language, refused to explain anything, and acted like closing the ticket was somehow good service. It was insulting. It felt like they did not care at all whether the suspension was right or wrong, only that I would stop asking.

What's especially frustrating is that a 30-day suspension isn't really temporary in my situation. By the time it's over, the event and rewards I've spent nearly two months grinding for will be gone. The damage is already done. From my perspective, it might as well be a permanent ban.

I have never used macros, cheats, crosshair software, or anything else that would give me an unfair advantage. To the best of my knowledge, I played fair and followed the rules. Yet I was treated like a cheater and never given a real chance to defend myself.

This whole experience has been infuriating. A company should not be able to take away an account, offer no evidence, refuse to explain itself, and then hide behind canned responses like that is acceptable. That is not fair play. That is terrible service.

I genuinely loved this game, which makes this even more frustrating. But after dealing with this suspension and this dog shit customer support, it is hard to have any respect left for the way this company handles its players.

The gaming company that wiped out it's own player base with every ban wave shot themselves in the foot destroyed regular folk from trading buts it's okay for online platforms such mmtog MMOG and so on to make money from the game but not normal people I give the game 6 months before it's a dead game, I loved the game they never done nothing of note with it took too long too little too late

Embark builds brilliant concepts only to dump them in the trash. The complete abandonment of their player base is an absolute joke. A masterclass in how to kill a great game. I am completely done funding this graveyard.

I loved the game play in Arc Raiders, but Embark Studios completely destroyed my experience. My account (DanstarReaverX) was hit with a permanent ban for "abnormal behavior" detected by their anti-cheat. I wasn't cheating, using macros, or doing anything wrong.

I appealed with full details, clips of normal gameplay, and more proof — they denied it instantly saying the decision is final and they won't share details. This seems like a common issue with their system giving false positives.

Great game mechanics wasted by terrible support and overly aggressive anti-cheat that punishes innocent players. No transparency, no human review, just automated "tough luck."

If you're thinking of investing time in this game, be warned, your account can vanish overnight with zero recourse. Strongly not recommended until they fix their ban system and customer support.

To Whom It May Concern,

Although this message will likely go unread or ignored, I feel compelled to speak on behalf of a large portion of your player base that is clearly becoming frustrated and exhausted with the current state of ARC Raiders.

I have been a lifelong gamer. Video games have always been an escape, an experience, and something that brought genuine excitement into my life. When friends first recommended ARC Raiders to me, I was intrigued. At the time, I only owned a PlayStation 4, despite also having a capable gaming PC. However, because I genuinely believed in what your game appeared to offer, I went out of my way to purchase a PlayStation 5 specifically to experience ARC Raiders on console.

The first time I loaded into Speranza, I was blown away.

The atmosphere, the visuals, the sound design, the sense of discovery — it felt like stepping into an entirely new world. Exploring with friends, completing quests, gathering resources, collecting fruit, fighting ARC units, or simply walking through the environment admiring the beauty of the game created an experience that felt rare in modern gaming. It was immersive, refreshing, and genuinely enjoyable.

Yes, we all understood that PvP existed. Initially, it added tension and unpredictability in moderation. That balance is now completely gone.

After several months, the game has devolved into a miserable experience dominated almost entirely by toxic PvP behavior, camping, and players exploiting every opportunity to ruin the experience for others. Casual players can no longer enter a session and simply enjoy the game. Every extraction point becomes an ambush. Every encounter becomes paranoia. Every moment of progress feels temporary because someone is inevitably waiting to shoot players in the back moments before extraction.

That is not tension. That is not excitement. That is not fun.

Many of us work 60–70 hours a week. We have children, families, responsibilities, and limited free time. We log into games to decompress and enjoy ourselves with friends — not to become targets for people who spend entire matches hiding near exits waiting to punish others for simply trying to play the game.

I have attempted every workaround possible. I disabled cross-platform play. I switched regions. Nothing changes. The problem is embedded into the core experience because there is currently no space for casual players to enjoy the world you created without constant harassment from PvP-focused players.

As a result, you have officially lost me as a player.

I will be uninstalling the game, and I will not return unless meaningful changes are made — specifically the introduction of dedicated non-PvP or casual maps. Many players do not want forced PvP. We never asked for every single moment of gameplay to revolve around it. We simply want the ability to enjoy your world, your quests, your atmosphere, and your gameplay loop without being relentlessly punished for existing.

The solution is not complicated.

Create separate map instances or servers with PvP disabled. Give players a choice. Allow casual players and competitive players to coexist instead of forcing one group to dominate the other. If you implement this change, I genuinely believe you will see a dramatic increase in player retention and daily active users. Right now, however, your current design philosophy is driving players away at a rate that will continue to outpace growth.

You are losing players daily, and many of us are reaching the point where we are no longer willing to tolerate it.

Until PvP is no longer forced into every aspect of the experience, I am done supporting the game. I also intend to voice these concerns publicly within the community because I know for a fact I am not alone in feeling this way.

ARC Raiders has the foundation to become something truly incredible. But right now, that potential is being buried underneath a community environment that rewards toxicity over enjoyment.

Sincerely,

A Former Supporter of ARC Raiders

I have never left a review on a game ever and i have given Arc Raiders every chance posssible over a 4 month period and this game is so disappointing that at this point its embarrising to even say i played it at all. the community on the game is terrible and the game play is nothing like what embark claims it is. Dont get me started no the carlessness around cheating and hackers on this game which you'Embark Creators' have done next to nothing to resolve. i could not be more disappointed. if i could get a refund for this game being such a failure i would do what ever i could to get that money back. Embark go find another carear path because this sucks! And to anyone wantting to get tthis game to give it a go DON'T DO IT!!!

I am uninstalling this game perminantly because you have failed so badly and im jjust one of hundreds of thousands of people who have left this game because they feel the same way.

DON'T BE SORRY JUST DO BETTER!!!

Arc raiders is great! The look, the feel, the experience is unmatched in my opinion. The game is PvPvE, but somehow I have enjoyed the PVE aspect way more. The story, the quests, looting, crafting weapons, inventory management, and character building are all the key elements of this game. Yes there is tension when it comes to PvP, but it helps with the experience. But nothing is better than meeting random strangers and teaming up with them to battle the Arc, or helping one in need of a revive, or tracking down the Rats. I believe the reason for my awesome experience and 5 star review comes down to who I am. Im a 40 year old mature adult. I casually play arc raiders. I can easily escape from reality while playing this game. The immersion is so surreal. Sure there are some days I can sit for hours playing the game. And sometimes go 3 to 4 days without playing, because i do have a life outside of gaming. In fact this is the first game ever where I sat a played for 12 hours straight. I had to rethink somethings about myself after that day. Haha. And with that being said I do not burn thru the games content like most gamers do. You have plenty of time to do all the mission, find all the blueprints, and participate in the weekly trials, within each season before expedition reset. I believe that Embark is doing the best they can to meet customers demands, complaints, and wishes. I applaud them 100% for their efforts thus far. I believe most of the negative reviews of this game come from a particular type of person. These people have gaming addictions. It is real and can be serious. They burn thru the games content, play non stop all day long, everyday, become try hards and grind as fast as they can. Only to be left with nothing to do for the next 50 days. They get bored, and start to demand daily updates, and new content every week. They yearn for it. They have a gaming problem. It's not Embarks fault for most of these bad reviews. These people do it to themselves. Im sure most of them are kids, or grownups with no family, or no jobs. Which is why these negative reviews shouldn't be taken too seriously. Like I said, im a casual gamer. I love Fallout, wreckfrest, and world of warships legends. If you feel like you are someone who is like me, and loves relaxing to games and getting lost in the immersion, then I absolutely recommend giving Arc Raiders a try!

Honestly, the game just isn’t fun right now. The audio is terrible — you can barely hear enemies properly, which makes fights feel random and unfair. In a game like this, sound is one of the most important things, and right now it completely fails at that. On top of that, the ARCs are absolutely garbage and make the gameplay even more frustrating. The community is also toxic as hell — players can insult people nonstop without any consequences or proper moderation. The game is just frustrating and annoying to play.

Constant bugs and issues with games – yet no support whatsoever.

The latest bug, following the Riven Tides update, prevents crossplay with other platforms. This means that groups of friends playing together aren't able to do so.

Contacted support – no response.

Pathetic.

Loved the game, but severe bugs have caused me to lose pre-order accounts, and now the pre-order skin on my final account. Support takes over a month to respond, and when they do, they won't help you. This makes me feel bad whenever I want to play the game.

The company is also designing around FOMO, with no real catchup mechanic for expeditions, and last minute changes communicated poorly.

Embark Studios, discriminating against disabled players who cannot play without adaptations and not returning any money.
Disgraceful company.

ARC is dead
AI anti cheat
AI support
CM ignore us on Discord

FALSE BAN for thousands of players and cheaters stay alive not worth to buy u will grt ban from the ai anti cheat system for doing nothing

Horrible support. Even worse - support doesn't exists at all. AI-based loop where regular player can't reach any live person.. just never. and youtuber with 1M+ viewers get live review instantly. AI-based anti-cheat that ignores real cheaters and band legit players with hundreds hours of gameplay (and AI-based support who trust 100% to AI anti-cheat). Tons of bugs (bcuz of vibe-coding?) that are not fixed after months... Studio create good games (480k online on start, 250k on start), but kills them itself (35k after 6 month, 6k after few years). Best real life proof why "AI can't replace human"

After over 350 hours played in ARC Raiders, I was hit with a false ban and sent into a perpetual loop of AI generated responses to my support tickets, being given the cold shoulder while watching big live streamers receive VIP treatment in support tickets due to their big audience and overall bigger microphone.

Embark stole my money and your account is not safe if you choose to purchase and play their games. Both of their titles, The Finals and ARC Raiders have had this false ban issue and they are not interested in addressing it, engaging in mass censorship of everyone posting about it on the official Discord.

This company should not be trusted with your money. They do not value you as a customer and will treat you accordingly.

Terrible customer service. They make great games but dont waste money on cosmetics. There anti cheat system is made in house and has falsely banned tons of players.

Just release Game to sell much copys ap, dont care about Hackers and dedecting them.
Arc Raiders is full of Hackers and Cheaters and the only thing they do is ban them after 200 hours playing time and ruin other player experince for one month.
I am Done with your Hacker Policy and your Games!

I've had my steam account for more the 20 years and have played online multiplayer games for that entire period, not once have i received a ban until embark decided to falsely ban my account, I have appealed it more then ten times to the same copy and pasted response about "thorough investigations" which is absolute nonsense, I will never spend another penny towards this company and will advise everyone I meet to do the same, utter idiocy.

Bought the game ARC Raiders for PC on Steam platform, game cant be launched due to at fault... I have use and tried every guide, and just to clarify my PC will be able to run the game on Epic settings NP.

But since I have not played the game. I guess I will never know due to very slow / bad costumer service!

I purchased ARC Raiders for 40 Euros based on its original premise as a cooperative experience. However, the game has been transformed into a toxic environment that rewards "extraction camping" and griefing. The extreme difficulty spikes in recent updates, combined with a mandatory PvPve structure, have turned a potentially great game into a source of constant frustration.

The developers (Embark/Nexon) seem to ignore the community's plea for a dedicated PvE mode, choosing instead to cater to a niche of players who thrive on ruining others' progress. My time and investment have been completely disrespected. If you value your time and seek a fair cooperative challenge without being bullied by campers, stay away from this game. It is no longer the product I paid for.