ARC Raiders Is Testing a PvE Toggle: No Player Damage From October 13

Embark has announced that ARC Raiders is getting a PvE matchmaking toggle as a limited test. It runs from October 13 to October 20, 2026, starting on Tuesday, October 13 at 11:00 CEST. For that week, you choose before each raid whether you want the classic PvPvE experience or a session where other Raiders can’t hurt you and you can’t hurt them. It’s just you, your squad and the ARC.

This is a time-limited test, not a new permanent mode. Once October 20 is over, the toggle goes away and matchmaking returns to how it works today. What happens after that depends on the data and on player feedback.

The key points

• Dates: October 13–20, 2026, starting at 11:00 CEST.
• Zero player-to-player damage. You can’t hurt another Raider in a PvE session.
• Solos, Duos and Trios share the same session. PvE doesn’t split players by squad size.
• Switch whenever you like. Play one relaxed raid, then jump back into PvPvE.
• Your PvPvE matchmaking rating stays untouched, no matter how much PvE you play.
• No Night Raids, Hidden Bunker, Locked Gate or Frigate. Those conditions stay PvPvE only.
• Lower loot value in PvE, slightly higher in PvPvE.

Why Embark is doing this now

When ARC Raiders was first conceived seven years ago, it wasn’t an extraction shooter. The original idea was a raid-based PvE co-op game with looting. According to Embark, that concept ran into serious problems, so the studio reset the project and rebuilt it as the high-tension PvPvE game you know today.

After launch, though, the Rust Belt didn’t just fill up with extraction shooter fans. The game also found players who have no interest in fighting other people. Embark itself calls it the “Extraction (Don’t) Shooter”. In the announcement, Executive Producer Aleks writes that the studio wants to stay true to the game’s core while respecting how different people want to play it.

What the data shows

Embark says it weighs three things when making decisions: data, player feedback and gut feeling. This time the numbers do most of the talking. When the studio split its player base by preferred playstyle, this is what came out:

Player type	Share	Trend since launch
Friendly co-op players	37%	growing steadily
Mixed players	27%	not stated by Embark
Pure PvP players	34%	stable

More than 70% of friendly players, and even 40% of PvP players, want fewer hostile encounters. 51% of surveyed players said they’re interested in a dedicated PvE option. Embark is also open about the friction: friendly players often try to avoid PvP altogether, and some parts of the community are frustrated with ratting and camping.

The studio describes the players who come for co-op and for fighting the ARC as a core part of the community. It wants to support them directly instead of leaving them to work around the game.

How the PvE test works

In a PvE session:

• player-to-player damage is switched off completely, and the focus is on the ARC threat and co-op,
• Solos, Duos and Trios are matched into the same session,
• you can switch seamlessly: a calm solo PvE run, then straight back to a tense PvPvE match,
• your PvPvE matchmaking rating is not affected.

The major conditions Night Raids, Hidden Bunker, Locked Gate and Frigate are excluded from PvE. Embark says they’re built around higher tension and the uncertainty of who you might run into. The Frigate only arrives on October 8 with the Frozen Trail update, so you won’t see it in PvE during the test. Everything else coming in that update is in our Frozen Trail preview.

What’s different in PvE

In PvE you can scavenge, complete quests and explore without worrying about other Raiders. Embark stresses that it isn’t testing harder PvE or new PvE progression. The goal is simply to see whether players should get an alternative to PvP encounters. Two differences apply:

• Overall loot value is lower to balance out the relative safety.
• Be careful crawling when the ARC down you. If you move while downed, ARC can pick you up as a target again. If you stay still, they’ll ignore you. It’s Embark’s way of keeping some tension without a PvP threat.

If you’re new to ARC Raiders, the PvE week is a good chance to learn the maps without the stress. Start with our beginner’s guide; the game itself is on ARC Raiders’ Steam page.

The risks: economy and queue times

Embark doesn’t pretend the test is risk-free. The first, never-released version of the game was a PvE game, and the studio has been hesitant to go back to that idea. A PvE toggle could take away some of the tension ARC Raiders was built around. On the other side of the scale are the data and the fact that some players simply want to enjoy the game their own way.

During the test, Embark will be watching two things closely:

• The player economy. Friendly players, and therefore PvE sessions, extract more often and earn more value. To account for that, PvPvE sessions get slightly higher baseline loot values during the test.
• Matchmaking and queue times. In low-population regions or off-hours, matchmaking may take a little longer. Depending on how many players try PvE, the quality of some PvPvE sessions could change too. Embark says it will adjust as needed.

What happens after the test

Embark is managing expectations up front. The test is not a promise of a permanent PvE mode, and it may simply not work. The studio does say it is seriously considering the idea. Any future version could also look very different from what you’ll play in October.

Embark plans to share its findings and next steps after the test ends. Until then, the best thing you can do is try the toggle and tell the studio what you liked and what you didn’t. The full announcement is on the official ARC Raiders website, and we cover all other news about the game in our ARC Raiders news section.

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