ARC Raiders "First-Person Mode" Actually Looks Kind Of Awesome

6 hours ago 1

Kyle Gratton is an editor and writer based out of Kansas City. He received a bachelor's degree, dual majoring in English and History with a minor in Film and Media Studies, and has been a senior staff writer and reviewer for Screen Rant's Gaming section since 2021, with roles in editorial, and various freelance projects.

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A fair bit of debate has surrounded ARC Raiders' decision to be a third-person shooter, rather than first-person, which is often considered a more viable for competitive games. Third-person tends to promote corner peeking, since you can see more than your character, which has made lengthy stand-offs a common occurrence in ARC Raiders PvP. A clever, relatively harmless use of an exploit has given us an idea of what might be expected from the game had it been developed as an FPS.

Using console commands on PC to alter the position of their in-game camera, Reddit user Short_Satisfaction_9 recorded and shared some gameplay showing a facsimile of ARC Raiders in first-person. The montage highlights how ARC Raiders' atmosphere changes significantly with the perspective change, a variety of ways gameplay is impacted by a more limiting camera angle, and clearly demonstrates that the game was not designed for first-person. Despite the obvious flaws in the first-person exploit, it's a very neat experiment, and looks really fun.

ARC Raiders Looks Great In First-Person

Two Raiders pointing guns at each other in the snow.

It's immediately apparent that moving the camera to a first-person position causes a lot of issues with your character model clipping into view, but as a proof-of-concept video, it's quite compelling. The post calls playing ARC Raiders in first-person "surreal," noting that "the ARC felt so terrifying." Most emblematic of this is a clip where they fight a Matriarch and the various smaller machines it summons; in first-person the Matriarch is even more imposing, and the flurry of attacks and enemies is much harder to keep track of with the limited view.

Similar issues are obvious in some PvP clips – the player is unable to see where exactly opposing Raiders are while taking cover, and with no proper ADS for most guns in ARC Raiders, the awkwardness of aiming in first-person is apparent. But that doesn't stop the first-person PvP from looking very exciting. Being so close to the action really heightens the sense of danger.

Who Knows What The Future Might Hold?

ARC Raiders character standing by a probe on Blue Gate.

Addition of a first-person mode has been a regular topic of discussion among ARC Raiders players since it launched, but there has so far been no official indication from Embark Studios that one will be added. It's not impossible; multiplayer shooters like PUBG: Battlegrounds and Call of Duty: Warzone experiment with both first- and third-person playlists. ARC Raiders, however, isn't meant to be quite so competitive.

ARC Raiders' casual-friendly gameplay is one of the reasons it has become so popular, and its third-person camera helps PvP-averse players stay hidden. Adding a first-person mode also runs the risk of dividing the player base even further than the aggression-based matchmaking already does. This MacGyver'd first-person view in ARC Raiders looks awesome, but Embark has more important things on its platter, like adding new content and shoring up the endgame loop.