ARC Raiders Kill Matriarch ＆ The Queen

On December 16th, ARC Raiders Cold Snap update will bring heavy snow and extreme cold to all maps, presenting raiders with harsh environmental challenges.

Players will need to relearn how to move, survive, and safely evacuate in this challenging environment. Only those who adapt will emerge victorious.

Date

ARC Raiders Cold Snap will launch globally and last for four weeks, ending on Tuesday, January 13th, 2026. Here are the updated times for key global time zones:

• North American West Coast: 1:30 AM PST
• 4:30 AM EST, North American East Coast
• 6:30 AM Brazil BRT
• 9:30 AM UK Time (Greenwich Mean Time)
• 10:30 AM Western European Time
• 6:30 PM Japan Time
• 8:30 PM Australia East Coast Time

Snowfall Mechanism

Outdoors

Snowfall, as a map event, will cover all areas of the map, including Rust Belt, Valley of Blue Gate, Abandoned Spaceport, and Red Lakes. Unlike standard raids, Cold Snap applies continuous environmental stress to raiders. Snowfall is not just a visual effect; it affects your combat, movement, and survival.

Prolonged exposure to the outdoors will cause raiders to suffer frostbite, resulting in continuous health loss. They must enter indoors or receive rapid healing to survive. Frostbite ignores armor, meaning even high-level gear is ineffective, but some instant-recovery items may be effective.

Because the map is covered in snow, gathering materials becomes much more difficult, so to combat frostbite, you should carry significantly more healing items than usual. Consider discarding some ammunition to make room for extra medical supplies.

Furthermore, the radar will malfunction after a few minutes, and the icy ground will make movement unsteady, both increasing the difficulty of combat and exploration. You can move short distances between buildings, but try to avoid lingering in open areas, as you'll leave footprints in the snow, making you vulnerable to being tracked by other players! Being suppressed by players outdoors will put you at a significant disadvantage.

Additionally, the different map layouts in Snowfall will have varying impacts on each map.

• Dam Battlegrounds: More open areas, limited shelters, requiring route planning and sufficient ARC Raiders items.
• Buried City: More indoor space, more frequent PvP battles.
• Spaceport and Blue Gate: A more balanced distribution of open areas and shelters, giving an advantage to players who can effectively manage movement between buildings.
• Stella Montis: Already a popular PvP map, Snowfall may further intensify PvP.

Shelter

Entering indoor areas will immediately stop frostbite. You can use items to restore health here. Buildings, underground spaces, and enclosed structures can all serve as safe zones during Snowfall event.

Of course, these safe zones will attract more other players than usual, and some squads may cluster together. You can cooperate for warmth or engage in combat to become the last survivor in the shelter.

If your map frequently sees PvP, the longer you stay in the shelter, the more dangerous it becomes. You should make full use of this time to rest and then venture out again.

Flickering Flames Event

Launching alongside Cold Snap is Flickering Flames event, a progress-based event. Players accumulate progress by gaining XP, with 1,000 XP equaling 10 Merits. However, new players must complete a total of five rounds of Arc Raiders to unlock the event, although this does not require successful extraction.

Flickering Flames has 25 tiers, rewarding players with gear, cosmetic items, and Raiders tokens. You're on a raid. You can progress using any source of XP, or you can avoid Snowfall map and accumulate progress on regular maps. You can gain XP by:

• Defeating large ARC enemies.
• Completing trials.
• Successfully extracting with valuable loot.

Candleberry Banquet Project

This update introduces a new project, Candleberry Banquet Project. Players need to collect Candleberries that spawn outdoors. The more Candleberries you successfully collect, the higher your Candleberry Banquet completion rate will be.

Candleberries can be used to craft candles, juice, tea, stews, perfume, and more, and these items may have mechanics that resist cold wave damage.

Furthermore, you'll earn Merits as you progress through Candleberry Banquet Project. This program is somewhat similar to a battle pass; as you progress, you'll earn rewards such as cosmetic items and Raider Tokens.

New Raider Deck

The release of the new Raider Deck has been slightly delayed, and it will be unlocked on December 26th and will be available to players for free.

The new Raider Deck features a Goalie-themed outfit inspired by old world clothing. It also includes a new raider tool skin, the hockey stick. This Raider Deck is permanent and won't disappear, so you can unlock it at any time. However, it's unconfirmed whether accumulated Raider Deck Points will carry over to the new deck.

Before the new Raider Deck update, this update also includes new portable, playable interactive items, an Acoustic Guitar, a gold-mask-style Mist Horn Set, futuristic Solar Panel Gadgets, and possibly even warming items to protect against the cold.

Snowfall transforms Arc Raiders into a true survival experience, where environmental awareness is just as important as combat skills. Use your tactics and items to adapt to winter warfare. The frozen wastelands of Speranza await your challenge, so Raiders, stay warm and survive!

Almost every game available on multiple platforms is expected by players to offer cross-play functionality, as this means you can more easily play with friends and won't be restricted by device changes.

The demand for cross-play is even stronger for multiplayer online games, such as the recently popular ARC Raiders. Its PvPvE nature and support for two-player/three-player matchmaking highlight the importance and fun of playing with friends.

Fortunately, this game, available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, fully supports cross-play! If you don't know how to enable cross-play, or are unsure whether you should enable it, don't worry, we'll provide you with a helpful guide!

Preparation Before Enabling Cross-Play Feature

First, it's important to note that ARC Raiders does not support cross-platform ownership in most cases. For example, if you want to play the game on both PC and PS5, you must own ARC Raiders on each platform, respectively.

The only exception is Microsoft Store. If you obtain ARC Raiders there, you can unlock both Xbox and PC versions directly.

In addition, you must ensure you have a fixed Embark ID and link that ID to your current device account on the new platform. This will ensure that your existing game account progress and all earned ARC Raiders items are synchronized to the new platform when you log in.

How To Enable Or Disable Cross-Play?

Cross-play is enabled by default when you play ARC Raiders on any platform. So, as soon as you enter the game and start matchmaking, you may encounter players using other devices, and you and your friends can team up without restrictions.

If you haven't added your friends to your friends list yet, you can find and add them by entering their ID in the relevant search box in the game. Then, find them on the list and invite them to team up.

If for various reasons, such as potential imbalances in the combat environment due to different devices, you want to disable cross-play, it's possible. The specific steps are as follows:

• 1. Find the main menu and open the settings menu located in the lower right corner.
• 2. Find and open Gameplay tab.
• 3. Find Online section.
• 4. Find Cross-play option and click to disable it.
• 5. To re-enable it later, simply follow the steps above again.

Pros And Cons Of Cross-Play Functionality

The most obvious benefit of this feature is the significant reduction in matchmaking wait times. For players busy with work or studies, every minute in a game is precious relaxation time.

Furthermore, it not only provides convenience for teaming up with friends but also allows you to more flexibly choose your gaming device according to your needs, without being limited to either a controller or keyboard and mouse.

On the other hand, players using different devices often have certain overall tendencies, such as being more aggressive or more friendly. Cross-play means you might be matched with any type of teammate or enemy, increasing the excitement of the game.

However, because of this, the probability of encountering cheaters will become higher when cross-play is enabled, especially if you are a PS5 or Xbox player, as there are more cheaters on PC.

From an operational experience perspective, both the visual design and controller usage habits of ARC Raiders are more friendly to PC players. Therefore, if your opponents are from PC and you are not, you will inevitably feel a subtle unfairness.

Should You Enable Cross-Play?

Based on our analysis of the pros and cons of this feature, you can decide whether to enable cross-play based on your preferred gaming device and skill level.

If you are a PC player, you can keep this feature enabled by default, because generally speaking, console players are less likely to disrupt the game environment or cheat, and playing with more players of different styles can help improve your skills faster.

If you are a PS5 or Xbox Series X|S player, we recommend that you only enable cross-play when you are very familiar with the mechanics and controls of ARC Raiders, or when you need to team up with friends using different devices.

However, it's important to note that disabling cross-play will inevitably reduce the number of online players, which will increase matchmaking wait times, especially during off-peak hours. Therefore, if you want to avoid this, it's best to always keep this feature enabled.

Will ARC Raiders Be Available On More Platforms?

Considering the multiplayer online PvP elements of ARC Raiders, it is clearly not suitable for handheld devices like Switch, but playing on mobile devices should be feasible, as several shooting game series like PUBG and Call of Duty already have mobile versions.

However, considering that ARC Raiders is a relatively new game, even if there are plans to expand to new platforms, it will likely be a long time before they are implemented. The current focus of the game is still on perfecting its core content.

It's worth noting, however, that compared with many other online multiplayer games that still haven't implemented full cross-play, or whose cross-play features are buggy, ARC Raiders has done a great job from the start.

That's all the information for today. Later today, ARC Raiders will release Cold Snap update, allowing you to play with friends on other devices in new map variations and participate in new events! Stay tuned!