ARC Raiders Carry Run

Remember the rumors circulating widely within the community a few days ago that Frozen Trail would be the next update for ARC Raiders? Regardless of how that information was leaked, it turns out that some of those details were indeed accurate!

Just yesterday, ARC Raiders development team finally released a new announcement revealing their update plans for the second half of 2026. This announcement officially confirmed Frozen Trail as the next major update, alongside a host of other significant changes.

If you plan to continue playing ARC Raiders over the coming months, we highly recommend taking a close look at our breakdown and analysis of the new roadmap to help you prepare for the changes and challenges that lie ahead.

Changes to update frequency

Since its launch last October, ARC Raiders has consistently released a new update almost every month. While the scope of each individual update has varied, the release frequency itself has remained remarkably steady.

However, this pattern is set to conclude with Riven Tides update. Moving forward, ARC Raiders will adopt a new strategy: releasing two major updates per year.

One reason for this shift is that the pace of monthly updates placed significant pressure on the development team, making it difficult to consistently guarantee high-quality content.

Furthermore, smaller-scale updates were insufficient to support the kind of deep, comprehensive exploration and expansion the game requires to evolve as a whole.

Of course, to ensure you don't get bored during the intervals between major releases, the team will continue to release patches, new store items, and special events at their current, steady pace.

More importantly, the two major updates released each year going forward will offer significantly greater depth and richness of content. Perhaps in time, you may even have the opportunity to uncover the truth behind ARC invasion of Earth.

Frozen Trail will arrive in October

Due to the shift in update frequency, the next confirmed update, Frozen Trail, will not launch until this coming October, marking a six-month interval since the current Riven Tides update. Subsequent updates are expected to arrive next year.

Interestingly, the title Frozen Trail matches the name found in the previously leaked documents; this suggests that the other information contained within those documents may also be highly credible.

The newly released roadmap indicates that Frozen Trail will introduce a new map, new ARC enemy types, new ways to upgrade your Raiders, various new item categories, and a complete reset of the skill tree.

More specifically, the new map promises to be unprecedented in scale, offering a unique environmental landscape, one unlike anything currently found in any of the game's other maps.

According to leaked information, the new map features a snowy, frozen setting and contains multiple POIs with highly intricate interior layouts, offering significant value for looting.

As for the new ARC content, it involves more than just an update to enemy types; more importantly, these new adversaries will appear with visual designs and behavioral patterns entirely distinct from existing enemies, forcing you to devise brand-new strategies to survive your raids.

Combining these two elements, it is expected that Frozen Trail update will offer you the opportunity to explore the mystery behind the origins of the ARC enemies, knowledge that may prove invaluable in your quest to help all of humanity return to the surface!

Tackling new enemies and exploring a new map will inevitably require new gear; consequently, the introduction of these new items signifies an expansion of the existing blueprint system.

Upon the update's release, you will be able to utilize new character progression methods to more efficiently scavenge for additional ARC Raiders blueprints within the new map, thereby allowing you to craft the new gear needed to counter the new enemies.

Introduction of a new trader

Unlike Frozen Trail, the new trader is scheduled to arrive as early as next week. Although their name has not yet been revealed, it is confirmed that they will become accessible once you reach Level 25.

The vendors currently available in the game offer only relatively standard trading options; however, this new Trader will not only sell more unique gear and cosmetic items but will also offer a weekly rotation of special rewards.

While acquiring these rewards may require you to consume more coins or rare materials, this very requirement serves to provide you with greater motivation to explore the endgame content, rather than simply engaging in the tedious grind of repetitive, low-difficulty combat.

Furthermore, this new trader offers access to two new perks: additional storage space and Expedition Vault feature.

The former is self-explanatory; the latter, however, serves a specific function: it allows you to carry up to five items with you into an expedition, designating them as your starting reserve supplies for the run, meaning you no longer have to start completely from scratch, as was previously the case.

As one of the core mechanics of ARC Raiders, Expedition has historically suffered from lower player engagement, largely because, for casual players, the prospect of having all their hard-earned loot wiped clean in an instant felt like a frustratingly steep penalty.

However, with the introduction of Expedition Vault, you can now preserve high-tier weapons or blueprints acquired during a previous run, thereby enabling you to get off to a much faster start in your next session.

It remains to be seen whether this feature will fundamentally alter the original design philosophy behind Expedition system; nevertheless, implementing changes of this nature was undoubtedly a necessary step.

Further macro-level changes

Overall, ARC Raiders has implemented the aforementioned plans to free up more time in the future to address overarching issues, such as simultaneously deepening existing features and ensuring that both combat and narrative elements are effectively advanced.

Furthermore, the development team will now have the bandwidth to focus on and finally resolve the long-standing and heavily criticized issues regarding frequent bugs and cheating, thereby ensuring a fairer and more stable gaming environment for you in the future.

How do players feel about these changes?

While the new changes and content are certainly exciting, some players feel that the update frequency, limited to just two major releases, is a bit too low. After all, ARC Raiders is a live-service game; surely there is no need to bundle all new content into a single massive update.

However, to be honest, if they were to release the content piecemeal, wouldn't that essentially amount to no change compared to the current status quo?

Therefore, you should place your trust in ARC Raiders, or, at the very least, wait until Frozen Trail is released before passing judgment.

That wraps up everything we have to share with you this time around. If you are interested in Frozen Trail, be sure to check out our previous coverage regarding the leaked content! We wish you the very best in Speranza!

Raiders, ARC Raiders shop has new skins and emotes again, and update 1.28.0 is quite substantial. In this update, they also addressed the issue of some players losing skill points after completing expeditions. Is there anything that interests you? Let's take a look.

New Skin Set

Castaway skin set has just been released, featuring a new overalls and jacket design, along with a glowing mask. The details are incredibly rich and are sure to be loved by many players.

The set originally cost 2100 tokens, but is currently discounted to 1600 tokens. If you only unlock the skin itself, which includes three color variations, it's only 1300 tokens.

The highlight of Castaway set is its extremely high degree of customization. Players can remove the glowing mask, hat, gloves, jacket, overalls, front net, and ropes one by one. Each layer of removal reveals a more basic design, ultimately leaving only the standard body.

While ARC Raiders doesn't yet support free mixing and matching of different skin parts, this layered design already demonstrates the development team's dedication to skin storytelling and personalization.

Emoticons & Whaler Tools

In addition to Castaway skin, the store has updated with two new sets of content.

The first is an emoticon pack, priced at 800 tokens, including three actions: horns, right on, and flirty greeting. This adds another layer of fun for quirky players. Overall, this emoticon set is decent.

The second is Whaler set, featuring a small whale hanging from the end of the main weapon, along with buoy and anchor decorations, and even a fish basket on the back. The entire set costs 800 tokens.

If you only want the weapon decorations themselves, you can unlock Whaler tools separately, as the extra basket and anchor decorations are not very useful, and you can save the 200 tokens. This design is relatively understated but very cool, with excellent attention to detail.

Skill Point Loss Issue

According to the official announcement, the skill point loss issue has not been fully resolved.

The announcement first confirmed that the third expedition has begun, and the third and final update for Patchwork Raider outfit has been released, available to all players who embarked on the expedition with the caravan.

Hopefully, this will be the last update for this expedition. The game needs to allow new players to participate from scratch, rather than being perpetually left behind.

The announcement then acknowledged that some players experienced missing skill points after the expedition. The official statement said that the issue has been located and resolved, but it will take several days to track all affected accounts and gradually reissue skill points.

Skill points directly affect skill upgrade progress, and one of the main attractions of the expedition mode is obtaining valuable ARC Raiders blueprints, stash space, and skill points. This bug is significantly affecting the player experience.

Praying that the developers can restore normal gameplay for all players who lost skill points as soon as possible.

Other Issues Besides Skill Points

ARC Damage Bug

In addition to the skill point issue, some players have reported online that there is also a bug causing ARC damage to reset. Before the expedition, players' damage dealt to ARC inexplicably dropped to zero. Players wanted to know if this bug was being addressed.

Fortunately, an official representative replied in the comments that it had been forwarded to the technical team for investigation.

While not many people encountered this bug, it's truly bizarre and incredibly frustrating for players. If you experience similar bug issues, remember to leave a comment online, as the development team does read game reviews.

Missing Quest Experience Points

A pressing question in the game is why completing quests doesn't grant experience points. This discourages players from actively pursuing quests in expedition mode; they only do them when they come across them, never intentionally grinding for them.

Because there's no experience reward regardless of whether a quest is completed or not, what's the point of the quest system? Is the current quest system essentially useless?

Especially in Expedition mode, players desperately need extra experience points to progress. We hope ARC Raiders development team can add appropriate experience point rewards to missions as soon as possible, which would also be a good way to incentivize players to complete more missions.

Current Player Experience

Aside from the loss of skill points, player feedback indicates an overall improvement in the game experience.

With the launch of the new expedition, the matchmaking system seems to have improved. While a few disruptive players remain, players are generally more cooperative. One player shared a story of running around the map with eight others, clearing it without encountering any disruptive players – a very enjoyable experience.

Even if not everyone experiences this level of matchmaking, it at least gives players a positive sign and restores their confidence in the current game environment.

Furthermore, ARC Raiders' popularity hasn't waned, consistently ranking in the top ten most popular games, remaining healthy and active. Contrary to widespread online claims, ARC Raiders isn't dying.

That concludes the latest update 1.28.0 for ARC Raiders. We hope you unlock your desired skins and have a successful expedition!