Arc Raiders leans more heavily into survival games in new Cold Snap update, with frostbite being a new threat to your loot

As if I needed any more excuses to play Arc Raiders, Embark Studios is giving me several more with Cold Snap. While it's common to see winter-themed updates arrive in many of the best multiplayer games this time of year, they're often limited to cosmetic makeovers of maps and some Christmassy cosmetics. Sure, that also applies to Cold Snap, but the snow-covered landscapes aren't just for show - they bring a punishing new mechanic to Arc Raiders. While other players and deadly Arc robots remain big threats, you've now got a third one to deal with: frostbite.

I do enjoy temperature-based mechanics in games, especially when it comes to fending off the cold - it often results in some makeshift, cozy solutions that Outdoor Boys would be proud of. Some of the best survival games (the likes of The Long Dark and newcomer Prologue spring to mind) force you to find shelter or acquire toastier clothing if you want to withstand plummeting temperatures and fierce blizzards. Other games have more novel solutions, like chomping on a spicy pepper in Breath of the Wild, or keeping a fiery companion close in Palworld. Now, it's Arc Raiders' turn.

The Cold Snap update will result in heavy snowfall on four of its five maps - Dam Battlegrounds, Blue Gate, Buried City, and Spaceport - and being outside for prolonged periods will see you accrue a negative stat condition called frostbite. This will slowly drain your health bar, so you'll either need to pack extra meds to counteract it, or make sure you regularly find shelter. It also means that in moments like waiting for an extraction, where you are typically loitering around outside waiting to make your escape, you'll have to think even more strategically.

Two new limited-time reward tracks open up as well. First, the Flickering Flames Event will test your endurance, patience, and survival skills. You can unlock rewards such as new gear, cosmetics, and Raider Tokens by earning Merits, "which are automatically gained from XP in rounds," according to Embark. Elsewhere, the Candleberry Banquet Project will require you to loot new, event-specific items during runs and cash them in across five separate stages. On completing a stage, "a new scene on the banquet table" will be revealed, offering rewards like cosmetic items, Raider Tokens, and Merits for Flickering Flames.

The arrival of Cold Snap also gives the game's most die-hard players a chance to wipe and earn new bonuses as part of the first Expedition Project. If you've contributed all the required items and resources to the Project, you'll have a window of a few days to choose whether you'd like to wipe your account to start afresh, but you will be rewarded with some temporary buffs and permanent unlocks, ranging from unique cosmetics to extra stash slots.

Arc Raiders' Cold Snap update begins on Tuesday, December 16 at 1:30am PST / 4:30am EST / 9:30am GMT / 10:30am CEST until Tuesday, January 13.

Alongside the content mentioned above, the game's first new Raider Deck will also be added on Friday, December 26. With an ice hockey theme, it lets all players earn rewards such as cosmetics, item bundles, emotes, and Raider Tokens, and has no expiry date just like the first Deck.

I really can't wait to dive into a snowy Spaceport and a blizzard-battered Blue Gate, and the fact we've got a new mechanic to shake up gameplay is an excellent bonus. While I'm not ready to wipe this time around, godspeed to all you grinders who are going to be resetting - it'll be nice not to get deleted by your Bobcats for a few days at least.