Recent Arc Raiders Steam reviews hit 'mixed' for the first time since launch, and I can see why

At launch, despite some dodgy-sounding AI voice work, Arc Raiders could seemingly do no wrong. Between October 30 and November 6 last year, the extraction shooter garnered over 41,000 positive reviews on Steam, with players lauding the game's community spirit, overall polish, and brilliant visuals. Fast forward to May 2026, and the Steam reviews tell a much different story.

Overwhelmingly positive is a phrase on Steam that lets me know a game has something special. Somehow, it has managed to unify an audience, which, as we know, can be akin to herding cats. Arc Raiders did it, though, and it reaped the rewards. Sales through the roof, goodwill from the player base, it could do no wrong - until it did.

A slow slide in player numbers is almost to be expected, with many putting their time in and moving on to pastures new, but one thing these types of live service multiplayer games can count on is a spike when something big drops. An expansion, new maps, and new game modes - these entice people back, although you better believe that their expectations have changed, and that goodwill might not be as bulletproof as it once was.

The recent Steam reviews sit at mixed, which might set off alarm bells considering how healthy they were only a few months ago. Players are becoming frustrated with the current state of affairs, and so am I, especially with the latest update promising to be a big one.

The Riven Tides update for Arc Raiders was set to be a big deal. It was the end of the current roadmap, and I was expecting it to go off with a bang. A new map and a new Arc threat seemed like more than enough, but both long-time and returning players logged in to find a game they didn't quite enjoy.

The issues stemming from Riven Tides are two-fold: the balancing of the extraction shooter is fairly unsatisfying at the moment, especially weapon degradation, and a lot of players find the new map underwhelming. Although I quite enjoy the new seaside map, I have found that the constant nerfs to weapons and equipment are frustrating at best, and make low-value runs borderline unplayable at worst.

When you use a weapon in Arc Raiders, it degrades slightly. Firing a weapon reduces its durability, and eventually it will break. Repairing your equipment can be done, but it can also be costly - thankfully, this wasn't a huge issue before Riven Tides. Now, however, low-level weapons degrade much faster, and those weapons you find in the wild spawn at super low levels of durability.

Not being able to use my new toys when I find them is frustrating, and the near-constant resource sink of keeping my weapons in decent shape is a level of faff I don't want to contend with - at least on this level. These are barriers that keep me from engaging with the actual game, and while I don't mind lying low occasionally, there are times when I avoid conflict when I would rather fight, all due to weapon durability.

The patch notes from today address the "constructive feedback" given to the team after the latest update. The notes state that the team is "already exploring balancing adjustments to improve upon the changes introduced with Riven Tides." Here's hoping that Arc Raiders can gain some of that goodwill back, and I can start using my guns again.