The Arc Raiders hype may have died down ever-so-slightly since its monumental launch almost a year ago, but it’s still reaching tens of thousands of concurrent players on Steam every day, so developer Embark must be doing something right. The studio says its “biggest update since launch,” titled Frozen Trail, is launching October 8, and it’s celebrating that release with a new free trial running for four days between then and October 12.
On the official Arc Raiders website, Embark says the free trial will be available to all players on Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox, granting “access to the full ARC Raiders game.” That’ll give you the chance to see what all the hullabaloo is about in the game’s core PvPvE extraction mode, and you’ll get to check out Frozen Trail right alongside regular players at launch.
The big highlight of the Frozen Trail update is the new Pendola Pass map, which drops raiders into a snowy, mountainous region of Italy overseen by the shadow of a fallen “Emperor” Arc Robot. The frozen Italian village features an abandoned supermarket and town square with a focus on verticality. Map conditions include a “Flash Freeze” sequence that forces players to seek shelter unexpectedly. Embark says “new players will be able to access Pendola Pass immediately if teamed up with other players who have already unlocked the new map.”
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The update also includes four new enemies; the Frigate, Bully, Skulker, and Hydra; as well as the new “Stiletto” battle rifle and “Bantam” revolver; the grappling hook, Tether Launcher, and Yank Grenade; and two new instruments, the banjo and harmonica.
That’s not all. Frozen Trail also includes a new weapons modification system, a transmog feature for weapons, customizable player bases, skill tree additions, a new handheld camera option, new quests, new trials, and of course, a free and premium battle pass to tie everything together.
