Embark Studios is hosting a free weekend for Arc Raiders from October 8 to 12. The long-awaited PvE test phase will begin immediately afterward.
Embark Studios is making the extraction shooter Arc Raiders free to play for four days. The reason for this is the game’s biggest update to date, called Frozen Trail. The developers have already presented all the new features of the update over the past few days and have now announced how interested players can try out the game with no strings attached.
The free event runs from October 8 through 12. During this time, you can download and play Arc Raiders for free on Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox. Surprisingly, there are no restrictions whatsoever during the trial period: According to Embark, you’ll get “access to the full game.”
This also applies to the new map “Pendola Pass,” which you can theoretically enter right away. However, since you have to unlock the map through in-game progress, it might take a while before you get there. Alternatively, you can simply have friends who have already unlocked Pendola Pass invite you to their squad.
Frozen Trail is considered a groundbreaking milestone for Arc Raiders. This massive update brings a huge new map, numerous new Arc enemies, and fresh weapons and gadgets to the game. In addition, the developers are thoroughly overhauling the metagame for the first time: there are adjustments to ammunition and crafting, as well as a classic Battle Pass.
Although Arc Raiders has long since left the massive rush of the release phase behind, Frozen Trail could be just the right incentive to bring many players back. Since the update overhauls so many core mechanics, Embark likely sees this as the perfect time for newcomers to jump in.
Immediately following the free weekend, a pure PvE test will begin in Arc Raiders. With this, the studio is catering to all those who aren’t interested in battling other players and have been waiting for exactly this since launch. The test runs from October 13 to 20 and simply disables player-versus-player damage—which should make the community, already known for its peacefulness, very happy.
