The new Arc Raiders 2.0 update has triggered a seven-month high for its concurrent player count on Steam as fans show up for its “Spider-Man” grappling hook, a new map, a free weekend, and more.
Embark’s once-viral extraction experience has had a rough few months. As the studio slowed down updates and vowed to rework its divisive Expedition prestige system, Arc Raiders players have largely left it behind, hoping to one day return to Speranza should more enticing updates arrive.
After reaching an all-time peak of nearly 500,000 players on Steam (via SteamDB), it’s consistently struggled to reach more than 35,000 players on PC since July. It was a fall from grace that’s left fans missing the honeymoon phase, but the Frozen Trail update, which launched two days ago, October 8, across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, has almost immediately brought back some of that hype.
In September, Arc Raiders reached a player count low of just 10,000 on Steam. As of the publication of this story, 166,670 people are logged onto Arc Raiders on the PC platform alone, and it looks like it could keep climbing. It’s a number Embark hasn’t hit since early April, and although it’s too soon to tell if these are the kind of results needed to give it a proper second wind, it does mark the first time the game has achieved a notable spike since December 2025.
It’s all thanks to Frozen Trail and the free weekend that helped usher it in. The update, which brought the first substantial changes Arc Raiders has received since Riven Tides in April, introduced a collection of game-changing content. Its crown jewel is Pendola Pass, a snowy mountainous region located beyond Raiders’ usual home in the Rust Belt. New buildings to loot and shoot through would surely be enough to bring fans back, but it’s really just the tip of the iceberg.
New Arc threats like the Bully, Skulker, and Hydra have shaken up combat encounters. The Tether Launcher, which can tie enemies to objects against their will, and the Grappling Hook have given players new tools to experiment with. That aforementioned free weekend, meanwhile, which runs from October 8 – 12, has allowed even newcomers to check out how Embark has changed Arc Raiders for the better. Individually, these are updates that would pique the interest of even the most casual fan, but the only reason so many are installing the game again is because of how these tweaks add new toys to the sandbox.
“I was not a believer,” one popular post on Reddit said. “This is one of the best updates ever in a video game.”
The same post continued, first praising Frozen Trail’s scale. They admitted to being a lapsed Arc Raiders fan, explaining that the mix of Embark’s new elements not only got them to return but also has them looking forward to what’s next.
“I absolutely loved Arc Raiders for its first 6 months but I got frustrated with it since they announced the twice a year update,” they said. “I quit playing, said that these devs don’t know what they’re doing, they fumbled, etc. I know it probably won’t reach the popularity and number of players it had in December but that doesn’t matter to me, what matters to me is that I was flat out wrong about these devs and their ability to update the game. What they did here is special and I just wanted to come out and admit I was wrong and give them their flowers. I’m now extremely excited for the future of this game.”
While not everyone is willing to go as far as to call it an all-time great video game update, it’s hard to find anyone being too critical of what Embark had to offer. Pendola Pass’ size seems to be an especially notable bright spot, with others mentioning the new UFO-style Arc ship known as the Frigate as another big highlight.
The FRIGATE in ARC Raiders is enormous! How are we supposed to fight this thing? 😭
📽️ u/cybrsloth92 https://t.co/w2HHvCDEkK
“Just played an hour before work, and I couldn’t even explore more than 15% of the map,” one player said. “There were so many things to check out and explore, this time they really delivered a big map!”
“I agree, not to mention the new weapons, skills, weapons mods, it’s hard to believe they did all this in less than 6 months. Frigate is so damn cool,” another said.
With such a drastic and sudden increase in attention, more highlight reels have started to find their way back to social media, too. New tools like the Grappling Hook come with obvious opportunities for shareable clips, as it allows Raiders to attach to everything from steep cliffs to flying Arc. Others can’t help but draw comparisons to how the toy allows players to swing through maps like “Spider-Man.”
“I was going to get that,” one fan said, referring to a new wall-running skill, “but then I remembered grappling hooks exist now. It’s sooo much more fun to swing around like Spider-Man and then run around at 100mph with no stamina usage.”
There’s also the new Advanced Camera. It works exactly how you’d expect, giving players the tech to capture memories, all with the click of a button. Considering Arc Raiders has thrived on the comedy presented by its in-game systems, a camera has really only given that chaos another chance to shine.
ARC RAIDERS LETS YOU SWING LIKE SPIDER-MAN WITH THE NEW GRAPPLE HOOK!
🎥MisterMediocre https://t.co/XM22wmv5RZ
Bullying a Rocketeer in ARC Raiders using the new grappling hook 😂
📽️ u/BranandWiller https://t.co/q8Q0AYUSzm
THIS IS WHY ARC RAIDERS’ NEW CAMERA FEELS SO GOOD
🎥JojoBobaguard https://t.co/5xvYzcdVfN
IGN gave Arc Raiders a 9/10 review when it arrived almost exactly one year ago, saying, “With polished gunplay and an irresistible grind, Arc Raiders sets a new standard for extraction shooters.” Even if Embark can’t entertain a consistently high number of players, it’s clear the studio has more plans for the IP in the future. Both it and the studio’s game-show-inspired FPS, The Finals, are set to receive TV show and movie adaptations at some point in the future.
Frozen Trail brought more new content to Arc Raiders than we could list. You can see the full patch notes below.
Arc Raiders Frozen Trail Update 2.0 Patch Notes
Raiders!
The cold has arrived, and it’s brought a lot with it. Frozen Trail is our biggest update since launch, packed with new features, fresh challenges, and a long list of fixes and improvements.
We’ve been working on this one for a while, and we couldn’t be more excited to finally put it in your hands. Whether you’re here for the new content or just want to know what we’ve fixed, there’s something for everyone. Grab something warm, settle in, and read on for the full breakdown.
Thank you for playing, for reporting bugs, and for sticking with us.
New Map – Pendola Pass
New Map Conditions – Frigate & Redirection
New Enemies – Bully, Skulker, Hydra
New Weapons – Bantam & Stiletto
Amplified Weapons
Revamped Skill Tree
New Items – Grappling Hook, Basic & Advanced Cameras, Tether Launcher, Yank Grenade, Mountaineer’s Detector, Banjo & Harmonica
The Outpost, including a new Research Bench
Lootable “Design” items that unlock craftable Outpost furniture
Quest System improvements, 22 new quests added
New Reward Pass system
Updated default gamepad mapping
Reworked Map Selection screen, including visual and usability improvements
Collector DLC is available now
Max Stash Size increased by 2 new levels (328 Max without Expedition bonuses)
The Raider Skill Tree
Changes to the Raider Skill Tree include new skills and improvements to existing skills, enabling players to better embellish their playstyle with more impactful skill choices.
We’ve heard the comments (and seen in the data) that the Skill Tree was not living up to its role in offering sufficiently interesting ways of building your character to better define and refine your playstyle. The goal of the Skill Tree revamp is twofold: to look at under-performing skills, modify or replace them, and to get closer to the goal of making choice and expression a more core feature of the Skill Tree.
Alongside some new skills and a reshuffling of the layout, new functionality has been added to replace the previous ‘large’ nodes at the middle and end of the branches. Now, for the middle of each branch, instead of having two selectable skills and two ‘paths’, there is one path where the node is a binary choice between two skills. You can only choose one; you will be able to make the choice again when you reset
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