Everything turned upside down overnight. Embark Studios threw a teaser at X — and the ARC Raiders action shooter community exploded with discussions. The release date of the major Cold Snap patch has been officially confirmed: December 16, 2025. The winter update will bring more than just cosmetic changes — the developers are preparing the first full-fledged expedition with a voluntary character’s vape, dynamic weather and a limited Flickering Flames event. No one expected the studio to make such drastic changes right now.
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Weather in ARC Raiders: how snowfall and blizzard change tactics of raiders in Cold Snap
The central innovation of Cold Snap is a weather system that really works. The snowfall in ARC Raiders is not a backdrop. The blizzard hits the visibility of the players, cuts the viewing range to a minimum and forces them to reconsider the tactics of the raiders’ movement. Physics has changed: slippery surfaces, slow running, and new evacuation risks.
According to the Embark Studios roadmap published earlier, the snowy state of the maps will add a “new level of difficulty.” In practice, this means that the usual routes no longer work. Enemies lose you in a white veil, but you also lose your allies. One wrong step, and instead of a successful extraction, you get shot in the back by an invisible opponent.
Flickering Flames: An event not to be missed
In parallel with the weather disasters, the studio launches a temporary event called Flickering Flames. It sounds complex, especially against the background of a cold front that has covered the game world. But this romantic name hides a series of additional tasks of increased complexity.
What will the participants get? A new cosmetic set for raiders, an exclusive deck (Raider deck) and access to unique rewards. The event is limited in time — the exact dates have not yet been disclosed, but logic dictates that the departure window will open immediately after the release of the patch on December 16 and will last a maximum of two to three weeks. If you miss it, you’ll have to wait for the next seasonal race.
The first expedition to ARC Raiders: voluntary wipe and seasonal race for exclusive rewards
And then the fun begins. Cold Snap introduces a fundamentally new mode in ARC Raiders — “Expedition”. This is not just another playlist. This is the developers’ first attempt to build long-term motivation through seasonal challenges.
The mechanics work like this: the player can voluntarily reset the character’s progress (voluntary wipe) and start the expedition from scratch. What for? As a result, you can access exclusive rewards that cannot be obtained in the normal mode. In fact, Embark Studios offers to risk everything for the chance to take something that no one else has.
The reset is voluntary. No one forces you to. But those who decide will have the opportunity to compete in the seasonal race with other daredevils. Whoever is faster, more efficient, smarter will take the top awards. This is a classic approach for extraction shooters, which has already proven effective in other projects of the genre.
What else will be included in the winter patch?
In addition to the above, the update includes:
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New combat pass with cosmetics in winter style
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Balancing edits for the changed physics
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Performance optimization (especially relevant for owners of the PS5 and Xbox Series)
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Fixing bugs that have accumulated since early access
The studio is still silent in detail. The full list of changes will traditionally appear a day or two before the release, or immediately on the day the patch is released. Embark likes to keep the intrigue to the last.
Plans for 2026: silence or surprise?
It is still unclear if we will receive additional information about Cold Snap before December 16. Moreover, the studio has not commented on plans for 2026. Not a word about the next updates, not a hint of new content. This is either a strategic pause or a sign that the team is fully focused on the current release.
Meanwhile, the ARC Raiders community continues to grow. According to Google Trends, the game holds the position of the most popular in 2025 among extraction shooters. With all this, a recent study has shown a curious fact: in terms of toxicity, ARC Raiders players have surpassed even the legendary Dota 2 community. A paradox is a fact.
When will we see Cold Snap in action?
Exactly one week left. December 16 is Monday, which coincides with the traditional release day of the new release at Embark Studios. The patch is expected to be available simultaneously on all platforms: PC, PS5 and Xbox Series. The release time usually falls at 18:00-19:00 Moscow time, although there is no official confirmation yet.
Practice will show how Embark will cope with the first major content delivery. The studio is known for ambitious projects, but also for scandals around balance. The winter update will be a test: are the developers ready to keep the game up to date, or is Cold Snap a one—time promotion with no continuation?
One thing is for sure: snow in ARC Raiders is not just a visual effect. This is a new reality in which all raiders, without exception, will have to survive.
What is ARC Raiders: Extraction, Robots and co-op for Unreal Engine 5
New faces are appearing in the game every day, rising online and hearing the name for the first time, so we have prepared a brief overview for our audience for clarity in the shooter. ARC Raiders from Embark Studios is a PvPvE third—person shooter where humanity is driven underground by hostile machines of unknown origin. The action takes place in the year 2180 on the territory of post-apocalyptic Italy, in a region called the Rust Belt. The survivors settled in Speranza— an underground city consisting of autonomous regions.
The mechanics of the game are built around extraction: a team of up to three players (or solo) goes to the surface for 30 minutes, collects loot, completes tasks and tries to return alive through evacuation elevators, metro stations or air shafts. Lost — lost everything except the contents of a secure pocket. Since its release on October 30, 2025, the game has attracted over 400,000 simultaneous players on Steam and sold over 4 million copies by November 11.
The originality of ARC Raiders lies in the balance between co—op and distrust. Having met another raider, you can either help each other cope with robots, or shoot each other in the back for the sake of someone else’s loot. The matchmaking system tries to match solo players with solo players, and teams with teams, but no one gives guarantees of a fair fight.
The enemies in the game are ten types of ARC mechanisms. From small Ticks (dog—sized spiders hiding in ceilings) to flying Snitch scouts calling for reinforcements, and huge bosses like Queen, a machine the size of a high-rise building. Each robot requires its own tactics: some need to be bypassed, others need to be hit at weak points with grenades, and others are easier to ignore.
The progression includes crafting, workshop upgrades in the base, and a skill tree. The trash collected on the surface is transformed into weapons and gadgets through a blueprint system. The sound design is not a decoration here — every shot, breaking into a container, or even running on concrete is audible for tens of meters and attracts both robots and other players. Critics point out that the audio in ARC Raiders is one of the best examples of tactical sound in the genre.
Visually, the game is made in the style of cassette futurism on Unreal Engine 5: rusty technology of the 80s, combined with futuristic hardware of the 22nd century. Four maps at the start (Dam Battlegrounds, Buried City, Spaceport, Blue Gate) plus the fifth — Stella Montis — appeared in November. Dynamic conditions like night raids or storms change the gameplay of each approach.
