ARC Raiders Expands the Rust Belt With Forgotten Relics Event Ahead of October Update

It's getting busier on the way to ARC Raiders' next big new area. Even though Embark Studios has already said that the biggest update will happen in October, the company isn't leaving players hanging in the meantime. With the new Live Update 1.33, the Rust Belt has a lot of new features meant to keep it interesting.

These include collectible treasure hunts, seasonal prizes, better anti-cheat features, and changes to how the game is played. The update is mostly about Forgotten Relics, a one-time event that starts a new plot based on the Nomadic Envoys' arrival in Spiranza. These travelers have been moving through the dangerous landscape of the Rust Belt for years, learning about how the world is changing and how ARC activities are spreading.

They don't want to give that information away, though. Raiders need to earn their trust instead.

Players are being asked to go above ground to get back important supplies, find long-lost artifacts, and make sure travelers can get through dangerous areas safely. It gives players a better goal besides just getting cosmetic rewards by adding a story element to what could have been just another progression event.

There is a merit-based method at the event itself. By playing games and getting experience points, players instantly earn merits that can be used to unlock a variety of rewards. But exploring is the fastest way to move forward. Relics that have been forgotten are now hidden in lockers, boxes, drawers, and other places in the game world that are easy to miss. The merit value of each object depends on how rare it is.

Finding common items gives small benefits, while finding rare ones gives much bigger benefits.

Of course, it's not enough to just find these things. To get the benefits that come with each relic, players must be able to properly extract them without damaging them. When a rare collectible is hidden in a backpack, that familiar stress from an extraction shooter gets even worse.

Whether you keep looking for more loot or go straight to extraction could mean the difference between getting a big reward or coming back empty-handed. Along with Forgotten Relics, Embark has started a bigger project for the community called Converging Paths. The project, which runs from June 16 to July 27, adds to the story of Nomadic Envoys and gets players to work together to reach common goals.

The sources say that raiders will have to find artifacts, gather supplies, and help make sure that safe travel through dangerous parts of the Rust Belt is maintained. As more objectives are achieved, a larger display case with the artifacts found by the community during the event moves forward.

As you move through Converging Paths, you'll unlock different prizes, such as Raider Tokens, cosmetic items, and unique outfit changes. One of the coolest prizes is a red-and-black version of the Salt Walker outfit, which gives loyal players a way to show that they've played.

The Salt Walker set seems to be one of the best things about the update. Inspired by the roughness of the wasteland, the outfit has a lot of customization choices that let players change different parts to get the look they want. At the event, you can make your character even more unique by getting extra cosmetic prizes like charms, emotes, and face paint.

Along with the holiday material, Live Update 1.33 makes a big change to how risk is managed in some activities.

Free loadouts will no longer work for Night Raid and Close Scrutiny tasks, at least for now. Embark is going to try this restriction for three weeks so that risk and reward are better balanced in situations where loot opportunities are known to be higher.

Because of the change, players who want to play in these situations will have to bring their own gear instead of using free gear. In real life, this might make people more careful about what they choose and make fights more intense, especially for players who are ready to risk valuable loadouts to get better rewards.

Along with the new material, there are also a number of bug fixes and improvements to the quality of life.

Problems with aiming weapons that made them less accurate have been fixed, and problems with the environment that made players fall through some parts of the game have also been said to be fixed. Enemies that look like rocketeers will now drop launcher ammunition instead of heavy ammunition, and the sound feedback for extraction systems has been better.

Changes have also been made to the user experience. Timers for map conditions will now show up closer to when they go into effect. This cuts down on clutter while still giving players enough time to get ready for what's coming. Embark is also looking into making changes to the schedule that could make it easier for people in different time zones to receive the service.

One of the most important changes in the update, though, has nothing to do with gaming.

Embark has kept growing its anti-cheat programs, stepping up its fight against exploits that duplicate items and other unfair game play that have made some people angry. The studio admitted that finding criminals and keeping the in-game economy safe is an ongoing process that needs to be improved all the time.

A new notification system has been put in place to make things more clear. Players who report people they think are cheating will now get messages in their inbox letting them know when action has been taken.

There are two types of these notifications. Action notices let players know when someone they reported has been banned, and loot recovery messages let victims know when items they lost have been found after cheating was proven. It is very important for extraction shooters to keep trusting both progression systems and the fair play of others. Small changes in these areas can have a big effect on a player's confidence.

Even though Live Update 1.33 adds enough content to keep raiders busy for a few weeks, Embark has made it clear that October is still the studio's main focus.

The development teams are working on what is being called the biggest update to ARC Raiders so far. It is said that a new map, longer progression paths, more quests, testing of new weapons, and other big features are all in the works. The plan seems simple: smaller live updates give players reasons to come back often, while bigger expansions bring the game's future experiences that will change everything.

Right now, Forgotten Relics gives players a reason to get their gear back out and go back to the Rust Belt. Hidden treasures, seasonal rewards, evolving projects, and ongoing improvements ensure there is still plenty happening before October arrives.

What these smaller stories are building up to, though, is the bigger question. Are the Nomadic Envoys simply passing through Spiranza, or are they the first sign that something much larger is waiting just beyond the horizon? With ARC Raiders steadily marching toward its most ambitious update yet, players may not have to wait long to find out.