I managed to spend two hours with Frozen Trail ahead of launch, and I’ll admit I didn’t expect to get my hands on it before Thursday 8 October. ARC Raiders’ big update brings a new snowbound map, Pendola Pass, a grappling hook that changes how you get around, and an extraction system that’s far more nerve-racking than before. In terms of sheer quality, Embark Studios has done a very good job, and you feel it from your very first run. The question that nags at me is what comes next, and whether there’ll be enough to do until the following major update lands.
At a glance
Frozen Trail launches on Thursday 8 October, and I got two hours with it before release.
Pendola Pass, the grappling hook, wall-running and extraction pods genuinely change the way ARC Raiders plays.
The Frigate, billed as the endgame content, will have to carry the update’s long-term appeal.
Pendola Pass is the heart of Frozen Trail
Pendola Pass sits at the centre of Frozen Trail, and it’s a map with real character. It’s a snowy mountain area with a huge amount of verticality, several clearly distinct locations and a very strong visual identity. In Embark Studios’ official Frozen Trail content preview, the studio describes it as an old Italian village that once served as a transport hub for Exodus, and you can tell the moment you drop in.
You’ll find an abandoned village, a town square, a supermarket, an observatory, industrial sites and a train depot. Plenty of these places can be explored inside, and the map hides quite a few secret areas. It’s a map that rewards curiosity, which is the first thing you want from an extraction shooter.
Above the village lies the Emperor, a colossal ARC carcass that you can explore once you’ve found the keys you need. Its insides stayed out of reach during my two hours, so whatever is waiting in there remains a mystery to me. It’s probably the most intriguing spot on the map, and it’s the one I’m most eager to see for myself.
Localised snowstorms are another addition that shakes up old habits. When one rolls in, you have to find shelter quickly, or the cold slowly chips away at your health. That means keeping an eye on the sky as well as on the machines and other players, and the weather suddenly carries real weight in your decisions.
Grappling hook and wall-running take ARC Raiders upwards
Frozen Trail leans hard into that verticality with its new traversal tools, starting with the grappling hook. It lets you climb, swing, abseil down and reach spots that used to be very hard to get to. On a map as tall as Pendola Pass, the grappling hook really comes into its own.
What made me laugh most were the situations it creates without anyone planning them. The hook and the new gadgets interact with other players, with the machines and with the environment, which opens up some genuinely funny ways to move around and rescue people. They’re exactly the kind of moments you end up telling your mates about after the match.
The skill tree rework follows the same thread, with more mobility across the board. One of the new abilities lets you run along walls for a few moments to reach higher ground, which opens up fresh routes across the map. Put the hook and these skills together and moving around in Frozen Trail feels far freer than before.
Extraction pods, the Bantam and Amplified weapons
The biggest change comes when it’s time to leave. Fixed extraction points make way for pods that you have to call in from certain computers dotted around the map. As a result, the tension ramps up during the evacuation, which is exactly when it matters most in an extraction shooter.
As for weapons, Frozen Trail adds two new ones that left me with very different impressions. The Bantam, the new revolver, mostly won me over: it feels better in the hand and packs more punch. I liked the Stiletto a lot less, because shooting it lacks any real feedback.
Honestly, Amplified weapons are the most interesting addition in Frozen Trail for me. Some weapons can take variants with extended magazines, incendiary rounds or other modifications, which can give them a second life. Embark Studios says 15 weapons support the system at launch. A gun gathering dust at the bottom of your stash can become worth carrying again, and that’s an excellent idea.
New machines and an Outpost that plays it too safe
The new machines bring fresh kinds of threat. Two of them stuck with me: a massive, very aggressive enemy, and a more agile one that’s able to catch you off guard. With them around, fights get noticeably more dangerous. To put names to them, Embark Studios presents the Bully as an aggressive beast that gallops towards you, and the Skulker as a machine that lurks at the edge of your vision.
The Outpost left me rather cold. It unlocks a customisable base with workbenches and cosmetic items, but for now it mostly feels like yet another menu. I was hoping for a lively place you’d want to hang around in, and what Frozen Trail delivers is mostly one more screen to manage.
The Frigate, and how long Frozen Trail can last
Embark Studios presents the Frigate as the update’s real endgame content. Players will have to board this enormous ARC vessel, explore it, fight machines and possibly run into other players, in a mix of PvE, PvP, exploration and loot. On paper, it’s exactly the sort of goal the most dedicated players have been missing.
That’s also where my main doubt creeps in. The map is a success and the new features are well made, yet the content I got to play felt too thin to hold my interest for six months. If ARC Raiders’ major updates keep arriving at that pace, Frozen Trail will have to last all that time. The update’s staying power therefore rests on the Frigate.
Player tension is what ARC Raiders still lacks
For me, the most critical point goes to the very heart of the extraction genre. Its whole thrill comes from the unknown: you never know whether the player you bump into is going to open fire or let you pass.
During my matches, though, the matchmaking felt too geared towards peaceful players. When you keep meeting people who avoid a fight, you lose a big chunk of the tension that defines ARC Raiders. Unpredictable encounters become rarer, and with them goes some of the fear that makes each run memorable.
Embark Studios is also trialling a PvP-free mode from 13 to 20 October, which answers a request from part of the player base. I understand the thinking. For those who love the dread of a chance encounter, though, Frozen Trail has yet to settle the matter.
Reward Pass, fixes and a PvE mode since Frozen Trail launched
Frozen Trail also swaps ARC Raiders’ seasonal progression for a Reward Pass with three tracks, Free, Premium and Legacy. Embark puts token rewards at between 200 and 2,400 depending on the track, and GamesRadar reported a price of 1,150 Raider Tokens for the paid track’s 60 levels, a figure the studio hasn’t confirmed. The previous system was entirely free, and the change has rattled part of the player base.
Since 8 October, Embark has released three fixes, set out in the patch notes posted on Steam. The 9 October hotfix sorts out weapons turning partly invisible with attachments, server crashes and a grate on Pendola Pass that players got stuck under. Update 2.1 on 13 October makes Frigate hatches burn when they open, and hotfix 2.1.1 on 16 October closes off ways into locked rooms and several item duplication tricks.
Above all, 2.1 kicks off a PvE mode test running from 13 to 20 October. On those servers players can’t damage each other, loot is worth less, and several map conditions, the Frigate included, stay in the standard mode. Embark will decide after the test whether the option becomes permanent, based on player feedback and in-game data.
On Steam, ARC Raiders showed 426,679 reviews on 17 October, 348,709 of them positive, which works out at 82% and a “Very Positive” rating.
My verdict on Frozen Trail
Frozen Trail is a very good update in terms of quality. Pendola Pass is a superb map, the grappling hook and wall-running make movement far freer, and Amplified weapons make you want to dig old guns out of your stash. Its future will depend above all on the Frigate and on ARC Raiders’ ability to bring back the tension of its player encounters. We’ll find out from Thursday, the same day the game’s free trial kicks off.
| What we like | What we like a lot less |
|---|---|
| Pendola Pass, a superb mountain map full of verticality, interiors and secret areas | The Stiletto, which lacks feedback when you fire it |
| The grappling hook, for climbing, swinging and abseiling, with some very funny unplanned moments | The Outpost, which mostly feels like yet another menu |
| Wall-running and the skill tree rework, which open up new routes | Matchmaking that felt too geared towards peaceful players |
| Extraction pods, which make the evacuation far tenser | |
| Amplified weapons, which give forgotten guns a second life, plus the Bantam, punchy and pleasant to handle | |
| New machines that make fights more dangerous | |
| What might make you buy itPendola Pass and the grappling hook, which genuinely change how ARC Raiders plays | What might put you offContent that looks too thin to last six months, until the Frigate proves itself |
To keep track of what is coming next, check the release calendar.