ARC Raiders Community Thinks Tumbleweeds Are the Scariest Things in the Game, and We Have to Agree
Ah, the Rust Belt, a land of beauty, treasures, and dangers. While many of you raiders are undoubtedly enjoying the little time we have left in the server slam, scavenging for new resources, better loot, and fending off against other raiders and machine creatures called Arc, there is one new unexpected “threat” that has the community in shambles, striking fear in them like no other threat in the game.
What’s that, you ask? What could be worse than the small and giant robotic spiders that leap at you miles away? Or what about the giant Queen machines? What about the literal apartment-sized machine? Well, this threat has no legs, arms, eyes, or any anatomy that resembles either a human or a machine. In fact, it doesn’t even have a conscience as far as we’re aware, but that hasn’t stopped it from causing players to stop immediately in their tracks.
What exactly are we talking about? Why, it’s tumbleweeds, and they’re apparently causing havoc in the ARC Raiders community.
Tumbleweeds Are Striking Fear in ARC Raiders Players
In case you missed it, the ARC Raiders server slam playtest is now live, opening its doors to everyone across all platforms. Things are looking pretty good for the new extraction shooter IP, too, as on Steam alone, the title has already seen over 187K active concurrent players on the first day alone. But we’re not here to talk about statistics. No, instead, we’re here to give a warning to all who have yet to step into the Rust Belt, as a new threat has rolled into this playtest, and I mean that in the literal sense.
I’m talking about tumbleweeds. You laugh now, and the reality of things is that they’re entirely harmless. Well, at least physically they are, as they can’t cause any bodily harm. But mentally? Yeah, they’re causing quite the commotion within the community, and having witnessed one for myself during the server slam, I can understand why.
We can all agree that this is scarier than ARC and Raiders
byu/thegabguy inArcRaiders
You might be wondering why balls of debris have become such a big topic over on the game’s subreddit, but let me tell you, with how Embark Studio has turned up the dynamic weather and particles in the environment with this playtest, there is nothing more terrifying than seeing a herd of tumbleweeds coming in hot, thinking they’re other raiders.
I know it’s a silly thing to picture, but given the atmospheric setting of ARC Raiders, the added debris of newspaper and tumbleweeds flying and rolling around has made players even more on their toes. It’s such a small addition to the game, yet already proving to be highly effective, with players believing they are other raiders about to attack them. You realize in the moment that they aren’t, but that doesn’t help that your heart skipped a beat thinking you were just about to get into a heated firefight.
While some may think they’re excessive in their counts, I hope Embark keeps them like this in the final release. It certainly adds to the whole tension of being an extraction shooter and is a reminder that no matter how comfortable you may feel in the world of ARC Raiders, there’s always danger lurking around.
ARC Raiders officially launches on the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on October 30, 2025. For those interested in reading more into the game’s launch, be sure to check out some of our recently published stories for ARC Raiders below.
- ARC Raiders Launch Maps Revealed
- How Progression Wipes Work in ARC Raiders
- ARC Raiders System Requirements for Minimum, Recommended and Epic Detailed
- ARC Raiders PS5 Pro Enhancements and Improvement Revealed
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