I'm not usually a big fan of PvPvE extraction shooters, but Arc Raiders still got me hooked. The start is chaotic: you begin with nothing, every sound of a rare item hits your adrenaline like a punch, and every encounter feels like "all or nothing". The gameplay itself is strong but whether you leave satisfied or feel like you just wasted 30 minutes depends almost entirely on the community.

Sure, there are those players who say "I'm friendly" and shoot you in the back two seconds later. It's annoying, but you'll find these types in every game. You lose loot, but most of it is quickly replaceable. The longer you play, the better you get at reading whether someone is genuinely peaceful or just seems shady. If someone hesitates for five seconds when asked "Are you friendly?", that's rarely a good sign. In this genre, it's usually better to shoot too early than to get betrayed.

The mix of PvP and PvE is often truly challenging. The ARC AI is aggressive, sometimes unfair, but most of the time it creates tension. Especially when you have to focus entirely on a Rocketeer trying to show you “where the frog curls its hair” as we would say in German and suddenly other players appear, apparently desperate for your autograph, ready to shove their Stitchers straight down your throat. These chaotic moments are exactly what make the matches interesting.

After about 50 hours, though, you notice a lack of fresh content. Eventually, you start questioning what you're even trying to achieve in a round. You have an abundance of materials, money barely matters, and weapons can be crafted anyway. Without a permanent ranking system or progression that isn’t updated just every seven days, longterm motivation fades. Then only events, player encounters or new content give you a reason to start the game.

Arc Raiders has huge potential. Embark is sitting on an oil well but without the right drill, the game will dry faster than they’d like.

!!! SPOILER ALERT !!!
At first, the game seemed a bit suspicious to me. Although I've played almost every major Souls-like game, I hadn't heard much about Sekiro.

The new combat system, the new way of killing enemies, and even the story are absolutely incomparable to conventional Souls-like games. However, I quickly reached the final boss and thought before facing him that the game was actually too easy. I massively underestimated it. The final boss is on a completely different level, incomparable to the rest of the game. I spent nearly 30 hours in the game, and I'm sure I spent 5-7 hours just on Isshin Ashina.

This elevated the game to a whole new level because Mikiri counters and similar tactics weren't as prevalent before this fight. You really have to take the time to understand the mechanics and how to counter, just to have a sliver of hope of getting in a free hit.

Furthermore, the boss fight is absolutely brilliantly designed. The map alone is extremely epic (except for the rocks that just block you and get in the way), and the four phases of the fight keep you constantly on your toes.

At first, I thought I would never be able to do it, but with time and nearly 120 deaths just to Isshin Ashina alone, I think I can say that you can flawless everything except the 2nd phase of Isshin without being a pro player.

Also, the concept of the boss is extremely cool.

You've returned to the story where it all began. Getting Genichiro down is doable and a good warm-up, BUT

Then this old guy crawls out of his corpse, he's on a completely different level. He throws in a couple of unblockable attacks, and he has a cool weapon combat art. If you somehow make it to phase 2, then he pulls a gun out of his ass and a gigantic spear (I don't know where he got that from), and if somehow you manage to survive through all of that, then you're onto phase 3 and he's roasting your face with lightning bolts. You think it's impossible, you've used all your consumables, but believe me, it's possible even without all that stuff.

I know there are different endings with different bosses, and I'm excited to see what comes next and looking forward to more boss fights like this in any games

Interesting concept, brought me a lot of fun as well, but when I told my dad about it, he just said if I keep playing the game, I'll eventually end up on the reality series 'Beautys and the Nerds.'

The game has by far the friendliest community, and if you ever need help, you have no problem finding more players who are ready to join you on your journey immediately.

Recommended, but be aware that you need to bring a lot of time and patience. I've played almost 450 hours and still haven't reached the Endwalker DLC, and I'm exclusively doing the main story.

I never quite found the fun in BO3 multiplayer, which is why I was drawn to the Zombies side of the game.

It's hard to believe that I got to play the game on console at release, and every time I think about it, I get a nostalgic rush remembering how much fun my friends and I had in the evenings when 'Der Eisendrache' came out fresh, exploring the map piece by piece and discovering one of the Easter eggs for the bows.

Furthermore, it's probably the only Black Ops game with a workshop, which enhances the gaming experience on PC by 300%.

For those who haven't done it, you need to catch up on the game, even though nowadays it's essentially become a single-player experience.

To those who have experienced the same as me, guys, we're getting old. The game came out almost 10 years ago.