There's a "new Arc threat" due this month, according to the Arc Raiders roadmap, and players believe we've already had our first glimpse of it. A teaser for the Shrouded Sky update, arriving in just a few days, was posted yesterday and there's something suspicious lurking in the background.
At the nine-second mark of the video, below, you can see a light hidden behind some grass and a broken-down car. Changing from yellow to red, the incandescent oddity moves around, as if like a small robotic creature scoping out the area ahead.
There's real emphasis on it, since the camera doesn't cut for several seconds. Besides whatever this is, we don't get much else - the narration's an attempted phone call where the other side doesn't pick up during what looks like a horrendous storm (one that shrouds the sky, would you believe?).
People believe they're picking up what Embark's putting down, and the theories are gathering steam. "The way the light moves makes me think it’s gonna be a fast Arc," says one comment on Reddit. "Like how the rocketeer moves in the sky but this one's on the ground."
So far, the characteristics are: land-based and quick, smooth movement. Those are relatively vague, but there's only five seconds or so to go by. "My first thought was a snake. I mean the movement is snake-wise in my opinion," another commenter adds.
"If it’s a Boston Dynamics dog Arc then I’m soooo stoked!" states a third Redditor. That's my favorite theory thus far, as it'd be a fun design reference, and lowkey terrifying, because that headless metal mutt is already scary to look at.
The Black Mirror episode 'Metalhead' is where my mind immediately jumped to, where people are relentlessly hunted by small dog-like robots. Arc Raiders appears to be embracing its horror side, and I'm ready, if sort of terrified.
