With its uniquely terrifying robots and opportunities to both team up and betray fellow players, Arc Raiders is a remarkably cinematic and theatrical experience. I've had plenty of great encounters already, like making friends with someone after I killed and looted their buddy, or persuading a bloodthirsty player not to kill me and to protect me instead. I'd like to say I'll remember these moments forever, but no, my brain will unfortunately eject them at some point.
Thankfully, there are a few players who are willing to put guns to the side and bring out the humble pair of binoculars to record and document all the action Topside. It's the only valid use for the binoculars, and I'll not be convinced otherwise.
My favourites so far have been War Tapes by 0biwanKenobi and Podgor's Scenes from the Topside. They're like war reporters, and they take their jobs very seriously—I respect how these videos are framed as if they're in-world reports from the surface.
With plenty of claustrophobic angles and shaky cam, and lathered with VHS noise and retro colour correction, these 'documentaries' perfectly capture the intensity of fighting Arcs and players while also roughly matching Arc Raiders' 70s sci-fi styling.
It's really something else to see a massive Matriarch stampeding around and unleashing rocket barrages at players scrambling for cover, or a Leaper stalking its prey, effectively from a found-footage perspective. The second episode of 0biwanKenobi's War Tapes is somehow even more scary, making the Matriarch and its Leaper minions feel almost like alien invaders ripped from War of the Worlds as the players scurry about underground.
Now I'm even more scared of taking down the latest monstrosity to get the Aphelion, but maybe I can fill the vital role of team cameraman instead.
There must be something about multiplayer games with scary robots, as it's similar to Helldivers 2's launch, where we also saw plenty of cinematic edits capturing the chaos on the frontlines.
Needless to say, I'm looking forward to seeing more Arc Raiders documentaries, especially if Embark can capitalise on player storytelling and an evolving battleground in a similar way to Helldivers 2. And hey, let's get these brave camera crews a unique press/reporter costume and an actual 35mm film camera, can we?
