No one at Embark could describe Arc Raiders before its extraction shooter pivot, leading to 'playtest battles' of competing directions for the game

Embark has not shied away from discussing its original plans for Arc Raiders, which were drastically different from what ultimately emerged. It was supposed to be a more PvE-focused game before it became the extraction shooter hit it is today.

We stopped forcing the game [or games] we wanted, and we looked at the game we had.

Caio Braga

In a GDC talk, Arc Raiders production director Caio Braga went into more detail about the direction—more accurately, directions—the team explored early on.