ARC Raiders vs Star Wars Outlaws

• Perspective: Third-Person
• Multiplayer: PvPvE (Solo, Duo, or Trio Squads)
• Setting: Post-Apocalyptic Earth (Italy)
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
• Release Date: 2025-10-30
• Unique Feature: A unique 'no one-shot kill' shield mechanic that disincentivizes camping, and a persistent progression system with no forced wipes.

• Perspective: Third-Person
• Multiplayer: Single-Player Only
• Setting: Star Wars (Between Episodes V and VI)
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2
• Unique Feature: The first-ever seamless open-world Star Wars game, allowing for uninterrupted travel from planetside exploration to outer space dogfights.

• Squad Mates: The game is designed for squads of 1-3 players. Teammates can be revived (without a special tool), share loot, and must coordinate to survive against ARC and other player squads.
  Human (Player)
• Scrappy the Rooster: A pet companion located in the player's hub. Scrappy provides a steady, passive stream of basic materials after every raid, ensuring players always have a baseline of resources, even after multiple failed runs.
  Animal (Rooster)

• Recipes: Found topside, these are one of the most valuable items. Successfully extracting a recipe permanently unlocks the ability to craft that item at the Workshop.
• Keys: Rare items found topside. 'Key Room' keys unlock high-value loot rooms on the map. 'Raider Hatch Keys' unlock rare, silent extraction points.
• Codex Entries: Unlocked by progressing. This is a growing repository of lore about the ARC, the world, and its inhabitants.

• Sabacc Tokens: Won by playing the card game Sabacc in various cantinas across the galaxy. These can be collected and gambled.
• Expert Challenges: Specific gameplay challenges tied to nine different 'experts' in the galaxy. Completing them is the primary way to unlock new skills for Kay.

• Sci-Fi
• Post-Apocalyptic
• Extraction Shooter
• PvPvE
• Third-Person Shooter
• Robots
• Survival

• Sci-Fi
• Open World
• Star Wars
• Scoundrel
• Heist
• Action-Adventure
• Third-Person Shooter
• Space Exploration

• Firearms: Varies (Assault Rifles, SMGs, Snipers, Shotguns)
  A diverse arsenal of 19 different firearms across multiple categories. Weapons use one of four simplified ammo types (Light, Medium, Heavy, Shotgun) and can be customized with attachments. Examples include the 'Rattler' AR and 'Osprey' sniper rifle.
• Gadgets: Utility / Tactical
  A wide range of craftable items essential for survival and combat, including grenades, mines, door blockers, deployable barricades, and zip lines.

• Customizable Blaster Pistol: Primary Weapon
  Kay's main weapon. It can be upgraded at workbenches to switch between different firing modes: standard (plasma), ion (for shields/droids), explosive (for groups), and stun.
• Dropped Heavy Weapons: Temporary Weapon
  Enemies can drop a variety of weapons like rifles, snipers, and miniguns. Post-launch updates allow Kay to permanently carry and holster these weapons.
• Adrenaline Rush: Special Ability
  A 'Dead Eye' style ability that charges during combat. When activated, it slows time, allowing Kay to mark and unleash a rapid series of shots on multiple targets.

• Shields: The primary defensive item. Shields come in Light, Medium, and Heavy variants, providing a regenerating health pool. A fully-charged shield prevents a player from being one-shot. Shields degrade and must be repaired in the hub.
• Raider Augments: A special gear slot that allows players to fine-tune their build, affecting stats like backpack slots, weight limit, and the number of equippable weapons or quick-use items.

• Gear Sets: Kay can equip three pieces of gear (chest, belt, pants) that provide passive stat boosts. Equipping a full set provides an additional buff. 'Superior' quality gear offers better hidden stats.

• Cosmetic Customization: Players can fully customize their Raider's appearance with a wide array of outfits, backpacks, attachments, and charms. Cosmetics are unlocked via quests, Raider Decks, or the in-game store. The Deluxe Edition includes the 'Astro' and 'Bruiser' bundles.

Progression is persistent and does not wipe. Players earn XP to level up and gain skill points, which can be invested in three skill trees: Conditioning (stamina, breaching), Mobility (climbing, vaulting), and Survival (looting speed, stealth). A voluntary prestige system called the 'Expedition Project' allows players to reset their progress for exclusive rewards.

Progression is not based on traditional XP. Instead, players unlock new skills by finding nine 'experts' across the galaxy and completing challenges for them. Skills cover areas like weapon handling, survival, health, and melee. Gear (chest, belt, pants) provides passive stat boosts, and Kay's blaster, speeder, and starship (the Trailblazer) are all fully upgradable.

The game features a large, open-world map with four confirmed zones: Dam Battlegrounds (a large starting area with forests and a dam), Buried City (a metropolitan area covered in sand), Spaceport (a derelict industrial zone), and Blue Gate (a mountain area). A fifth map, Stella Montis, is rumored. Maps feature dynamic weather, time of day, and special events.

The game features a seamless open-world experience across four main planets: the desert moon of Toshara, the icy city of Kijimi, the jungle planet of Akiva, and the iconic desert of Tatooine. Players can seamlessly travel from a planet's surface into orbit, engage in space combat, and jump to hyperspace without loading screens.

• Speeder Bike: Ground Vehicle
  Kay's primary mode of planetary traversal. It is customizable and can be upgraded for better speed, handling, and combat capabilities.
• The Trailblazer: Starship
  Kay's personal starship, which serves as her mobile base of operations. It can be flown seamlessly from a planet's surface into space, used for dogfighting, and upgraded with better shields, weapons, and hyperdrive.

• The Raider: Playable Character
  The player's customizable character. Players can choose their face, body type, and hair, and then define their playstyle through a classless skill tree system.
• Celeste: Key NPC
  The charismatic raider leader in the Speranza hub who is responsible for providing the main story quests.
• Tion Wyn: Key NPC
  The reclusive gun craftsman who runs the gun shop in Speranza.

• Kay Vess: Playable Protagonist
  A young, cunning scoundrel and thief on a coming-of-age journey to pull off a massive heist and secure her freedom.
• Nix: Companion
  Kay's loyal and adorable merqaal companion. He is a crucial part of gameplay, used for stealth, combat, and puzzle-solving.
• ND-5: Ally / Crew Member
  An outlaw droid enforcer from the Clone Wars era who serves as a key member of Kay's heist crew.
• Jaylen Vrax: Antagonist / Crew Member
  A suave underworld fixer who initially rescues Kay and proposes the heist, but ultimately betrays her in pursuit of his own revenge.
• Sliro Barsha: Antagonist
  The ruthless leader of the Zerek Besh criminal syndicate, who places a death mark on Kay and is later revealed to be an ISB director.

• Topside Expeditions
  The main gameplay loop. Players deploy to one of the large open-world maps for a 30-minute session to scavenge for loot, complete quests for traders, and interact with dynamic events, with the ultimate goal of successfully extracting.
• World Boss Encounters
  A dynamic, high-risk MMO-style objective to defeat massive ARC bosses like 'The Queen' at the Harvester. This requires cooperation between multiple squads and yields 'insane' loot.

• Main Story Quests
  A cinematic campaign that follows Kay Vess as she assembles a crew to pull off one of the galaxy's greatest heists to buy her freedom.
• Syndicate Jobs
  Optional quests and contracts offered by the various criminal syndicates. Completing these jobs is the primary way to increase your reputation with a specific faction.
• Space Contracts
  Optional missions found in space, such as defending freighters or attacking pirate outposts, which provide another avenue for earning credits and reputation.

The core mode is a persistent PvPvE extraction shooter where players can queue up solo, in duos, or in trios. The map is populated by other players and AI-controlled ARC machines. Proximity chat is enabled, allowing for emergent alliances or betrayals. There is no in-match squadding.

The game is designed as a live service with a seasonal 'Raider Deck' (battle pass) that offers free and paid progression tracks. Developers have emphasized that monetization is cosmetic-only and not 'pay to win'. New maps, weapons, and features will be added over time based on community feedback.

A Season Pass includes two major story DLCs. 'Wild Card' features a Sabacc tournament and a team-up with Lando Calrissian. 'A Pirate's Fortune' involves a treasure hunt with Hondo Ohnaka. Ubisoft has also addressed initial criticisms through significant post-launch patches.

• Q: What is ARC Raiders?
  A: ARC Raiders is a third-person, PvPvE extraction shooter from the developers of The Finals. Players (as 'Raiders') scavenge a post-apocalyptic Earth, fighting other players and a deadly army of AI robots called ARC, all while trying to extract with valuable loot.
• Q: Is ARC Raiders free-to-play?
  A: No. The game was originally announced as free-to-play but has shifted to a premium model. The Standard Edition costs $40.
• Q: Is it a 'one-shot' extraction shooter like Tarkov?
  A: No. A key feature is the shield system, which prevents players from being one-shot as long as their shield is charged. This encourages more movement and tactical, drawn-out fights rather than camping.
• Q: Are there server wipes?
  A: No, the developers have stated there are no forced wipes. All progression is permanent. There is a voluntary prestige system called the 'Expedition Project' that players can opt-in to for exclusive rewards.

• Q: What is Star Wars Outlaws?
  A: It is the first-ever seamless open-world Star Wars game, a third-person action-adventure that follows the story of a scoundrel named Kay Vess as she navigates the criminal underworld.
• Q: When is the game set?
  A: It is set in the one-year gap between the events of 'The Empire Strikes Back' and 'Return of the Jedi'.
• Q: Is it a single-player game?
  A: Yes, Star Wars Outlaws is a strictly single-player experience with no multiplayer or co-op modes.
• Q: How does the Reputation system work?
  A: Your actions and choices affect your standing with four criminal syndicates and the Empire. Gaining favor with a syndicate unlocks perks and quests, while angering them will cause them to send bounty hunters after you.

• SPECULATIVE PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS. The minimum spec is based on developer suggestion (GTX 970), with other tiers extrapolated for a modern, highly optimized Unreal Engine 5 title.
• Laptop Performance Note: Laptop performance will vary based on the model's cooling and TGP. The game is noted for being 'hella optimized,' but a stable framerate is still crucial for PvPvE combat.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: Maximum TGP for the laptop's GPU is essential to handle the advanced graphical features of Unreal Engine 5 and maintain high framerates.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: The game's visually rich world and intense, large-scale encounters will require a laptop with a cutting-edge cooling solution to prevent thermal throttling.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: A powerful multi-core mobile CPU will be critical for handling the complex AI of the ARC and other players.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: A MUX switch or NVIDIA Advanced Optimus is a critical feature for reducing latency and ensuring the best possible performance in a competitive shooter.
• Game Name: ARC Raiders

• OFFICIAL AND EXTRAPOLATED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS for Star Wars Outlaws. This information is based on the official PC specifications from Ubisoft, adapted to the requested JSON structure. As a visually ambitious open-world title built on the Snowdrop Engine, the game is demanding, particularly on the CPU and for higher resolutions. Laptop and future-generation GPU listings are extrapolated based on performance benchmarks.
• Laptop Performance Note: Laptop versions of the listed desktop GPUs require comparable performance. For a seamless open-world experience in Star Wars Outlaws, maintaining a stable framerate is key. This makes a laptop with a powerful CPU, a well-cooled, high-TGP (Total Graphics Power) GPU, and fast storage essential.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: A high TGP is crucial for the GPU to sustain performance in graphically dense areas like detailed cities and lush alien planets, preventing throttling and ensuring fluid gameplay.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: The Snowdrop Engine can heavily tax both the CPU and GPU, especially when rendering large, detailed environments. A robust cooling system is necessary to prevent thermal throttling and maintain consistent performance during long play sessions.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: Strong multi-core CPU performance is critical for handling the game's open-world streaming, complex AI systems, and physics without creating a system bottleneck.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: A MUX switch or NVIDIA Advanced Optimus is highly recommended to minimize system latency. In a third-person shooter where timing dodges and shots is important, reducing input lag provides a more responsive experience.
• Optimization Detail: Upscaling Tech: The game officially supports NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR. Using these upscaling technologies is highly recommended to achieve stable, high framerates, especially when enabling ray tracing or playing at 1440p and 4K resolutions.
• Optimization Detail: Key Settings Impact: Performance will be most affected by settings that tax the GPU heavily, such as Shadow Quality, Ray-Traced Reflections, Ray-Traced Global Illumination, and Volumetric Clouds. The game is expected to be very GPU-bound at higher settings.
• Game Name: Star Wars Outlaws

• Upscaling Tech: The game officially supports NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR. Using these upscaling technologies is highly recommended to achieve stable, high framerates, especially when enabling ray tracing or playing at 1440p and 4K resolutions.
• Key Settings Impact: Performance will be most affected by settings that tax the GPU heavily, such as Shadow Quality, Ray-Traced Reflections, Ray-Traced Global Illumination, and Volumetric Clouds. The game is expected to be very GPU-bound at higher settings.

• G P U T G P: Maximum TGP for the laptop's GPU is essential to handle the advanced graphical features of Unreal Engine 5 and maintain high framerates.
• Cooling Thermals: The game's visually rich world and intense, large-scale encounters will require a laptop with a cutting-edge cooling solution to prevent thermal throttling.
• C P U Power Limits: A powerful multi-core mobile CPU will be critical for handling the complex AI of the ARC and other players.
• M U X Switch Optimus: A MUX switch or NVIDIA Advanced Optimus is a critical feature for reducing latency and ensuring the best possible performance in a competitive shooter.

• G P U T G P: A high TGP is crucial for the GPU to sustain performance in graphically dense areas like detailed cities and lush alien planets, preventing throttling and ensuring fluid gameplay.
• Cooling Thermals: The Snowdrop Engine can heavily tax both the CPU and GPU, especially when rendering large, detailed environments. A robust cooling system is necessary to prevent thermal throttling and maintain consistent performance during long play sessions.
• C P U Power Limits: Strong multi-core CPU performance is critical for handling the game's open-world streaming, complex AI systems, and physics without creating a system bottleneck.
• M U X Switch Optimus: A MUX switch or NVIDIA Advanced Optimus is highly recommended to minimize system latency. In a third-person shooter where timing dodges and shots is important, reducing input lag provides a more responsive experience.