Arc Raiders has surged back to a seven-month high in concurrent players on Steam, driven by the launch of its 2.0 update and a free weekend that has drawn both lapsed veterans and newcomers back to Embark's extraction shooter. As of publication, 166,670 people were logged into the PC version alone, a figure the game had not reached since early April.
The update, titled Frozen Trail, launched on October 8 across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. It marks the first substantial content drop for Arc Raiders since the Riven Tides update in April, following a stretch in which the studio slowed its release cadence and pledged to rework the divisive Expedition prestige system. That quiet period coincided with a steep decline: after an all-time peak of nearly 500,000 players on Steam, the game struggled to exceed 35,000 concurrent PC players since July, and in September it hit a low of just 10,000.
The centerpiece of Frozen Trail is Pendola Pass, a snowy mountainous region set beyond the game's usual Rust Belt home. Players have singled out the map's scale as a standout feature, with one noting they could not explore more than 15 percent of it in an hour of play. New Arc threats — the Bully, Skulker, and Hydra — have reshuffled combat encounters, while the Tether Launcher allows players to bind enemies to objects against their will.
The most talked-about addition, however, is the Grappling Hook. The tool lets Raiders attach to steep cliffs and even flying Arc, producing shareable clips that have flooded social media. Comparisons to Spider-Man have become a running theme among players, one of whom said it is «sooo much more fun to swing around like Spider-Man and then run around at 100mph with no stamina usage.» A new wall-running skill has been overshadowed by the hook's popularity.
Also new is the Advanced Camera, which gives players a one-click tool for capturing in-game moments — a fitting addition for a game that has thrived on the comedy generated by its own systems. The Frigate, a massive UFO-style Arc ship, has emerged as another highlight, with players describing encounters aboard it as comparable to a Destiny raid.
The free weekend, running from October 8 to 12, has allowed newcomers to sample the changes without buying in. The combination of new toys and open access has produced the first notable spike for Arc Raiders since December 2025, though it remains too soon to say whether the momentum will hold.
Community reaction has been unusually warm for a game whose players had grown frustrated. A popular Reddit post admitted the author had quit and criticized the developers over the twice-a-year update schedule, only to reverse course. «I was not a believer,» the post read. «This is one of the best updates ever in a video game.» The same player praised the scale of Frozen Trail and said they were now «extremely excited for the future of this game.»
Not everyone is ready to call it an all-time great update, but criticism has been hard to find. Players have highlighted the new weapons, skills, and weapon mods, with one expressing disbelief that Embark assembled so much in under six months. For a game that once seemed to be fading, the numbers and the sentiment now point in the same direction.