// PC GAMER — GAMING
I had 3 hours with Arc Raiders Frozen Trails update and spent most of it playing with the new grapple hook
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Last week I attended a preview session for the Arc Raiders Frozen Trail update, and frankly, I got smacked around like never before. My first match ended in three minutes upon realizing a lobby full of streamers was not at all receptive to my "Don't shoot" emotes.
For context: I'm a casual Arc raider with a pacifism streak. New guns are cool, but I honestly don't end up using them that much, so I'm far more interested in the changes that affect the game's movement, stealth, and scavenging. So instead of an exhaustive list of changes (read up on the update itself for something like that), I'm focusing on the three thoughts I keep coming back to days after playing.
Yeah yeah, sure, Arc Raiders is getting some new guns, but the real star of my session was the grapple hook. Embark made an honest-to-god grapple hook: Not the kind that zips you straight to where you aim it (that already exists), but a simulated rope that's quite rare in videogames.
The grapple hook is only a green tier gadget, but very versatile. A single hook lets you:
What makes the grapple hook so useful is that it sticks to just about anything. Wherever the hook lands becomes a pivot point that you can either climb toward, descend, or swing against. You can also redeploy the hook midair, without a cooldown or use limit, meaning you can chain swings together.
Above: Scaling a building with the grapple hook is about as fast as climbing a ladder, which is surprising.
It's a level of pendulum-based freedom that videogames rarely afford—let alone in a multiplayer environment—and makes the hook immediately fun to play with. The first match I had one, I ended up ignoring most of Pendola Pass' new locations and instead tried to see how long I could stay in the air with just the hook. I broke my ankles more than once, but in a short time I felt like the hook had tripled my movement options in Arc Raiders, and that's exciting. I really want to see how it performs on the other maps. Frozen Trail also adds a launcher that tethers two objects together and a grenade that yanks Arc bots to the ground, but I didn't test those thoroughly.
I'm delighted by Arc Raiders' embracing of physics-based tools and impressed that Embark isn't afraid to let these emergent gameplay ingredients be a little jank. You can tell while using the grapple hook why other videogames are so restrictive with similar mechanics: Sometimes you'll climb all the way up the rope only to not grab the ledge at the top, or the rope itself gets tangled between a protruding balcony, or you slide off the giant Emperor bot in Pendola Pass that Embark clearly doesn't want you to climb. It takes trial and error to use it well, and it's way more interesting than it is frustrating.
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