Arc Raiders players report huge UFOs soaring across the sky

arc raiders UFO — (Image credit: Bewarden on Reddit via Embark Studios)

The Shrouded Sky update has arrived in Arc Raiders, and Embark is throwing us a curveball. Today's patch introduced a hurricane map condition, two new Arc enemies, and some meaningful balancing changes, but the masterminds in Sweden snuck something else in, too.

Some players are spotting a UFO in the shrouded skies, a broad aircraft with a W-shaped silhouette emitting a pair of blue energy streams toward the ground. Here's the brief encounter recorded by Reddit user Bewarden:

What in tarnation is that? from r/ArcRaiders

"What in tarnation is that?" Bewarden asks. Whatever it is, it's probably not friendly. Some theorized that the pair of lights indicates two Arc flying next to each other, but if you throw the clip in fullscreen and look closer, we're clearly looking at one huge aircraft.

"This sh*t is massive," user Dry_Breadfruit1743 accurately observed in the comments. Given the height the UFO is flying at, its relative size must be somewhere between a Queen and Bastion, but of course, with wings. It's also very loud, leaving a trailing wail in its wake that sounds like an alien jet fighter. Other sightings of the "jet" Arc (if it even is an Arc) are hard to find so far—I've seen just one other report.

Is this our first look at one of the other "new Arc threats" promised in the Arc Raiders 2026 roadmap? If so, we might be seeing Arc Raiders begin to tease future updates in advance like other multiplayer shooters do—remember when Helldivers 2 players discovered flying bugs and Arrowhead denied their existence?

And frankly, how would you fight that thing? How will it fight us? Perhaps it'll stay high in the sky and only leave itself vulnerable during deadly strafing runs. If that's the case, we're gonna need a lot more Wolfpack grenades (which coincidentally just got harder to craft). Maybe taking one down will require more sophisticated anti-air weapons that we don't have yet.

As for when it'll arrive, there are two immediate options: the "Flashpoint" update slated for March and the "Riven Tides" update in April. Embark says both updates will expand the Arc fleet, but the April update specifically calls out a "new large Arc," which would certainly fit the bill of this menacing Batwing.

Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though.

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