Embark Studios has left a dead Emperor slumped against a mountainside, and it is inviting players to crawl around inside it.
Anyone who has spent time in Arc Raiders will recognize the Emperor. It is the impossibly large Arc machine that can be seen patrolling the outskirts of the Blue Gate map, and it appears briefly through the storm during the tutorial. With Frozen Trail, players finally get to stand in front of one. This Emperor has fallen and lies sprawled across Pendola Pass, the new map, and its insides are open to explore. The sense of scale is enormous, and the design goal is to make you feel like you have wandered somewhere you were never meant to be.
Arriving Oct. 8, Frozen Trail is the largest update Arc Raiders has received to date.
Why this one carries more weight
Arc Raiders had a barnstorming debut last year, but 2026 has been quieter. The extraction shooter’s decline in popularity has been widely reported, and although its player base remains healthy and consistent, it is far smaller than it once was.
That is why Embark stopped its monthly updates in May to focus on something bigger. Frozen Trail is the result of that pause. Ahead of next month’s release, the studio presented it during an hour-long preview event made up of a lengthy video and a Q&A session.
You can’t simply gun down the Frigate
The biggest new threat is the Frigate. It is coming to several maps and looks like Arc Raiders’ version of an endgame raid. Embark has not revealed everything yet, but a press release described it as a “massive airborne carrier that presents a high-stakes challenge for experienced raiders,” and it will drop rare loot.
The best part is that destroying it with firepower is not how you win. Instead, players solve puzzles and sabotage the ship. That is a clever change of pace from the Queen and the Matriarch, two tough enemies whose entire strategy boiled down to absorbing a huge amount of damage.
On board waits the Hydra, a new Arc enemy that behaves like a turret fitted with three separate sets of guns, letting it target several enemies at the same time. Pendola Pass also introduces the Skulker, a smaller foe that snipes at you from long range, and the Bully, a bulky, aggressive enemy with machine-learning behaviors similar to the Leaper. Both will eventually make their way to other maps, though not immediately.
Your existing arsenal is about to get strange
Two new weapons are included: the Stiletto, a light ammo battle rifle, and the Bantam, a snub-nosed revolver. The more interesting addition is the weapon amplification system, which allows players to completely overhaul guns they already have.
By crafting a new kind of workbench, you can turn the Burletta pistol fully automatic or rig the Rattler to shoot incendiary ammo. At launch, Frozen Trail offers 15 possible amplifications.
A grappling hook, at last
Embark sees the Grappling Hook as one of the most ambitious gadgets it has built for the game. During the Q&A, executive producer Aleksander Grøndal said it had been at the “top of the wishlist for a long time.”
It works the way players would want. Shoot a rope at a surface and climb up, or rappel down the side of a building. You can also swing across gaps Spider-Man style, or latch onto an Arc enemy and let it haul you along (which could turn out to be either the smartest or the dumbest move of your night).
Two other rope-based tools join it. The Tether Launcher links two points together, which could be used to stop an airborne enemy from pursuing you. The Yank Grenade fires ropes at nearby enemies and drags them toward it, making it ideal for pulling rival raiders out of cover in PvP.
The gondola only takes three
Pendola Pass also shakes up how extraction works. Every other map has you summon an elevator or a train and climb aboard. In these snowy mountains, the sole exit is a gondola, and it carries just three raiders at a time. Good luck.
A new weather condition, Flash Freeze, also arrives, forcing players to find shelter right away before the cold sets in.
Builds should finally matter
The skill tree is being reworked, with some skills removed, others adjusted and several brand-new ones added. The aim is to make choices “more impactful,” and Grøndal explained that players will now need to choose between a handful of abilities rather than “being able to unlock everything.”
Combined with weapon amplification, the direction is obvious. At the moment, the differences between players are slim, and Embark wants genuine build diversity.
Skins, a banjo and a camera
Weapon skins, among the most requested features, are finally arriving. Since this is Arc Raiders, though, you cannot simply buy or unlock anything you like. Some come from the store and a new Frozen Trail reward pass, while most weapon stencils must be found as loot, just like blueprints.
Two new instruments are also on the way, a banjo and a harmonica. And with Arc Raiders photography becoming popular, the game now has an in-game camera.
Outposts add further customization. You cannot walk around them yet (Grøndal confirmed the team eventually wants them to become explorable spaces), but you can furnish them with furniture, crafting stations, trinkets and more. According to Grøndal, they are the first step toward giving players a “home on the surface.”
Frozen Trail launches as a free update on Thursday, Oct. 8, for PS5, Windows PC and Xbox Series X. Pack a banjo for the gondola ride down.