Arc Raiders ‘first-person mode’ and ‘night vision’, show what Embark is up against

Arc Raiders quickly went beyond the ‘trending title’ orbit last year, establishing itself as a huge game and one-of-a-kind hit beyond the reach of some triple-A releases. A reported 12 million confirmed sales later, mass attention has meant interested Raiders poking around in the game code and launch options.

Clearly, Embark has a job on its hands in just maintaining the success of its game experience. However, ongoing chatter about the benefits of a ‘first-person mode’ pushed one player to find their own. Meanwhile, a kind of ‘night vision’ tweak was created. That’s fine, though, right? No, but it does need priority attention.

On January 9, Reddit user Short_Satisfaction_9 posted to the Arc Raiders Subreddit with a topic named ‘I tried Arc Raiders in first person’. Not surprisingly, the post has garnered considerable attention. After all, FPP continues to be discussed, even though Embark’s CEO, Patrick Söderlund, has recently said, “The game isn’t about shooting other players.” 

What’s clear, though, is that while such explorations make for intriguing observations by the player base, they don’t exactly help speed new content. Not that I’m suggesting that Short_Satisfaction_9 meant any malice. However, you have to imagine that someone at Embark was given more than several extra tasks on their to-do list.

In the post, Short_Satisfaction_9 states, “man getting to experience this game in first person was surreal”. While some responders praised the effort, it ultimately looks odd and is clearly not game-intended. So while it’s a curiosity, it certainly needed fixing. How did they do it? “I saw you can access the console of the game”.

Short_Satisfaction_9’s FPP ‘mod’ may not feel problematic, and it would certainly put you at a disadvantage in-game: for one thing, you couldn’t ‘third-person’ around cover in firefights. However, access to the console was clearly an issue, and one that Embark was forced to address with a January 11 hotfix, cutting off a ‘night vision’ tweak.

Posting on X on January 8, the account BaLi.EXE (@balithelegend) shared information, reportedly sourced from TikTok creator monkeyjetc, on how to enable a sort of ‘night vision’ in Arc Raiders. This was achieved by, once again, entering the game’s console and entering a string of commands to adjust shadow, fog, and more. The result? Game-breaking vision.

In their posts, BaLi shared the full list of commands required, also replying to a comment thanking them with, “This needs to get fixed bro ofc im gonna post it publicly.” Thankfully, the self-same quick Arc Raiders hotfix nullified it: an official Arc Raiders Discord comment, as you’d expect, stated the game’s console “was never meant to be player-facing”. 

Clearly, such access also adds to the player issues Embark is dealing with. In a hectic start to their post-Holiday break, the FPP and night vision ‘mods’ will have compounded matters. Already facing reports of aimbots, wallhacks, and players gaining access to ceilings in Stella Montis, the studio has allegedly now cracked down with bans.

On X, the account known as charlieINTEL noted that players have begun to receive 30-day bans, with “repeat offenders reportedly facing hardware bans”. Embark hasn’t posted to social media about a specific change, but a sudden shift in the intensity of these bans makes a lot of sense.

What’s tricky is that player curiosity in changing code and seeing what’s possible sits alongside outright intent to cheat. It’s a thin line. Yet, ultimately, both slow planned updates, as studios need to respond to potentially game-breaking issues. Making these issues public may seem useful for Embark, but directly messaging the studio would be far better.

As we mentioned at the jump, Arc Raiders has surpassed 12 million sales across PC and console. That kind of attention, and a game with such a large reach, will always attract the ‘curiously minded’ (or those just out to win or exploit at all costs). Embark isn’t a massive studio, although it is surely growing. But it’s now dealing with big game problems.

As we’ve seen, it’s running a race against the ‘curious’ and game-changing tweaks, against the cheaters and glitchers. The rest of us must patiently wait for the next roadmap or major content update to arrive. Not that that’s a complaint, because Embark must secure its title against major issues. 

Would we rather have new content or a fair experience? And would we rather wait a bit longer to get something polished, while players are prevented from seeing in the dark, or shooting through ceilings? I know I would. For its part, Embark has plenty of work to do given its success. But this studio took five years to make a smash hit. I trust its endeavour.

January has seen two game-breaking mods added to the list of cheater issues reported in Arc Raiders. A hotfix closed access to the “NewConsole” command, allowing a first-person view and night vision tweak to be accessed. However, this work will have added to existing tasks for Embark, as a crackdown on cheaters appears to have begun. 

As the Cold Snap update comes to an end, with the Flickering Flames event concluding on January 13, Raiders will be awaiting the next step along a future roadmap. We may need to be a bit more patient, though, because sorting out exploits and cheats is core to the continued enjoyment of the award-winning title.