Main Content

ARC Raiders is an extraction shooter brimming with hidden secrets, offering players opportunities to uncover high-value loot, engage in unique puzzles, and discover subtle lore-rich Easter eggs. These hidden gems are often off the beaten path, requiring keen observation, specific traversal tools, or puzzle-solving skills to access. Successfully navigating these secrets can significantly enhance your runs by providing superior gear, crafting materials, and experience points.

Introduction to Hidden Secrets

Secrets in ARC Raiders encompass hidden locations, exclusive loot rooms, puzzle-driven areas, and off-path structures that contain high-value containers, potential weapon case spawns, and other essential supplies. Many of these spots necessitate the use of traversal tools such as Ziplines, Snaphooks, or Battery pickups. Others require careful navigation, solving environmental puzzles, or spotting small environmental cues to gain entry.

Dam Battlegrounds Secrets

Collapsed Bridge

Just east of the Power Generation Complex, players can find the remains of a collapsed bridge. By deploying a Zipline or Snaphook into an open section, you can access a small room-like area. This area commonly contains weapon cases, ammo, med bags, and grenade cases.

Floodgates

From the North-West side of the control tower building, a door leads down some stairs to another door. Opening this second door reveals controls for a deployable bridge. Interacting with the control panel allows access to a breachable door on the opposite side of the bridge, which holds higher-than-average valuable loot, including weapon cases.

Formicai Outpost Secrets

Large Tower

In the southern part of the map, a large tower stands. The first floor features a desk where a weapon case may spawn. From here, players can climb, zipline, or snaphook to the second floor, where scaffolding provides another area with a potential weapon case spawn.

Water Towers

In the bottom left section of the map, four water towers are present. The tops of the bottom left and right towers are potential weapon spawn areas, but reaching and safely descending from them requires a Zipline.

Buried City Secrets

Parking Garage (New District)

Within the 'New District,' a parking garage building, though not explicitly marked as high-value, functions as a raider camp with weapon case spawns and other significant loot. There are two primary ways to enter: either breach a door on the south side of the first floor and zipline down into the raider camp, or use a Snaphook to enter an open window on the north-east side of the basement, which is a faster and quieter approach.

Buried City Easter Egg Room

Unlocking this secret room in Buried City requires activating 15 hidden buttons scattered across the map. Successfully pressing all buttons grants access to a room containing multiple musical instruments, including flutes, shakers, and guitars.

Hidden Breach Rooms

Specific breach rooms within the Buried City are highlighted as excellent sources for valuable loot.

Abandoned Highway Camp Secrets

Adjacent to the Abandoned Highway Camp is a U-shaped building. A secret room is located in the southern part of this building. To enter, players must jump into a second-floor window from across the way, which can be achieved by jumping from the north top window of the building across into the secret room's window. This room contains potential weapon case spawns and numerous other high-value containers.

Spaceport Secrets

Arrival Building

North-east of the Spaceport lies the arrival building, designated as a red loot zone. On the ground floor, in the far-left corner, there are two breachable doors leading to high-value loot zones. The lower of these two can also spawn a weapon case. Additionally, a breachable door room on the second floor in the southern corner of the building can also contain a weapon case. A ladder on the very south-west corner of the building allows access to the roof.

Hidden Bunker

Situated between the “Fuel Lines” and “Fuel Processing” areas, this bunker is identifiable by a large metal door embedded in the ground, though it is not marked on the map. To open it, players must activate four white antennas scattered throughout the vicinity. Each antenna activation triggers a wave of ARC enemies. Once all four antennas are online, the bunker automatically unlocks, revealing eight terminals for experience points and several containers with high-level loot. Teamwork is advisable due to potential player contests after opening.

Underground Tunnel System

The Spaceport's main ground features an underground tunnel system located precisely between the launch towers and control tower A6. These tunnels are characterized by their tight layouts and brutal angles, presenting a high-difficulty area with secret rooms that offer insane reward potential.

Vehicle Maintenance Building

This location harbors a secret hidden loot spot. Inside, players can find two containers, a secret backpack tucked in a corner, and an ammo box.

East Container Yard

Descending to the very bottom of the East Container Yard, near a massive crane, players can discover a weapon crate spawn.

Rifle Building

Climbing onto the roof of the Rifle Building and moving around a corner can reveal a weapon crate spawn. A medic bag or an ammo crate may also spawn on top of a nearby small container.

Departure Building

After looting the top of the Departure Building, heading down to the very bottom corner on one side near a container can yield another backpack spawn.

Control Tower A6 Access

With a Zipline, players can ascend to the very top of Control Tower A6 without needing a key, where a backpack can be found. This backpack is also reachable from a window.

Keyless Room Entry

In Spaceport, certain rooms that typically require a key can be accessed without one. These rooms often contain multiple red containers and may have an ARC unit waiting inside.

Blue Gate Secrets

Blue Gate is renowned as one of the most loot-dense maps in ARC Raiders, featuring numerous hidden puzzles and secret loot stashes.

Ancient Fort Puzzle

Located in the far southeast, the Ancient Fort holds a treasure room beneath it. To unlock the storm door leading to the cellar, players must find and return three batteries to power receptacles around the fort. The first receptacle is against the back wall outside the fort, the second is inside and up the stairs on the outside of the tower, and the third is inside the base of the tower. Carrying batteries will slow down movement, potentially exposing players to enemy Raiders. Placing all three batteries opens the security door to a massive loot room, though rewards vary.

Two Harvesters (ARC Husks)

Massive, non-operational ARC husks can be found on both the far east and far west sides of the map. The secret involves locating a sparking panel inside the main body, inserting one ARC power cell (which triggers a fire trap), then finding a second panel further in to insert another ARC power cell. Afterward, players must head back outside to an elevated surface, avoid the fire, deactivate it, and gain access to the ARC's interior.

Warehouse Complex Terminal

Starting above ground just west of the ultimate destination, players should enter a concrete building and take a Zipline to the bottom. Once at the bottom, enter the tunnel, follow red lights, and make a sharp left into a locker room. Another Zipline in this room leads up to a new room with a computer terminal that flashes red, blue, or yellow. Regardless of the color, take the Zipline back down and follow spray-painted signs on the wall (red in one direction, blue and yellow in another). Reaching the correct destination triggers an alert, allowing interaction with a receptacle for small loot rewards.

Blue Gate Underground Path

This area offers reliable loot spawns but is considered a high-difficulty zone (level four).

Reinforced Reception Bunker & The 'Red Room'

These are also mentioned as major secrets within the Blue Gate map.

General Hidden Loot Locations

Beyond specific map areas, general hidden loot locations include caches found behind the Broken Monument base, secret rooms accessible via ventilation shafts, and valuable loot nestled in bird nests within chimneys.

Easter Eggs and Lore Details

ARC Raiders features a variety of Easter eggs that contribute to its rich world-building:

Scrappy Interactions: Petting your companion Scrappy 100 times can unlock a hidden achievement.

Celeste's Journals: Collecting all eight of Celeste's Journals reveals a full hidden backstory within the game.

Guitar in Trophy Display: Completing all game stages can reward players with a playable guitar emote.

Developer Messages: Hidden notes can be found in the J. Kozma Ventures CEO office.

Tian Wen Spacecraft: A spacecraft named after the real Chinese Mars mission is present in the game.

Unsettling Mirror: A mirror in a specific bathroom shows a faint, poorly resolved image that doesn't match the room, potentially an intentional unsettling detail or a leftover from development.

Map Edge Anomaly: At a particular point along one of the map edges, the invisible wall is slightly further out than usual, allowing players to step a meter or two past the normal boundary.

Consistent Clock Time: One clock on an exterior wall near a transit stop consistently displays a specific time, which is repeated on at least three other clock assets in the zone, suggesting it's not a natural occurrence.

Canned Food Labels: Labels on canned food suggest that life continued and people were preserving food even as the world around them deteriorated.

Stairwell Sound Easter Egg: In a building on the western edge, standing still at the bottom of a stairwell for approximately 30 seconds can reveal a faint, low rhythmic, almost mechanical sound.

Nordic Influences and Graffiti: The game's architecture exhibits Nordic design, and graffiti on walls includes names that appear in multiple locations, like

Guide

Quick Summary