Arc Raiders disables free loadouts for Night Raid and Close Scrutiny
arc raiders is disabling free loadouts for Night Raid and Close Scrutiny for the next three weeks, turning two map conditions into a stricter test of risk and reward. The move is temporary, but the developers say they may extend it to more map conditions if the reaction and results justify it.
Night Raid, Close Scrutiny
The change targets only Night Raid and Close Scrutiny, so players entering those scenarios will have to commit differently than they have before. That is the point of the test: raise the barrier of entry and see whether the new setup better matches the stakes of those runs.
The three-week window makes this more than a balance note. It gives the developers a short read on behavior without locking the game into a permanent rule set, and it leaves room to widen the restriction later if those two conditions prove to be a better fit for it.
Three-Week Test
Three weeks is long enough to show whether players adapt quickly or push back hard enough to change the rollout. For a live-service game, that kind of limited trial is usually the difference between a targeted adjustment and a broader system change, and this one is being treated that way from the start.
The practical takeaway is simple for anyone planning to jump into those modes: free loadouts will not be part of the equation during the test. Players who want to run Night Raid or Close Scrutiny in that period will have to do so under the new risk structure rather than the old entry path.
Forgotten Relics, June 16
That decision lands alongside the Forgotten Relics Project, which runs from June 16 through July 27. Merits are converted automatically from XP gained on any map, and players can add more by finding relics in lockers, drawers, crates, and other containers before extracting with one in hand.
The event also gives the test a sharper context: Raiders are already being asked to chase rewards across the world, including the Saltwalker Outfit, its toggles, the Red-Black color variant, a Sextant backpack charm, and Raider Tokens. The total earnable this season is 300, so the studio is keeping the progression economy tightly defined while it experiments with entry rules elsewhere.
The wider signal is that the developers are not freezing the system in place. They are expanding Denuvo Anti-Cheat to more players and have added a new inbox message to notify players when action has been taken against someone they reported, while the loadout change stays deliberately narrow. That makes the next three weeks the cleanest read on whether tougher entry rules belong in just Night Raid and Close Scrutiny or spread beyond them.
