I started gaming really young. Some of my earliest memories are standing next to a neighbor’s CRT monitor playing on what I am pretty sure was a Commodore 64. Also Pong on an Atari. Tetris. Also Tetris on a Game Boy. The original Super Mario Bros.

Not long after, games like Goal, Double Dribble, Bionic Commando, Kung Fu, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, and too many to recount all became part of my childhood gaming foundation.

Gaming was never a phase for me. From the single-digit age, through my teens, into adulthood, and now into my late forties, it has always been there in one form or another. Different consoles, different PCs, different genres, but always present. It was something I shared with cousins, friends, and later with complete strangers online. It was an escape, sure, but more than that, it was a place where curiosity, patience, problem-solving, and imagination mattered.

There was a stretch, though, where that spark faded. If I had to point to the longest gap where gaming felt hollow, it would have been a year or two after Battlefield 4. Whatever came next in that franchise just did not land for me. Battlefield 1, Battlefield V, Battlefield 2042, honestly the fact that I have to think about which one came when kind of says it all. Call of Duty games were still there, but felt like the same loop over and over. Run, shoot, die, respawn. Fast reflexes, constant motion, hours burned, but very little thought required. No planning. No strategy beyond muscle memory. No reason to slow down and think.

At the time, I did not even realize what I was missing. I had forgotten how much I valued games that asked something more of me. Games that make you value each LIFE. Games like Zelda. Games like Metal Gear Solid. I played most of the Metal Gear series over the years. Stealth, gadgets, choice, consequence. Around 2018, Ghost Recon Wildlands pulled me in. Finally, something with some depth to it. You could plan, scout, sneak, coordinate, or go loud if you chose. The world mattered. Your decisions mattered.

Games like Ghost Recon Wildlands reminded me why gaming was special in the first place. They let you step out of the repetitive cycle of school, work, and responsibility and drop into a world that felt alive and unpredictable. Especially when you factor in other players. Random people from different countries, different ages, different walks of life, all intersecting in the same digital space. That sense of shared experience is powerful, and it sticks with you! Deep in a space of memory that only comes alive again when you are having that level of enjoyment again.

Fast forward to 2025. I saw the trailer for Battlefield 6 and I remember telling my wife how disappointed I had been with gaming as a whole, how I had barely gamed for years because nothing felt worth my time, nothing stimulated my brain like years past. I got to the point where I thought, maybe the kid in me is dying. Am I just getting old?

Then I watched that trailer and thought, this looks like Battlefield 2 and 3 again. This looks like what I loved. My first reaction was that I might need to buy a PlayStation 5.

I am glad I did not. I already have a good-enough gaming PC, so instead I bought a PlayStation 5 controller (was using my PS4 controller which suffers stick drift since it was the same controller I kept from BF4). Maxed out the graphics settings on BF6, and surprisingly smooth performance. That was it. I was back in! I was excited, but was this really it? Was this what I longed for and what could keep me engaged?

According to Steam, I put over 100 hours into Battlefield 6. My last session was November 16. I enjoyed it. I really did. But here is the important part. I have not touched Battlefield 6 since I started playing Arc Raiders.

I did not discover Arc Raiders right away. It was not something I was anticipating or following closely, and I like BF6.

With Arc Raiders, the visuals got my attention first. But also something about it felt familiar in a way, nostalgic. A bit of Bionic Commando meets The Legend of Zelda. Hints of Lost Planet. Shades of Metal Gear Solid and Ghost Recon Wildlands. Old ideas, but also something that feels new!

I had no idea how much this game was about to take over my mind.

For the first time in a very long time, I found myself doing something I had not done in years. I started taking notes before playing. Writing down ideas, and what areas I wanted to explore, how I wanted to approach the map, what my goals were for each raid on the surface. Even thinking about what I might say to other players to reduce the chances of getting killed. lol That alone says a lot about what kind of game this is.

I checked Steam while writing this and I am already at 50 hours into Arc Raiders, sitting around level 31. When did that happen? Those hours feel different that BF6, less of a grind and more of a journey, an experience, a story.

I have had sessions where I spent more time in menus than on the surface. Learning recycling systems. Understanding what materials come from what. Figuring out inventory management, loadouts, and stash storage efficiency. Digging into blueprints, skill points, and systems I did not fully grasp at first. Thinking about how best to allocate resources. Planning instead of reacting.

I love THAT. Yes, THAT is what was missing from gaming! You know THAT which you cannot just explain in a sentence but is a feeling of epic depth that creates wonder and wakes up the kid inside of us gamers.

Don't get me wrong, if Arc Raiders didn't exist I would probably have continued to play BF6, albeit with less of THAT feeling. Because you simply load in, find a match, move fast, react faster. Hardly anyone uses a mic. Maybe five percent of players, if that. Those who do, it's not for anything useful like "Squad" - a good example of a great game reinvented into the ground.

Arc Raiders slows you down. It makes you think. It makes every decision feel heavier because there is something at stake.

That is why, at 10:56 p.m., I feel motivated enough to write this directly to you the developers of Arc Raiders, Game of the Year 2025.

Here is my advice.

Do not change this game.

Fix bugs. Patch issues. Improve stability. Do the necessary technical work that comes with modern development. But do not redesign or reinvent it. Do not chase gamer feedback; ignore all the YouTubers. Do not sand down the edges to make everything faster, easier, or more efficient.

I even caught myself falling into that trap. I had a moment where I thought about how cool it might be to have a in-game marketplace where players could trade items. It came from real interaction. Meeting random players whose backpacks were full, handing over useful gear, helping each other out. And for a second I thought, this could be streamlined. My idea is garbage! Garbage, ignore it, ignore all the ideas coming in.

Modern gaming has trained us to believe that everything can and should be optimized, accelerated, and patched into perfection. As soon as something great appears, the instinct is to say, "Here is how you can make it better!" That instinct is dangerous. It's killed a lot of games recently.

Sometimes better is worse. And less, is more. Just sit back, relax. You did good!

This game works because of its friction. Because of its limits. Because not everything is convenient. The tension, the planning, the uncertainty, the human interactions that are not mediated or interrupted. Those are not flaws. You got them all right the first time.

I think of it like a long marriage. I have been married for 18 years. Any couple could point out things they wish were a little different. A little less of this, a little more of that. But life does not work that way. When you change one thing, just one, you change everything connected to it. You may have the best intentions. You may be responding to feedback. You may even be giving people what they think they want. And in doing so, you will destroy something rare. Don't do it.

Arc Raiders feels like a gem. A reminder of what games used to be and what they can still be. It respects the player’s intelligence. It respects their time in a deeper way than just filling it. It gives meaning to thought, patience, morality, and restraint.

So my advice again is simple:

Leave it alone!


Thank you,

Hayden James