Shortly before Arc Raiders launched, I caught up with Embark Studios founder and chief creative officer Stefan Strandberg. We mostly spoke about the developer's approach to making an extraction shooter – specifically, how Arc Raiders is the first game to truly understand the genre since Escape From Tarkov.
As our chat wrapped up, there was time for one last – crucially, quick – question. Truly believing it would be quick, I asked why Embark Studios didn't put enemy health bars in Arc Raiders. Some quick context: I hate seeing health bars in any game in which immersion is even somewhat valued. Every time a big red bar is slung over a character's head, it may as well be a flashing neon sign that reads "YOU ARE IN A GAME". But I digress: the point is, Strandberg is a passionate ally to the crusade against unnecessary UI. Like, really passionate.
No cheating
I'm a huge fan of the way Arc Raiders handles health. Even without health bars, you can see how much damage something's taken: the more you shoot a robot, for example, the more it will vomit thick black smoke, the more you'll see fire flickering through cracked armor plating, all while it physically falls apart. Damage is persistent, which means you can even see when one of the AI-controlled machines has been in a scrap with players – who could still be nearby, dead or alive.
When Arc Raiders was being developed as a purely PvE game, Strandberg says it did have health bars – along with hit indicators and damage numbers. "It's something you can autopilot to as a developer," he admits, before offering more validation than I can be trusted with.
"Our game has physical properties, and we are building really immersive, three-dimensional worlds," he explains. "We're asking players to lean in, listen, and really look at things. Everything is there. There are so many cues in the sound, in the VFX, in everything. So when you look at how your bullet travels, and it hits, it cascades, it has kinetics, those are qualities that just go away. If you put a damage number on top, or a health bar, that's redundant. Now you're playing the Excel sheet of a game! I'm like, why are we building these fantastic, 3D-simulated worlds if we're not supposed to appreciate them?"
By finding alternate ways to get that information across, Arc Raiders builds upon the immersion it fosters in other areas. Unlike many shooters – which often feel like barebones server browsers when you're not in a match – Arc Raiders goes to great lengths to foster liveliness in all areas. Ditching health bars may not seem like it plays a big part in that, but it does. It ensures that all of the time and effort spent making the world feel real isn't punctured by gamey-ness, subtly closing the gap between you and your character.
"Why are we building these realistic worlds? Why am I getting all the answers in a 2D format on top of 3D? I'm getting agitated!"
Stefan Strandberg, Embark Studios founder and chief creative officer
"At one point we just said 'we have to trust the players more,'" says Strandberg, recalling the decision to ditch that additional UI. "We have to trust in their own intuitive abilities to discern what's going on. And I think I would encourage more games to do this, because I'm not going to say it's lazy – there are lots of great games that have health bars – but I think there is equally something important about allowing players to play the game, and look into the game world, and see what's actually going on there."
"I'm really proud of us not having gone down that route," he adds. "There are some games that totally beat us on immersion, but you can see where we're going with this and it's something we're really proud of. We really do see how powerful it is when you start to remove odd elements where you get the answer served on a silver platter."
Why stop at Arc Raiders? If Strandberg had his way, the industry wouldn't. "To me, that's the future where every game should be going," he says, now running several minutes over his hard (and self-imposed) cut-off point for the interview. "Like, why are we building these realistic worlds? Why am I getting all the answers in a 2D format on top of 3D? I'm getting agitated!"
You and me both, Strandberg. You and me both.
We've rounded up the best battle royale games, but I'm afraid some of them have health bars...
