Palworld developer John 'Bucky' Buckley has some massive praise for Arc Raiders' technical prowess and the developer's use of Unreal Engine 5.
Arc Raiders launched last week and is doing pretty well for itself. Despite some complaints about the cosmetic pricing, the game currently holds a 'Very Positive' rating on Steam. Its opening weekend saw Arc Raiders' servers crash after hitting a peak of 337,000 concurrent players on Steam, with the developers saying matchmaking may still take longer than usual while Embark Studios works on updates for the game. Given the game already has a pretty packed roadmap, I won't be shocked if it continues to be a heavy hitter.
It’s trendy to say “eww UE slop” to games these days, because blaming engines is “in”, but Arc Raiders might be the new benchmark for UE development. In awe of what they’ve achieved.November 3, 2025
Among the names praising Arc Raiders is Palworld developer PocketPair's publishing manager, John 'Bucky' Buckley. Bucky took to Twitter earlier today to praise the new extraction shooter, saying that "I think Arc Raiders might be the most technically impressive game I’ve played all year." He adds that while roguelike hits Megabonk (which Bucky has been particularly enamored with) and Ball X Pit have been "the most fun," he says that Arc Raiders "really is a technical marvel."
Unreal Engine 5 has faced a lot of criticism over the years due to performance issues (most notably stuttering issues). Bucky acknowledged this while praising Embark Studios' mastery of the engine: "It’s trendy to say 'eww UE slop' to games these days, because blaming engines is 'in', but Arc Raiders might be the new benchmark for UE development." Adding that he's "In awe of what they’ve achieved."
