ARC Raiders' Frozen Trail update lands on Thursday 8 October: a snowbound new map, a Frigate you can board, three new ARC, two new guns and a fifth weapon tier. The same day, the whole game goes free to play until 12 October.
Embark calls it the biggest update since launch. Everything below is from Embark's own posts, checked 4 October.
Pendola Pass and the Frigate
Celeste and Shani have traced a strange signal across Toledo to Pendola Pass, an old Italian village and Exodus transport hub. Embark names a supermarket, a dead town square, an observatory and a buried train depot. In the middle lies a fallen Emperor, with rare technology inside.
A fallen Emperor is unprecedented, so ARC send one of their largest vessels to patrol it: the Frigate. You can board it, work through its passageways and unlock paths while fighting ARC old and new, possibly with other Raiders doing the same, hundreds of feet up.
Three new ARC
Bully
Machine-learned and aggressive. It gallops straight at your position and gives no ground. Embark's advice: cover, timing and accurate shots.
Skulker
An ambusher that lurks at the edge of your vision, lands a flurry of blows, then retreats out of sight before you can answer.
Hydra
A stationary turret on the Frigate, built from three stacked, autonomous sections. Embark says it can handle entire squads.
New guns and the Amplified tier
Stiletto
Light ammo and an early-game alternative to the Renegade. Cheap to craft and quick to fire, but Embark warns that button mashing costs accuracy.
Bantam
A snub-nosed heavy-ammo revolver with a unique hip-fire capability, built for close fights with ARC and Raiders alike.
Amplified weapons are the bigger change: a fifth quality level for 15 existing guns, with more planned. Each opens a branching upgrade path at the new Research Workstation. Embark's examples are a fully automatic Burletta, a scoped Renegade and a Rattler with incendiary rounds and a 64-round magazine.
The full list of 15 guns, the upgrade costs and any stats aren't published yet. If a favourite gun has been gathering dust in your stash, this is the update that might bring it back.
Gadgets and the Outpost
Grappling Hook
Climb hard-to-reach spots, abseil off buildings and swing across large gaps. A whole new way to move around a map.
Tether Launcher
Wires two points together and roots a target in place. Embark even suggests tethering Raiders to ARC and watching them get dragged off.
The Outpost
A Raider Den extension between the Rust Belt and the mountains. It holds the Research Workstation, so your Amplified upgrades start here.
Camera
Zoom, aperture and focus controls, plus a selfie mode with emotes. The Yank Grenade, a skill tree rework and new questlines also arrive.
Reward Passes replace Raider Decks
Raider Decks are gone. Players banked Cred faster than new Decks could absorb it, so Reward Passes now tie each pass to its update. The Frozen Trail Pass has 60 levels and two tracks, and every old Deck reward moves into a free Legacy Pass.
Free track versus Premium track
The free weekend: 8 to 12 October
ARC Raiders is free to play from 8 October at 09:00 UTC to 12 October at 08:00 UTC on Steam, Xbox and PlayStation. That's 8pm Thursday to 7pm Monday in Sydney and Melbourne. It's the full game, and you need an Embark ID (13+) and a platform account.
What else changes this month
- Trials return on 8 October after a pause that began when the season ended on 22 September (source).
- No wipe until early 2027. Expeditions, the opt-in progress reset, are paused for an overhaul. Earned buffs stay active.
- A PvE toggle gets a one-week test, 13 to 20 October. No player damage, lower loot value, then it's removed (source).
- Cheaters now get permanent bans with no warnings, and Embark plans wider hardware bans later in 2026 (source).
Want a squad for the Frigate?
If you'd rather not learn the Frigate solo, Squad Carry puts a pro from our team in your party, on their own account, for the hours you book. You never share your login, and you keep everything you loot.
Embark's Ban and Enforcement Policy lists account boosting as a bannable offence, so Squad Carry is against Embark's rules. It avoids account sharing only because nobody logs in as you.
Frozen Trail questions
When does ARC Raiders Frozen Trail come out? On Thursday 8 October 2026. Embark hasn't announced a patch time as of 4 October. The free weekend opens at 09:00 UTC that day, which is 8pm AEDT.
Is ARC Raiders free to play this weekend? Yes. The full game is free on Steam, Xbox and PlayStation from 8 October at 09:00 UTC to 12 October at 08:00 UTC.
What are the new weapons in ARC Raiders Frozen Trail? The Stiletto, a light-ammo battle rifle, and the Bantam, a heavy-ammo revolver. Fifteen existing guns also get an Amplified fifth tier with branching upgrades.
Is ARC Raiders getting a PvE mode? Only as a test. A PvE toggle runs from 13 to 20 October with no player damage and lower loot, then Embark removes it.