ARC Raiders’ Frozen Trail Arrives Oct. 8 Ahead of a PvE Matchmaking Test

ARC Raiders’ Frozen Trail update arrives October 8 with the new Pendola Pass map, Outposts, additional ARC threats and a high-level Operation. Embark is also opening the full game for free on Steam, PlayStation and Xbox from 09:00 UTC on October 8 until 08:00 UTC on October 12. New players can enter Pendola Pass during the trial if they join someone who has already unlocked it. The update is followed by a one-week PvE matchmaking test, running October 13–20. Players can switch between the usual PvPvE raids and sessions with no player-to-player damage; solos, duos and trios will share the PvE pool. Night Raids, Hidden Bunker, Locked Gate and Frigate are excluded. Embark says the test is temporary, with reduced loot in PvE and slightly higher baseline loot in PvPvE while it studies player feedback and queue times. That makes this more than a new-map launch: Embark is testing whether players can choose a calmer co-op run without weakening the tension that defines its extraction mode. A permanent PvE option is not guaranteed. Details: [Frozen Trail](https://arcraiders.com/news/frozen-trail-is-coming-october-8th) · [free-play dates](https://arcraiders.com/news/play-for-free-weekend) · [PvE test rules](https://arcraiders.com/news/pve-toggle-beta-test).