Arc Raiders has a lot of odd quirks, like various skills not functioning how you’d think, being able to effectively front-flip to avoid fall damage, or even the ability to ride its terrifying machines. Honestly, I thought I’d seen it all at this point.
And then I saw a player frozen in time. Completely paralysed mid-motion. Naturally, I just assumed the player had died, and the game had bugged to make their death pose look a little funky.
It turns out that I was almost bang on the money. Now illuminated having watched Jinko’s latest Arc Raiders mythbusting video, I’ve learned that these players stuck in place are the result of forcing the game closed, such as the ol’ ALT+F4 or disconnecting—not from being killed or even surrendering to return to the main menu.
As you’ll see in the timestamped video above, this peculiarity can lead to some very amusing events. Jinko tests this quirk with a friend on a zipline, and the player comes to a complete stop midway through, only to go zooming off as if nothing happened when they join back.
Best of all, though, is when the player jumps off Dam Battlegrounds’ Control Tower and performs what can only be described as a miracle or the birth of a god. The player immediately stops falling through the air, instead hovering over the wastes like Homelander. It’s an intimidating aura, to say the least.
Having seen just some of the possibilities of such a small feature, I now want to pull some pranks on other players, like lulling them into a false sense of security or conquering gravity.
My biggest advice to you is this: if you see a player stuck in time, they’re not dead and they could come back any moment. Either…shoot them (cruel, I know, but it’s better safe than sorry) or run away in case they return to their body and blast you when you least expect it.
