A buddy just dropped a Steam gift in my lap like it’s no big deal.
He knows I’ve been sick as a dog lately.
The gift?
ARC Raiders.
I accepted it.
Of course I fucking accepted it.
I’ve got the self control of a raccoon in a dumpster fire.
And now the countdown starts.
If the emails stop, if the posts stop, or my Discord status flips to “last seen: three days ago extracting with a purple shield core”
…you’ll know exactly what happened. The game reached through the screen, wrapped its cold robot fingers around my throat, and dragged me under.
Because these extraction shooters are addictive as shit and in their very own right, they’re cults with better graphics and cool trinkets.
They promise you one more run, one more piece of juicy loot, one more flawless exfil, and six hours later you’re blinking at sunlight like a mole that just discovered religion.
I’ve been here before. Tarkov once swallowed me so hard I forgot what my family looked like.
Helldivers turned me into a zealot who saluted the fucking flag every time I loaded in.
I know how this ends…
Me, feral, unwashed, whispering “just one more drop” while the real world rots outside my window. ARC Raiders is worse. It’s prettier. Meaner. The robots are faster, the map is hungrier, and the players. Jesus, the players from what I’ve already seen, are already sharpening their knives for my dumb ass the second I hit the surface.
So yeah. If I vanish, send help. Or coffee. Or a fucking exorcist. But when I crawl back out, and I will crawl back out, because I’m too stubborn to die in a video game (probably)
I’m gonna be hauling something behind me. Stories. Raw, bleeding, high octane stories scraped off the walls of whatever hell I just survived.
Characters who don’t trust anyone, ever. Dialogue that cuts. Scenes so tense your teeth’ll ache.
Whole chapters built on the sound of a heartbeat right before the ambush drops. I’ll have raided my own brain and come out the other side dragging treasure. So pray for me. Or don’t. Either way, I’m going in. See you on the other side.
I’ll understand if you loot my corpse though….
Stephen Walker.
And if you’re nosey and wanna see the action, the shenanigans and fails. Look right here…