Embark Studios is calling Frozen Trail the "2.0 Update" for ARC Raiders, and the label fits the scale of the patch. Today, October 8, the extraction shooter adds the snowy Pendola Pass map, three new ARC enemies plus the Frigate encounter, Outposts, a revamped progression system, weapon amplification, and two new guns. The full game is also free to play across supported platforms from October 8 through October 12.The centerpiece of the update is Pendola Pass, an abandoned Italian village and former Exodus transport hub in the mountains beyond the Rust Belt. A massive Emperor has fallen nearby, leaving rare technology inside its wreckage and drawing both Raiders and ARC forces into the valley. The map is built around vertical traversal, with danger above and below ground, while the new Flash Freeze condition can turn exposed areas into deadly frozen ground and force players to seek cover.Frozen Trail introduces three new ARC enemies and one major airborne encounter:
Bully - an aggressive four-legged machine that closes distance quickly and pressures players at close range.
Skulker - an ambush-focused enemy that lurks around the edge of your vision and attacks when you lose track of it.
Hydra - a stationary turret made of three autonomous sections that can engage multiple targets at once.
Frigate - a huge airborne ARC vessel that acts as a special map condition and encounter. Raiders can board it, navigate its interior, unlock routes, and fight for the technology inside.
Raider Decks have evolved into the new Reward Pass system. The Frozen Trail Pass contains 60 levels split between Free and Premium tracks. The Free track includes the new base outfits, cosmetics, weapons, gadgets, items, and up to 200 Raider Tokens. The Premium track adds exclusive outfit variants, legendary Weapon Stencils, hairstyles, and up to 1,150 Raider Tokens. Previous Raider Deck rewards have been moved into a free Legacy Pass, preserving anything players already unlocked and allowing unfinished old rewards to be earned later.The update also adds the Outpost, a personal customizable space unlocked through a project. Its Research Workstation opens the new Amplified Weapons system, which adds a fifth quality level and branching upgrades to 15 existing weapons. Embark's examples include a fully automatic Burletta, a scoped Renegade, and a Rattler with incendiary rounds and a 64-round magazine.The new arsenal includes the Stiletto, a light-ammo battle rifle designed as an accessible long-range option, and the Bantam, a heavy-ammo snub-nosed revolver with a dedicated hip-fire mechanic. Frozen Trail also adds the Grappling Hook, Tether Launcher, Yank Grenade, Basic and Advanced Cameras, the Mountaineer's Detector, Banjo, and Harmonica.The Skill Tree has been reworked as well. Embark replaced several old large nodes with more meaningful choices and reshuffled skills to give experienced players more control over how their Raider is built. The studio has also moved away from a constant stream of smaller headline updates toward fewer, larger content drops, while continuing regular work on matchmaking, anti-cheat, stability, and quality-of-life fixes.The free-play period runs from October 8 at 09:00 UTC to October 12 at 08:00 UTC on Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. It gives access to the full game, and progress carries over if you later buy ARC Raiders.
