Embark is handing the keys to everyone for five days, and it picked the biggest update the game has had to do it.
## What's happening ARC Raiders is free to play on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S from Oct. 8 through Oct. 12, 2026, per GamingBolt, which reports the window as 9 AM UTC on the 8th to 8 AM UTC on the 12th. Embark's own announcement lists the free play weekend for the same dates and ties it to the launch of Frozen Trail on Oct. 8. Existing players get the update at no extra cost.
## What Frozen Trail adds The headline is a new map, Pendola Pass. GamesBeat describes a mountainous region at the northern edge of the Rust Belt with more verticality, dense interiors, Flash Freeze weather that pushes you into shelters, and a Ballistic Gondola that extracts three Raiders at a time. It also lists three new ARC enemies (Bully, Skulker and Hydra), the Frigate airborne carrier, Outposts you build outside Speranza, a Weapon Amplification system, a Grappling Hook, weapon stencils, Trials Season 6 and a 60-level Frozen Trail Reward Pass.

Embark says the update also improves matchmaking, anti-cheat and stability. GamingBolt quotes the studio's anti-cheat stance as "no warnings, no second chances" on permanent bans, and reports a PvE mode test running Oct. 13 to 20. We only have that PvE window from GamingBolt, so treat it as one-source until Embark says more.
## Why a free week matters An extraction shooter lives or dies on its lobbies. Fresh players mean fuller matches, more traders for the in-game economy and more squads for people who've been waiting on friends to catch up. Free weekends also drop a flood of new accounts into a game right as the old ones return for a new map, which is the stress test Embark's matchmaking and anti-cheat work is about to get.
If you've been on the fence, the cost of finding out is zero for five days. Check your platform's store page near launch, since regional start times follow the UTC window.
## Sources - GamingBolt, Oct. 2, 2026: ARC Raiders is Free to Play From October 8th to 12th - ARC Raiders (Embark Studios), Sept. 28, 2026: Frozen Trail is coming October 8th - GamesBeat, Sept. 23, 2026: Embark Studios unveils ARC Raiders' Frozen Trail update - ARC Raiders, Official Frozen Trail Update Developer Overview (YouTube)

