Embark Studios shipped ARC Raiders Update 1.45.0 (September 8) — explicitly labeled the last live update before the October 8 Frozen Trail expansion — followed by the 1.46.0 store update on September 15. Between them they set the full pre-expansion calendar: Creds are being sunset on October 8, Trials Season 5 closes September 22 with the Scorta Set, and the Ascending the Mountain community project is narratively clearing the path into the new map.
What changed: The final live patch landed — including a silent Unreal EngineUnreal Engine. A widely-used commercial game engine from Epic Games; powers many large-studio (AAA) games. UE5 is the current generation. 5.3-to-5.7 jump — and Embark’s countdown clock now runs on three hard dates: Sep 22, Oct 5, Oct 8. Why it matters: Frozen Trail is the first test of Embark’s twice-yearly big-update model, and the pre-patch chores have real deadlines that expire. Who should care: Raiders holding Creds or chasing the Season 5 set, and lapsed players deciding when to return.
The three dates that matter
| Date | What expires |
|---|---|
| September 22, 2026 | Trials Season 5 ends — last chance for the Scorta Set; final-week Topside opponents are Queens and Matriarchs |
| October 5, 2026 | The Ascending the Mountain Raider Project ends (Burletta pistol, Wolfpack grenades, blueprints) |
| October 8, 2026 | Creds are removed — Raider Decks migrate to a new system, unlocked rewards stay |
What 1.45.0 actually changed
- Engine: Unreal Engine 5.3 → 5.7 — the invisible headline, filed under performance
- Snitch Scanners now spawn ARC like the classic Snitch, with a lower chance of stronger machines
- Aphelion weapon sway reduced for steadier aiming
- Quick item cycling is now separately rebindable (or disableable) from the quick-use wheel
- Landing on moving surfaces now carries you with the surface on touchdown
- Matchmaking errors now explain why a queue failed (disconnects, crossplay mismatch)
- PS5 session-start crash fixed; known-issue list remains (Series S crashes, PC KB5121003 issue, Epic keyboard-loss bug)
The Frozen Trail runway
1.45’s Ascending the Mountain project (live until October 5) is the narrative bridge: Shani’s investigations of ghostly ARC signals point past the tube network toward the mountain range the Raiders can’t yet reach — the winter map that Frozen Trail adds on October 8: the game’s largest, most vertical region, a new high-level ARC Operation, the expanded Outpost base replacing the Raider Den, and the long-promised skill tree rework. The expedition wipe system stays paused into 2027 — Embark suspended it earlier this year citing feedback, with promised changes to accessibility, timelines, and rewards.
The honest read
The cadence shift — from monthly updates to two big drops a year — cost ARC Raiders some of its launch momentum, and recent Steam reviews have sat around mixed on cheating and content-drought complaints. But the pre-patch choreography here is textbook: every currency, season, and narrative thread has an explicit expiry that funnels toward October 8, and the engine upgrade lands before the new map rather than with it. If Frozen Trail’s skill tree rework and Outpost system land as described, the content-drought complaint answers itself; the anti-cheat question is the one Embark hasn’t yet pre-empted. Spend the Creds before October 8 — they’re not converting, they’re deleting.
Next read
- For the expansion’s full contents, see ARC Raiders October Update: Frozen Trail Survival.
- For where the genre’s other big names fit, see Extraction Shooters 2026: ARC Raiders vs Tarkov vs Delta Force.
- For survival fundamentals, see Survival-Craft Genre Primer.
- All our coverage lives on the ARC Raiders hub.