Embark Just Nuked the Arc Raiders Dev Console Because You Lot Can't Have Nice Things

Embark Studios has officially pulled the plug on the "NewConsole" command after players spent the last forty-eight hours turning a tactical extraction shooter into a lawless dev-tool playground.

I’ve seen some spectacular mess-ups in my time covering this industry, but leaving an active developer console accessible via a simple Steam launch option is a special kind of oversight. For a brief, chaotic window, Arc Raiders wasn't just a game about scavenging for scrap and avoiding lethal machines. It was a sandbox where anyone with a keyboard and the -newconsole string could play god, or at the very least, play a version of the game that Embark definitely didn't want you to see yet.

The hotfix landed today with a brief, "nothing to see here" vibe from the devs. They’ve scrubbed the command entirely, and while some players are mourning the loss of their DIY first-person mode, the reality is that the game was moments away from being completely unplayable for anyone trying to play legit.

The "NewConsole" Chaos

This wasn't just about tweaking your FOV or making the grass look prettier. The "NewConsole" command gave players access to the core engine terminal, and once the "how-to" guides hit Reddit and Discord, the Mojave-style wasteland of Arc Raiders became a technical disaster zone.

The Infinite Respawn Nightmare

The most game-breaking exploit involved players using the console to force a reconnect to their previous session. In a high-stakes extraction shooter, death is supposed to be the end of the line. Instead, people were dying, popping open the console, and jumping right back into the same raid with their full loadout intact.

I’ve seen reports of trios essentially becoming immortal, repeatedly throwing themselves at other squads with a bottomless supply of trigger grenades until they eventually won through pure attrition. It completely nuked the "risk" part of the risk-versus-reward loop that makes this genre work. If you can’t actually lose your gear, the game just becomes a tedious exercise in clicking on heads.

The Ghost View and First-Person Fun

On the slightly less "cheaty" but still problematic side, the console allowed players to disable fog, shadows, and even entire textures. It turned the game into a sterile, high-visibility nightmare where you could spot a Raider crouching in a bush from three hundred meters away because, to you, the bush literally didn't exist.

Then there was the first-person command. I’ll be the first to admit that the footage floating around looks incredible. Seeing an ARC machine tower over you from a true first-person perspective is genuinely terrifying and adds a layer of immersion that the standard third-person camera misses. But as Embark’s design director mentioned months ago, the game’s assets aren't built for you to put your nose against them. It’s a janky, unsupported mess that gives an massive horizontal FOV advantage in PvP, so it had to go.

Fairness Over Optimization

I’ve seen some people complaining that they used the console purely for performance tweaks because their rigs are struggling. Look, I get it. The game is demanding, and sometimes you just want to turn off the volumetric clouds so your GPU doesn't turn into a space heater.

But you can't have a "tweak my performance" button that also happens to be a "respawn with my loot" button. Embark had to move fast here because the integrity of the servers was circling the drain. By enforcing these settings server-side and nuking the console access, they’ve at least leveled the playing field again.

The game is already surprisingly well-optimized for a title this pretty, and if you’re still struggling, you’re better off waiting for official DLSS updates rather than digging around in the engine's guts. It was a fun, weird few days of first-person clips and infinite loot, but the party is over. Get back to the grind like the rest of us.

Got a hot take on this? I know you do. Head over to r/neonlightsmedia to discuss it.

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