{"id":1519648,"date":"2026-03-07T08:54:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T08:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zWQ4tEHFZwaDewsFZmzbRn"},"modified":"2026-03-07T08:54:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T08:54:21","slug":"marathons-aura-farming-npcs-show-just-how-bland-and-lifeless-arc-raiders-ai-voiced-characters-really-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/marathons-aura-farming-npcs-show-just-how-bland-and-lifeless-arc-raiders-ai-voiced-characters-really-are\/","title":{"rendered":"Marathon’s aura-farming NPCs show just how bland and lifeless Arc Raiders’ AI-voiced characters really are"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Arc Raiders<\/a> is undeniably a one-of-a-kind extraction shooter, finally bringing the niche, hardcore genre to the masses. And while its retro-futuristic aesthetic, reminiscent of Fallout<\/a>, is a joy to wage war pr make life-long friends in, the same can’t be said for its cast of quest givers.<\/p>\n

Try to think of any characteristic or personality trait to describe Shani. Impossible. Celeste? Nope. Lance is by far the coolest, but that’s just because he’s a robot wearing aviators. Arc Raiders characters are puppets pretending to be human, a problem only worsened by the deadpan line delivery of their text-to-speech, AI-powered voices<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"Arc<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

Arc Raiders’ Shani. <\/span>(Image credit: Embark)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But it’s an extraction shooter, so expectations were and still are low regarding story and characters. Yet, when you hop over to Marathon<\/a>, and you see how overkill Bungie’s been, it’s hard not to feel let down even more by Embark’s approach.<\/p>\n

Like Arc Raiders, Marathon’s faction reps are effectively just a user interface to offer quests and hand out loot. They’re transactional\u2014you’re there because you need to do something. But Bungie understands that it doesn’t mean they need to be boring.<\/p>\n

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