Arena Breakout Infinite preview: The escape from Tarkov you didn't know you needed

Arena Breakout Infinite (ABI) is an upcoming first-person extraction shooter from the talented team at Morefun Studios. Diving into the game, players can expect an immersive tactical shooter experience that focuses on realism. For those who are new, the gameplay loop in ABI is pretty straightforward — drop into the Dark Zone, loot, shoot, and make it out alive.

Well, that might seem quite simple on paper, but it's way deeper than that as you get started with the game and start exploring everything it has to offer.

Unlike my reviews, where I deep dive into each and every aspect of the game, for this preview I will keep things simple. I will share my first impressions of the game, the things I liked, and the facets where I believe there's room for improvement.

So, without any further ado, let us get started with this preview of Arena Breakout Infinite.

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Arena Breakout Infinite - My first impressions

Every gamer will notice one of two things first in a video game — graphics or audio. In Arena Breakout Infinite, the first thing that hooked me was the visuals. The game, especially on the highest graphics settings, looks fantastic. Sure, it is not perfect and has issues such as low-resolution texture or funky character animations, but keeping those things inside, the game itself is beautiful to look at.

Graphics of Arena Breakout Infinite (Image via Morefun Studios)

Speaking of the game, I got ready for my first raid and decided to go in solo (it was a bad idea). I usually play games like Call of Duty or Valorant, so the gunplay took me by storm. I still remember my first encounter with an AI enemy and I will admit here: I nearly died in this fight. The guns behave realistically and I didn't expect them to have that high recoil.

Having played PUBG PC in the past, I'm quite used to pulling down my mouse across the mouse pad to control rifles on full auto. In Arena Breakout Infinite, I was running out of space on my mouse pad and realized that full-auto is a no-go and you must fire in bursts to keep things in control.

This was a change of pace for me, as it became apparent what Arena Breakout Infinite was going for. It is a realistic military shooter and you cannot just go guns blazing expecting to come out as the winner on the other end, just like in the real world.

Looting in Arena Breakout Infinite (Image via Morefun Studios)

Needless to say, I died and lost everything I brought with me on my first raid. This was the moment I realized playing this game solo as a beginner would not be easy. From thereon, I started playing with friends for a better experience and not die instantly every time.

So overall, my first impressions of the game were pretty decent. My first infill into the Dark Zone taught me that to survive, you must team up. And second, you cannot be all about shooting. You must take a strategic and tactical approach to every situation to survive.

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The Good and the Bad: How does Arena Breakout Infinite play?

Things that Arena Breakout Infinite gets right

Starting with the good, Arena Breakout Infinite's visuals are amazing. Sure it's no Cyberpunk at night with neon lights, but it is a realistic military shooter and the world is exactly how you expect it to be. It is a nitty-gritty world without many color variations with abandoned infrastructure, which I believe is a good thing for Arena Breakout Infinite as it helps maintain its commitment to realism.

When it comes to gameplay, for the most part, it was decent. For a realistic military shooter, the pace was fine. As I mentioned earlier, you have to take things slow in the game to have any chance at survival. Do not get lost in the world looking for loot. Always remember that danger lurks in every corner of the shooter, be it a real enemy or an AI soldier. It doesn't matter which one you encounter, as they will hit you hard.

Weapon Assembly system in Arena Breakout Infinite (Image via Morefun Studios)

Speaking of things that can kill, the weapons are designed to behave realistically and it shows in every way. Whether you are shooting or simply reloading, it will work just like a gun would in real life. Don't expect to be reloading weapons like John Wick. It's slow and will take time. What makes the gunplay even more fun is the game's Weapon Assembly system.

You have endless options to tweak your weapons and fine-tune them to your liking. I mean, don't expect to shoot lasers but using the right attachments can make a huge difference in how your weapon behaves.

These are some of the things I liked. There are more aspects I would love to delve into but the game is still in beta.

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Things that Arena Breakout Infinite doesn't get right

Speaking of worse, let's briefly discuss the facets I didn't quite like. For me, one of the issues that stood out was the audio. It was marketed to have the best-in-class audio experience but it didn't feel like so. Sure, weapons sound great, you can hear where your enemies are coming from and their footsteps are distinct, but I found a problem with the vertical audio.

Sometimes, it becomes difficult to determine where an enemy is, especially in houses with wooden floors. They can be below you but it would sound like they are on top. This can cause unnecessary death sometimes.

Moreover, being a realistic shooter, I should be able to climb walls. I mean, in most modern FPS games, mantling and climbing are a part of the game. Here, I missed it. There are so many short walls that could be easily scaled but the game won't let me.

Apart from these, I believe there is a steep learning curve. There are so many types of loot that if you aren't familiar with extraction shooters, your first few hours will be involved in learning these aspects. If you go into a match solo expecting to learn, you will come out losing all your items.

I get the developers' intentions and goals with Arena Breakout Infinite, but I believe the training phase should adequately dive into all gameplay aspects to ensure newbies don't end up losing everything while learning the mechanics.

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Arena Breakout Infinite: Should you be excited about the game?

Simply put, yes. If you are a fan of realistic military shooters, you should definitely check out Arena Breakout Infinite. The developers did a marvelous job at creating an unforgettable extraction shooter experience that lives up to the quality of many triple-A titles. And the best part? Unlike its competitors, it's free.

You don't have to spend a single dime to get started, which makes it more accessible to everyone. As long as you have a Steam account and hardware to run it, you are good to go. Throughout my play sessions, I didn't feel once that I was playing a free-to-play game that is yet to go gold. All the features I could have asked for were already built in and they worked flawlessly.

Sure, it is not perfect and has a few quirks of its own. However, I am definitely looking forward to its final release as I believe it will get adequate polish. To me, it truly stands out as a realistic next-gen extraction shooter, and can't wait to get my hands on the final version.

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Played on: Windows PC

Platform(s): Microsoft Windows

Developer(s): Morefun Studios, Tencent Games

Publisher(s): Morefun Studios, Tencent Games

Release date: TBA