By Linnie W. Phillips 
It is safe to say that it is not good for us as a species, at least in the long run, to make technology too smart. There have been many movies, games, and books describing the carnage caused by an out-of-control AI, and none of them end really well for us fearless people. This is the matter of our protagonist in ArcRunner, the PC title that we are going to look at today. In fact, even in a half-decent scenario, it’s hell for our commander. We’ll see why when we leave.
ArcRunner takes place on board a space station, aptly named Arc. Everything was going relatively well until the station computer lost its marbles and decided that it would be a lot of fun to go on a rampage. To make matters worse, the computer acts as a kind of hive mind for all the other very deadly devices that act as security for the place, which means that everything with a gun follows the same protocol. Fortunately, Chip, a highly intelligent bot, was able to brand himself in a disused part of the mainframe and was not affected by the madness. He will be your guide when you try to get to the heart of Arc and reset the system manually. The rogue AI knows exactly what you are doing and will do everything to stop you. All you have to do is survive.
As I just mentioned, there is really no happy scenario here while the crazy computer is active. It’s dystopian action at its finest because you don’t even escape the hell you’re in by getting finished. They are simply cloned, thrown into another body and sent back again. Either the computer wins, or you succeed after being finished infinitely. Basically have fun. The only small pity here is that at least most of your new iterations will come back stronger. You will earn nanites on your runs in the arc, which will make your future self stronger and harder to finish. Choose your upgrades wisely. You will definitely need it.
As for upgrades, what I really like about ArcRunner is that their permanent upgrades apply to all classes in the game. This means that you will not start from scratch just because you feel like changing your style of play. This is a good thing, because I had invested quite a bit of time in the soldier class before I decided to try the ninja class and realized that I liked it much better. I would drop a reflective shield for invisibility bursts (seriously, what’s not to like) and this course felt more fluid and less awkward. Don’t get me wrong, the soldier is tough as nails, but I like something less tanky for walking. There is a third class that you need to unlock, so I will let you learn more about it as you play.
There aren’t really any bells and whistles when it comes to ArcRunner. This is not a game in which we are looking for shiny new mechanics or a deep and complex plot. In the good old shoot-em-up style, we choose a class, are armed to the teeth and face wave after wave of things that want our passed away. Think of a much modernized version of Doom or Team Fortress and we’re kind of in the right territory. I love these two titles and all the others that come from the run-and-gun genre, so I’m not a bit angry about it. Oh, add the fact that this is a rogue-lite, so everything is random. Does that sound funny? You bet that’s her butt!
As you can probably imagine, this title is difficult. Really hard. Levels are a collection of arenas that enemies must eliminate before they can move on with a few challenges and other elements. This means that you can expect to be absolutely bullied and that it often happens that you are blind. I lost the number of passed aways because something pierced me with bullets behind me and it is imperative to be on the alert if you want to go somewhere. That being said, this is probably not the kind of game to get into if you’re new to the genre. I’m not new to the genre and I’m playing on easy because I need to review this title and I value my sanity. Playing in normal mode produced way too many endgame screens for my taste. However, part of my problem may have been that I was playing alone.