ARC Raiders Update 1.42.0 Adds Phantom Targets Part 2, and Xbox Series S Crashes Are Still Unfixed

ARC Raiders update 1.42.0 went live on 18 August, unlocking the second part of the Phantom Targets Raider Project and the Anomalia outfit that finishes it. It is out on Steam, the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and GeForce Now, and Embark Studios has not published a download size for it.

The patch is a mid-event drop rather than a season, so the headline additions are a project, a cosmetic set and a scheduling change. The list of known issues is arguably the more useful half — two of the crash bugs players have been reporting for days are still open, and one of them is a PC problem the studio traces to a Windows update.

What ARC Raiders update 1.42.0 actually changes

The Phantom Targets story resolves its setup. Shani traces the strange surveillance readings to erratic Wasps — ARC units making unfamiliar noises, flying in irregular patterns and carrying tech nobody has identified — all converging on a single location. Part 1 arrived with the 4 August store update and asked players to repair faulty antennas to triangulate the signal. Part 2 is gated behind this patch.

The Tick Hunter Set also goes on sale today across every storefront, having been wishlist-only on Steam since the beginning of the month. Two new Twitch drops are live alongside it: a car freshener charm and a ceramic vase backpack attachment.

The change with the longest tail is Regional Map Condition Scheduling. Until now, map conditions rotated on one global schedule, which meant whole regions could reliably miss them at every peak hour. From 1.42.0 the schedule is offset per region. The map condition tracker on the game's site has been updated to match.

The gameplay and enemy changes worth knowing

• The Snitch can now call in a Rocketeer, and can also call in a Firefly and Hornet duo. Snitch Scanners are unaffected.
• Queen and Matriarch stomp attacks no longer hit through walls or from far outside their intended range — a fix Embark first acknowledged in the 4 August notes.
• The Photoelectric Cloak now works against Turbine lightning attacks and Matriarch missiles.
• The Surge Coil Trap has spawn protection, so it no longer catches players as they load in.
• Quick Wheel slots can be rebound.
• The Dolabra, Hullcracker and Rascal now deal damage correctly in the Practice Range.
• A zip line in Buried City that could not be interacted with has been repositioned.

Audio got a real pass too. Indoor footsteps lose the scuff sounds and gain better distance audibility, occlusion and concrete cues; movement through foliage sounds cleaner; plastic cloth and tarp surfaces have their own footstep audio; and every Tier 3 magazine upgrade now has a distinct firing sound. In an extraction shooter where hearing someone a room away decides the fight, that matters more than the patch notes make it sound.

Which crashes are fixed and which are not

Embark says it fixed several crashes and made general stability improvements, but did not name them. Three known issues remain open, and they are the ones filling the subreddit.

Crashes on Xbox Series S are still under investigation, with no fix and no timeline given. PC crashes tied to Windows Update KB5121003 are also unresolved; the studio has published a workaround and says a proper fix is in progress. Players on Epic may suddenly lose keyboard input, and the suggested stopgaps are disabling any active overlay or alt-tabbing out and back in.

Smaller open bugs: a sticky notification dot on the Projects tab, a throw animation that fails when a Trigger 'Nade is detonated immediately after throwing, broken weapon-swap animations right after vaulting, Shredders floating to the ceiling in parts of the Hidden Bunker, Leapers jumping through the ARC Turbine, and clipping on the Triumph, Reaver and Azimuth outfits.

The anti-cheat note attached to this patch

Embark used the 1.42.0 notes to follow up on fair play. Working with Anybrain and Denuvo Anti-Cheat, it says it has actioned a large number of accounts running recently popular cheat software, and that it is improving how quickly it can sanction accounts involved in what it classifies as economy exploits. It is also working on making it harder for banned players to return on fresh accounts.

The studio's advice to everyone else is blunt: unverified third-party tools risk your data as well as your account, and Embark ID users should have 2FA or passkeys enabled on every external account linked to it.

If you are tracking live-service patches more broadly, we covered the Helldivers 2 7.0.1 hotfix and its two crash fixes and the Silent Hill 2 1.07 patch that Konami is still investigating. Xbox players deciding what to install next can check which games just left Game Pass or the Gears of War: E-Day open beta. On the hardware side, our list of Android games with proper gamepad support covers what else your controller is good for.