The hardest achievement in Ark Raiders is the most stressful I've ever felt in a game

Once upon a time, I saw achievements as a must-do in any video game I played. As someone who has long followed the game's 100% true content completion spirit, earning every achievement felt like the icing on the cake. However, the achievements eventually became little more than bonus material after I got married and had kids, mainly because I now have to be more selective about where I spend my time. Even so, I still get that rush when the trill of a Steam achievement greets my ears, and one of my latest Ark RaidersI thought impossible before. Still, I earned it (mostly by accident), and it's safe to say it's the most stressful I've ever felt in the game.

There are 50 achievements Ark RaidersAnd some of them are easy to get just by playing the game. All players can earn achievements, regardless of platform, by reaching a certain level, defeating a certain number of enemies, or completing quests for merchants. But one achievement, I would say, stands as its most difficult, because the conditions for it must be perfect. and from Ark Raiders Control can be a difficult game, completing its “In the Nick of Time” achievement almost feels like a fever dream.

Completing Ark Riders 'In the Nick of Time' achievement had my adrenaline through the roof.

When I first saw the conditions for the “In the Nick of Time” achievement, I almost scoffed at it. To earn it, players must return to Speranza with less than 5 seconds left in the round, which seems impossible on paper. At the time of writing, only 17% of players have completed the achievement on Steam, and compared to the rest of the achievements in the game, fewer players have completed it than any other. Needless to say, when I saw what was required to earn it, I essentially dismissed it and thought, “If I accomplish that, it must be sheer luck or coincidence.”

As it turns out, it was pretty much by accident. Every day, my son goes to sleep in the afternoon and my daughter has an hour of quiet time in her room. On this particular day, I decided to take my own quiet time to play a couple rounds Ark Raiders. Well, sometimes, my son doesn't want to sleep, and this is one of those occasions. My wife was also trying to get some quiet time, and as she is already a (mostly) stay-at-home mom with the kids, I took it upon myself to help my son sleep so he would continue to rest.

The only problem is that I was in the middle of a round Ark RaidersAnd I had already picked up some loot that I desperately needed to get back to Speranza.

I didn't want to leave the game, so I sat in a big bush and figured I'd be back in time to at least get some more loot and head for the extraction point. After spending about 20 minutes putting my son to sleep, I returned to my PC to find that although I was safe, I now only had about 6 minutes left in the round — and only an extraction point left on the other side. Ark Raiders' Dam Battlefield Map.

I took off at full speed towards the extraction point, but when I was halfway there, I reached a point where I felt trapped. I was on a structure too high off the ground to jump down safely, and several Wasps and Hornets were patrolling the area in front of me. I didn't have enough ammo to take them all, nor did I have enough time. So, I ran from left to right, looking for a safe way forward, but now there were only 3 minutes left in the round. So the only way forward is to jump down and hope I survive the fall.

I jumped and lost most of my health, but ran with whatever I had left to the extraction point. Fortunately, I managed to get away from the Wasps and Hornets that spotted me at first, but another roadblock awaited me in the elevator. one Ark Raiders' Deadly Leapers were patrolling the area around the elevator, and I now only had about 2 minutes left in the round. I waited a moment for Lipper to walk away a little before calling the elevator, but it wasn't enough. Calling the elevator alerted the Leepers, as well as every wasp and hornet nearby, and they began targeting me and shooting at me as I looked desperately for some cover while I waited for the elevator to arrive.

The gun went on and I was alone. Every other single player in the round had already taken out or died, making me the machine's sole target. I ran around, I dodged, I turned, I ran for the shadows. Until, finally, I heard the elevator arrive. Now, with only 10 seconds left on the clock, the door was finally opening, and I booked it. As I started the “Return to Speranza” sequence at a terminal, I heard Leaper charge a shot, but it was too late. The doors were closing, and after all that stress, I heard one of the most satisfying sounds – Proc Ark Raiders The Steam achievement is called “In the Nick of Time”. And all because my son was having trouble sleeping that day.

issued

October 30, 2025

ESRB

Juvenile / violence, blood