A rc Raiders is an extraction shooter from Embark Studios - so, a game where you deploy into a map full of other players and do as much shooting and looting as you can before making an escape. This is my first real go at the genre, and it's excellent. It has smooth, only occasionally cumbersome combat, sound design that scratches the brain just right and robotic enemies that genuinely terrify. And it satisfies my constant need to sift through my inventory and rifle through every drawer. But I have to keep my head on a swivel: Arc Raider's player v player element means I can get jumped for my precious cargo by a malicious rival at any moment.

A video game at the centre of a debate over artificial intelligence (AI) is in the running for the top prize at next year's Bafta Game Awards. Arc Raiders, from Swedish developer Embark Studios, has been a smash-hit since its October launch, selling more than four million copies. But the multiplayer shooter has been criticised for using text-to-speech tools to create additional lines, based on dialogue previously recorded by the game's actors. It is one of 10 titles longlisted for the prestigious best game award, with a shortlist to be announced in the run-up to April's annual ceremony. Other games up for the top prize include blockbusters Ghost of Yōtei and Death Stranding 2, indie games Hollow Knight: Silksong and Hades II, and indie adventure Blue Prince.

How generative AI in Arc Raiders started a scrap over the gaming industry's future Don't get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? A rc Raiders is, by all accounts, a late game-of-the-year contender. Dropped into a multiplayer world overrun with hostile drones and military robots, every human player is at the mercy of the machines - and each other. Can you trust the other raider you've spotted on your way back to humanity's safe haven underground, or will they shoot you and take everything you've just scavenged? Perhaps surprisingly, humanity is (mostly) choosing to band together, according to most people I've talked to about this game.