What Is Arena Breakout Infinite? Beginner Guide (2026)

Intro

Hi guys, Rex here! In this video, I’m going to break down exactly what Arena Breakout Infinite is, its core mechanics, and whether it’s actually worth your time.

Now I’ll be honest, for the longest time I kind of wrote this game off as just another Tarkov clone, and to some extent, that comparison is fair. A lot of the core DNA is very similar. But after putting a lot of hours into the game myself, and with over 10,000 hours in extraction shooters, what surprised me the most was just how much depth and quality there is here, especially for a free-to-play title.

Arena Breakout Infinite is a high-stakes PvPvE extraction shooter where you load into raids, fight both AI and real players, loot valuable gear, work on objectives and try to extract alive—because if you die, you lose what you brought in.

What makes ABI interesting though is that while the foundation may feel familiar if you’ve played other extraction shooters before, it does a lot to make the experience more approachable. The onboarding is cleaner, a lot of the systems are easier to understand, and there are a ton of quality-of-life improvements that make getting into the genre much less intimidating than something like Tarkov.

So whether you’re completely new to extraction shooters or just curious about Arena Breakout Infinite specifically, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know to get started. But without further ado, let’s dive into it!

Part 1 – Getting Started: UI, Traders, Stash, Economy & Gear Recovery

Getting started with Arena Breakout Infinite can feel a little overwhelming at first, because the menu systems are quite extensive. Multiple tabs, sub-tabs, events, progression systems and monetization layers. But the good news is that once you get familiar with it, navigating the menus and finding what you need becomes very straightforward.

The main menu itself is actually quite clean, with most of the important buttons exactly where you’d expect them to be. One of the most important ones is your storage tab, which takes you to your stash. This is where you’ll see your character, equipped gear, inventory and your total cash, known as Koen.

From the Contacts tab, you’ll find the game’s vendors, where you can buy and sell items directly. There’s also the market, which is a player-driven marketplace where you’ll often get better prices by trading with other players instead. You can sell items directly from your stash either to contacts or on the Market, making this entire process very seamless.

One thing ABI does really well here is making gearing up incredibly easy compared to other extraction shooters. Instead of piecing everything together one item at a time, you can click through each equipment slot, build your entire loadout without committing, and then purchase everything at once when you’re done. The game even shows you the total price up front, which makes budgeting much easier as a beginner.

The same goes for healing items, grenades, magazines and ammo. You can use built-in presets to keep things simple or create your own preset once you find a loadout you like. I found this massively helpful in the beginning.

There are also quick kits, which give you pre-made loadouts in exchange for vouchers earned through things like missions or progression, making it even easier to jump straight back into a raid.

And if your immediate fear is going broke, don’t panic. The game is actually very forgiving here. Covert Ops lets you load into a raid as a militant with a free basic kit, loot, fight and extract with whatever you find. There’s a cooldown on this mode, but that’s generally not an issue as it is intended as a fallback plan more than something you farm repeatedly.

If you’re playing in a squad, there’s another safety net too. If you die but your teammates extract with your gear, those items get mailed straight back to you. If you’re solo though, you lose everything if you die.

Part 2 – Progression, Missions & Seasonal Content

One thing I think ABI does really well for beginners is progression, because instead of dumping every single system on you at once, the game gradually unlocks important features as you level up. And by far the fastest way to level up is simply completing the main storyline, which consists of 38 missions in total.

Your account level caps at 30, and honestly, I found this quick and easy to reach. It doesn’t feel like some brutal grind. Instead, the system is clearly designed to onboard you gradually, introducing maps, mechanics and features one step at a time so the game never feels overwhelming.

For example, you start with access to the Farm map, then gradually unlock things like the market, gunsmith, Covert Ops, new contacts, seasonal content and additional maps as you level up. By the time you hit level 30, you should have a solid understanding of how the game works.

On top of that, each season comes with a battle pass system with both free and premium rewards, weekly missions, and a full seasonal questline packed with objectives and rewards. One particularly important reward is the Titanium safe container, which is the largest secure container in the game and can be earned through seasonal progression.

And importantly, ABI does not wipe your overall account progression every season. You keep your level, money, stash and gear. The main thing that resets is seasonal progression, meaning rewards like the Titanium container need to be earned again if you want access to it next season.

Part 3 – The Gameplay Loop (Risk, Reward, Extraction & Gear Fear)

The default game mode is Tactical Ops, where you choose a map and load into a live raid with a loadout of your choosing. Once you spawn, the first thing you’ll want to do is open your map, because this is where ABI gives you a lot of useful information.

You’ll see your active missions, where you need to go, and available extraction points. You can even place your own marker directly on the map, which then shows up on your in-game compass with both direction and distance, making navigation incredibly easy even when you’re brand new.

Extraction points aren’t always as simple as just walking out, though. Some are open by default, some may or may not be available depending on the match, and others have conditions attached—like requiring payment, dog tags looted from dead players, specific actions, or only opening after a certain amount of time.

The gameplay loop is simple in theory: move through the map, loot containers, fight AI enemies and other players, work on your missions, and decide how much risk you’re willing to take before trying to extract.

There are also encrypted safes clearly marked on the map, which are one of the main sources of high-value items. Because of that, these areas are often highly contested, and opening a safe takes 20 seconds while making a lot of noise, often attracting nearby players.

Looting is a bit of a Tetris game, fitting valuable items into your rig, backpack, pockets and safe container, but with a bit of practice it becomes very smooth thanks to solid keybind options.

One massive benefit of ABI is that the game estimates the value of items in-raid, letting you know exactly what is worth picking up and what you might want to leave behind. There is also a total loot value counter at the top of the gear screen, showing how much value you’re currently carrying, not including what you brought in.

One thing I really like about ABI compared to some other extraction shooters is that progression feels forgiving. Mission progress usually sticks, even if you die, which means you still feel like you’re moving forward instead of losing meaningful progress after a bad raid. Combined with the strong map tools and clear objectives, the game does a really good job of helping new players find direction.

That said, the core tension is still very real. If you die, you lose what you brought in, which is where the classic gear fear comes in. Bring too much while you’re still learning, and a rough streak can get expensive fast. Bring too little, and you may be holding yourself back and reducing your odds of success. Finding that balance is a big part of the extraction shooter experience.

And finally, ABI can be played solo or in squads of up to four players, so if you go in alone, you need to be prepared to run into larger teams.

Part 4 – Combat, Controls & Audio Awareness

ABI is a tactical extraction shooter with a strong focus on realistic mechanics, so if you’re expecting constant fast-paced run-and-gun action, this may take some adjusting. Positioning, decision making and information matter just as much as raw aim.

Movement is fairly complex, giving you a lot of control over how you approach fights and reposition. You can sprint, walk, slow walk, crouch, slow crouch, lean in both directions and go prone.

The base keybinds are also quite intuitive, with quick access to useful functions like reloading, checking your magazine, changing fire modes, switching scope magnification or even changing zeroing to adjust for bullet drop at longer distances.

And when it comes to audio, this is absolutely critical. Just like in most extraction shooters, almost everything you do makes noise, which can be heard from a distance. Sprinting, repositioning, looting, opening safes—it all gives away information to nearby players.

That means your movement decisions genuinely matter. Do you full sprint across open ground, or move slowly and stay quiet? Do you take the direct route, or make a safer detour? These kinds of decisions will absolutely impact your survival rate.

Part 5 – Weapons, Modding, Ammo & Reloading

ABI offers a huge variety of weapons, and most of them can be heavily customized to fit your playstyle. Scopes, grips, stocks, tactical attachments and more all impact your weapon’s stats.

Better attachments might improve recoil control, stability or handling, while certain optics may give you a clear advantage at range at the cost of worse stats elsewhere.

That means weapon building becomes a tradeoff between performance, playstyle and price. The absolute best builds can get very expensive, but cheaper options are often still completely viable.

That is because in ABI, damage is mainly determined by your ammo type, not the weapon itself. Different ammo types have different penetration values, which directly affect what level armor they are effective against.

Armor tiers range from 1 to 6, and the ratio is very straight forward, with tier 3 ammo piercing tier 3 armor, tier 4 piercing tier 4 and so forth. If the penetration tier is too low, the bullets mainly damage the armor instead of the target until that armor starts to break.

So while a better weapon absolutely helps improve things like stability, accuracy, fire rate and optics, choosing the right ammo is often even more important than building an expensive META rifle, especially early on.

Reloading is also handled really well in ABI. Standard reloads work exactly as you’d expect, but one feature I particularly like is the ability to quickly repack unequipped magazines using a hotkey, bound ALT + V by default.

This automatically pulls compatible ammo from your inventory and refills your spare mags without forcing you into the inventory screen.

It can even pull ammo directly from your safe container, which is especially useful if you’re running expensive rounds. And if you want to top up your currently equipped magazine, you can simply drag ammo directly onto the weapon itself without needing to eject the mag first.

Part 6 – Damage Systems, Healing & Consumables

Healing in ABI is far more complex than in a typical shooter, because getting shot can create multiple problems beyond simply losing health.

If one of your limbs gets blacked out, the consequences depend entirely on what was hit. Broken legs limit your movement options. Broken arms impact aiming, recoil control and looting. And if your head or chest gets blacked out, you’re simply dead.

If you’re playing in a squad, getting downed doesn’t always mean you’re dead. As long as you weren’t killed by fatal head or torso damage, you can be knocked down instead, allowing you to crawl to safety and potentially be revived by a teammate before your revive timer runs out.

Some injuries also require immediate attention. Bleeding will continue damaging you until treated, which means simply restoring health isn’t always enough.

Recovering from damage often becomes a multi-step process. Painkillers can temporarily mask the pain, stopping painful grunts and allowing you to move and aim normally. Surgical kits can restore a blacked-out limb to a damaged state, and med kits or other healing sources are then used to heal that limb back up.

One really nice quality-of-life feature here is that pressing V will automatically select the most appropriate healing or treatment item for your current condition, which is incredibly useful when you need to react quickly instead of manually going through your inventory.

On top of the items we already covered, the game also features injectors and stimulants that can affect things like endurance or regeneration, as well as throwables like frag grenades, smokes and stun grenades.

The game also makes all of these easy to access in combat. Holding V opens a radial menu for consumables, while holding G opens your throwable wheel, letting you quickly select exactly what you need in the moment.

And finally, you also need to manage your hydration and energy. These gradually drain over time, and if they run too low, you’ll start taking damage, lose stamina and even make audible noises that can give away your position.

Part 7 – Modes, Difficulty & Risk Levels

ABI currently features three difficulty levels depending on how much risk you want to take.

Normal mode is the most beginner-friendly option, with a maximum gear cap of 450,000 Koen and free entry.

Lockdown increases the stakes significantly, requiring a minimum gear value of 150,000, allowing up to 1 million, and charging a 20,000 entry fee.

Forbidden pushes things even further, with a 300,000 minimum gear value requirement and a 50,000 entry cost.

As you’d expect, higher difficulty means higher potential rewards, but also much greater risk. Loot improves, stronger bosses become more likely, and perhaps most importantly, you’re far more likely to run into experienced players running expensive high-end gear.

Normal and Lockdown can also include AI operators to help fill lobbies, while Forbidden only contains real players, making it an even tougher environment overall.

If you’re completely new, Normal mode makes perfect sense. Most experienced players have already moved beyond that stage, which gives you a much better chance of surviving while learning the maps, mechanics and overall flow of the game.

The gear cap also helps ensure you’re not getting massively outgeared right from the start.

Once you’re more comfortable and ready for a real challenge—and let’s be honest, more interesting gear to potentially loot from other players—you can move on to the next difficulty tier.

Part 8 – Monetization & Free-to-Play Reality

Since ABI is a free-to-play game, monetization is obviously part of the package. That includes things like the battle pass, cosmetic skins, bundles and various store systems. Most of that is completely optional and doesn’t give you any meaningful competitive advantage.

Where I do think criticism is fair is the gacha-style monetization. Some cosmetic rewards simply can’t be purchased directly, meaning you may have to spend paid currency on randomized pulls until you either get what you want or enough tokens to buy it.

I actually tested this myself for a knife skin I wanted, and it ended up costing nearly twice what I had initially expected. I didn’t feel like I got scammed because I knowingly took that risk, but these systems are absolutely designed to encourage spending, which is something to be aware of.

Now, in terms of actual gameplay advantages, there are systems like Elite Privileges that can give you extra storage, more market listings, a larger keychain and access to a temporary 2×3 safe container. So yes, there are paid convenience benefits here.

Does that make ABI pay to win? Technically, yes—to a certain extent. But in practice, the impact is far smaller than most people assume.

You can earn the larger 3×3 safe container through seasonal progression, and making money in ABI is honestly pretty easy once you understand the game. I’ve personally never felt like I needed to spend money to have a fair chance in combat.

So my honest take is this: ABI absolutely has monetization I don’t love, particularly the gacha side of things, but as a free player, you can still enjoy the game and compete just fine.

Outro – Who Is This Game For, And Is It Worth Playing In 2026?

So, who is Arena Breakout Infinite actually for?

Honestly, if you enjoy high-risk, high-reward gameplay where every decision matters and every raid has something on the line, there’s a very good chance you’ll enjoy this game. Whether you’re coming from something like ARC Raiders, Hunt: Showdown, Tarkov, or even if you’re brand new to the genre, ABI is an excellent place to start.

Compared to something like Tarkov, the onboarding is dramatically easier, the quality-of-life features are far better, and the game does a much better job of helping new players understand what’s going on instead of just throwing them into the deep end.

That said, extraction shooters are not for everyone. If you hate losing gear, dislike punishing mechanics, or prefer games where progress moves consistently in one direction no matter what happens, this genre may simply not be your thing. This is exactly why extraction shooters are so exciting for some players—and so frustrating for others.

But if this genre does interest you?

Then yes, absolutely—I think Arena Breakout Infinite is well worth playing in 2026. It’s genuinely one of the best extraction shooters I’ve played, and while the free-to-play model comes with some monetization layers I don’t love, that doesn’t change the fact that the game itself is excellent.

If you found this guide helpful and want more ABI content like beginner tips, advanced guides or deeper breakdowns, make sure to like & subscribe and let me know in the comments. Thank you for watching, and I’ll see you in the next one.