Alan Wake 2’s The Lake House is a dark, brilliant parable on the devaluation of art and artists

Francis Baconnaise

Image credit:Remedy/Epic

There must be hundreds of typewriters in the hall, their collective clacks a tidal wave of soulless automation, rising up to greet agent Kiran Estevez as she enters, pistol and flashlight in hands. Exploring rooms to the side, Alan Wake 2 : The Lake House’s star finds whiteboards and documents revealing the typewriter’s purpose: to mimic Wake’s writing. Pages are graded along criteria such as ‘style’, ‘tone’, and ‘content’, then “fed into the algorithm” as references until “near-identical stories” to Wake’s can be produced.

“If Jules could simply cut the painter open and pull the painting out of him, he would,” reads one of the real Alan’s typewritten pages. That’s Jules Marmont, the obsessive head of the titular FBC centre. The Marmonts - Jules and his wife Diana - are running experiments to forcibly and synthetically create works of art, aiming to mimic creative passion convincingly enough for the paranatural entity inside Cauldron Lake to respond, as it has in the past.

It’s not subtle, and it doesn’t need to be. Instead, it’s a loud and clear middle finger to a culture industry that has all but declared - with the uncritical embrace of generative AI just the latest step - that its historical, systematic devaluation and exploitation of artists was not a bug, but a feature all along. It’s a game about a games industry being eaten alive . A reminder, were one needed, that the executive class don’t want artists, they just want something that resembles art enough to convince the gaping, empty presence inside them.

If this feels too much like sermonistic back patting, it’s worth pointing out that Alan Wake 2 isn’t an uncritical celebration of art and artists either. Alan’s solipsism and selfishness come under the microscope, and The Lake House itself takes a few pops at the fetishisation of art and its aesthetic symbols filling in for love of the creative act itself. A note that mentions trying to track down Wake’s preferred brands of typewriter and ink calls to mind blog posts about famous writer’s daily routines, and a little of the shallowness touched upon in Bukowski’s Air And Light And Time And Space : the idea that creating good art is just a case of recreating the circumstances in which it’s produced.

Image credit:Remedy/Epic

Wake himself, with his elbow patches and alcoholic brooding, clearly either viewed himself as a temporarily inconvenienced literary icon pre-fame, or started embracing the role after the fact. Even Sam Lake’s many appearances feel, in part, like satirical jabs at ego and overly precious auteurs with more respect for their visions and public personas than the people who help realise those visions. Not every creative act is pure and noble just by virtue of it being purposeful. Art can propagandise, advertise, and caricature. But the alternative - shallow mimicry of self expression, then used to justify the destroying the careers of the very people that made that mimicry possible - is one I see as far uglier.

The automatic typewriters call to mind Roald Dahl’s The Great Automatic Grammatizator, the story that Ted Chiang recently drew parallels between and generative AI in a piece for the New Yorker . “Is there anything about art that makes us think it can’t be created by pushing a button, as in Dahl’s imagination?”, Chiang asks, rhetorically. For Chiang, it comes down to decision making, to effort on the part of the creator, and to intention to communicate.

“ChatGPT feels nothing and desires nothing," he writes, “and this lack of intention is why ChatGPT is not actually using language. What makes the words ‘I’m happy to see you’ a linguistic utterance is not that the sequence of text tokens that it is made up of are well formed; what makes it a linguistic utterance is the intention to communicate something.”

One of the documents you’ll find in The Lake House reveals experiments performed on a painter’s work. The experimenter theorises that the threshold’s reality-altering effects are drawn to “pieces of art that contain significant levels of ‘Emotion’…if we can identify and quantify the Emotion of an art piece, our work will speed up considerably”. Notice the capitalisation and quotation on “Emotion”, like some alien entity caught in a containment tube. Chiang covers what we might call the more practical, less traditionally creative uses for generative AI, but I’d argue that in terms of art, emotion itself remains the driving factor. Emotions drive creative intention, communication, and ultimately provide the beacon for any decisions made. It can’t be quantified, but if your only interest in art is its utility as a product and its resemblance to other successful products, then it can be reverse engineered out of the equation.

Image credit:Remedy/Epic

A “catalyst and an accelerant” is how Netflix new head of generative AI for games refers to the plagiaristic slop machine . “We’re back to those days of seemingly unlimited potential,” he smugs, with plastic wide-eyed enthusiasm, accompanied by a deeply ironic image of a hideous industrial metropolis uglying up the skyline of natural landscape. The language of empowerment and freedom is used, as it always is. Hey, I can’t argue. There’s nothing that shouts “you are free” louder than laying off your game studios .

I feel, sometimes, that the on-the-nose commentary of speculative sci-fi like They Live and our subsequent post-ironic, “ I know writers who use subtext, they’re all cowards ” sophistication makes me reticent to use the sort of uncomplicated disgust and rhetoric the executives making these destructive decisions deserve, for fear of sounding naive. But, hey, they do see people as numbers, and they do see rising stock prices as unassailable virtues. They act with as much empathy and soul as The Lake House’s automatic typing devices. They are destroying careers and lives from a position where they have power over the things that make life worth living, and they have no respect for either it or the people who make it. If they could simply cut you open and pull the painting right out of you, they would.

So when I play something like The Lake House - beautifully constructed, effective and fun horror as it is - I don’t need it to be subtle to feel vital and worthwhile. Alan Wake 2 is a complicated game, dense with themes. How classic narrative structure like the hero’s journey endure through the ways they map on to our lives. Fatalism and meta-narratives. Not allowing creative ambition to blind you to the people you care about. But to me, the game is really a whole-cloth celebration of art: about all the different ways you can convey emotions, and tell a story.

Across Alan Wake 2’s runtime, a dozen different mediums reveal its world to us. Film. Music. Dance. Design. Art. Spoken Word. Writing. Choreography. Pastiches of late night talks shows, adverts, and TV serials. It’s not just a multimedia piece, but a celebration of how each constituent part of any given piece of media all have their own unique ways of conveying ideas. If any game harboured disgust towards the generative AI situation we’ve found ourselves, it makes sense that this would be the one. The Lake House channels that disgust into, well, great art.

Alan Wake II

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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