Anno 117: Pax Romana review

Fiddle while Rome churns

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

A solid, streamlined entry to the city-building series that makes solving logistics puzzles even more satisfying.

• Developer: Ubisoft Mainz
• Publisher: Ubisoft
• Release: November 13th, 2025
• On: Windows
• From: Steam , Epic Games Store
• Price: £50/$60/€60
• Reviewed on: Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, 32GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (laptop), Windows 11

A teardrop of bog bordered by slithers of fertile ground. The locals call it Natrixia – I call it Sausage Island, and it’s at the heart of my domain in Anno 117: Pax Romana .

You see, shovelling meat into the Romano-Celtic mercators on my main island, Cudslip, helps them become nobles, who can then build striking aqueducts and make wine to sell to the Emperor’s representative nearby. Cudslip has no herbs for those sausages, so I seize Natrixia and squeeze plantations, pigsties, and warehouses together. Disease is rife and nobody is happy, but at least my mercators are fed: I dedicate a ship to do nothing but haul pigs and herbs from Natrixia to my sausage maker on Cudslip, and then into their bellies.

Except that’s not the end. To maintain my base of sausage manufacturing, called a salsicium, I need Roman amphorae jars. Cudslip lacks the resin to make them and Sausage Island is full, but by establishing a long trade route I can buy them from a rival at an extortionate markup and cart them home. Just when I think I finally have production perfected, my salsicium catches fire and burns down an entire street, tanking my fragile economy. Time to rethink my city layout.

This is where Anno shines as a series: its building tools are less flexible than those of Cities: Skylines and its combat is simpler than Total War’s, but as your domain spreads across multiple islands and provinces you constantly encounter logistics puzzles that are fun to solve, break, then solve again.

Anno 117 keeps that core loop, last employed effectively in 2019’s Anno 1800 , but makes tweaks that maximise both the number and scope of those puzzles. Each change works – if never perfectly.

You can play in the sunny Roman province of Latium or the foggy Celtic one of Albion, or both, ferrying goods between maps. Albion is more interesting because as you level up your bog-dwellers, you can decide to enforce Roman customs or keep their Celtic traditions. You can send some peasants down one path, some down the other, and each has differing needs: my Romanised mercators like sausages, but my Celtic smiths prefer beer and cheese.

It adds variety, but I wish Anno 117 did more with this blend of cultures. You might assume it creates conflict or tension but aside from their differing, caricatured accents, they feel like cosmetic skins for the same groups.

Another big change from Anno 1800 is how your citizens level up. Rather than gating progress behind a specific good, each household has bars of needs you can fill in different ways. Sausages fill two out of three pips of my mercators’ food needs but cockles, eels, and bread also work – if I wanted, I could forget about pigs and turn Sausage Island into a mining spot. This ability to specialise in certain resources and ignore others makes every playthrough feel different.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

The massive tech tree and persistent progress between save files adds even more variety. You can’t research everything in one playthrough so you focus on, say, expanding your economy. The next playthrough, you try another branch. I just wish the unlocks felt more logical – seemingly unrelated upgrades are grouped together, and I’m not sure why a research node for my beaver trapper is hidden behind one for my vineyards.

The persistent “Hall of Fame” looks suspiciously like a battle pass but simply unlocks bonuses, including research nodes, that you keep between saves. After 20 hours I can now, for example, start every playthrough with a late-game unlock that lets me harvest wood from meadows rather than forests, opening up new possible city layouts.

At street level, Anno 117 changes how your buildings affect your citizens. Most non-residential buildings convey bonuses or penalties in a radius: my salsicium boosts population and income but makes local fires more likely. Pigsties damage health while Fanums – Romano-Celtic temples – improve belief and knowledge, speeding up my research and strengthening religious bonuses. Building a neighbourhood is a satisfying puzzle of overlapping venn diagrams as you try to maximise the positives and mitigate the negatives.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

I wish it better conveyed, at a glance, what was happening. There’s no overlay for building effects, or even a way to highlight buildings that are granting bonuses. You have to click on them individually to see their impact, and when you’re zoomed out, picking out a porridge stand on a long residential street can be difficult. Anno 117 is too scarce with vital information overall: your advisor tells you that a need is going unfulfilled without saying which one, so you need to menu dive to find out.

Thankfully, it’s simple to correct mistakes. Anno 117 has tools for mass demolishing, relocating, copying and upgrading your buildings, and you can redesign entire neighbourhoods in seconds. Building feels intuitive and every production line is clearly explained, so you always know what you need to put down next.

And city layouts are more flexible than ever: this is the first Anno with diagonal roads. It’s long overdue, but it transforms how you build. I can snake my cities up any hill, angling my roads to give my nobles a wonderful seaside view, and create triangular fountain plazas paved by mosaics and lined with potted trees. This might be the prettiest Anno cities have ever looked, though there are, unfortunately, no buildings to jam into those 45-degree corners, leaving annoying gaps. I hope that changes in future updates.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

The cliffside views, lapping seas, foggy bogs and marble pillars make Anno 117 feel peaceful, and I like that this is a game about Rome that doesn’t make you fight. During the main 10-hour campaign – basically an extended tutorial – I avoided combat altogether, talking my way around a Celtic warlord. It’s the same on the more open “endless” mode: through courtesy, gifts, and economic might you can impress your rivals and secure trade deals, and the difficulty is fully customisable to make your opponents as demanding or placid as you like.

When combat happens, whether at sea or on land, it’s easy to understand. Winning is less about precise clicks and more about how well you’ve prepared – not just in the positioning of your troops but in the stability of your supply lines. Have you set up enough sawmills to build fortifications and archer towers in the right spots? Have you built enough homes so that, when you stand up your army, you have enough people behind to fish? That makes combat feel properly part of Anno 117, rather than a minigame. And even if you don’t want to fight, building an impressive army can intimidate rivals into trade treaties.

I can’t help but compare Anno 117 to Anno 1800, which, after several years of chunky DLC, is one of the best and most complete city-builders of all time. Release-day Anno 117 was always going to feel slight by comparison. But I’ve already started four separate playthroughs focusing on different goods, and I’ve planned two more campaigns, including one where I’ll build Rome’s biggest ever naval fleet.

That’s a good sign. Anno 117 has solid bones to build on, and enough meat to go around.

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Anno 117: Pax Romana

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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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