Baby Steps isn’t about humiliation, but the joy of disobedient flesh

Rolling with the changes

Image credit:Devolver

Many years ago, my brother and I climbed the moor above our town and, for reasons that elude me, decided to roll to the bottom of it. We hugged each other and threw ourselves off the path into an ocean of heather and bracken. This was, to be clear, a bloody stupid thing to do. That moor is full of potholes, sheep bones, barbed wire and animal turds of all flavours. If there were any justice in the cosmos, I’d have banged my bonce on a boulder and be pushing up daisies. But somehow, we reached the outskirts of the town basically unscathed, and it was glorious.

We went tumbling over ledges and into ditches, sucking in careless lungfuls of spores and laughing like seals. I felt a sense of para-Wordsworthian abandon and intimacy with rocks and stones and trees , that I haven’t ever felt since. I caught a trace of that feeling in Baby Steps , the new open world fail ’em up from a team led by Bennett Foddy, in which you move each leg of a body subject to believable physics, and the challenge is therefore to walk more than two paces without keeling over.

Baby Steps has been presented as a vehicle for gamer masochism and a Flight of the Concordsy send-up of anxious-depressive failsons, but I didn’t really get that from my demo. Or at least, I didn’t get only that. It felt more like a celebration of the experience of owning disobedient flesh than a shaming of the protagonist, and I’m hoping that’s the moral of the full game’s story.

Main character Nate begins the game frozen to a sofa in his parents’ basement, calcifying in the glare of a flatscreen. We hear them loudly despairing of his inability to get a life upstairs. Then, Nate is transported to a peculiar wilderness. A stranger in tatty orange emergency gear pops up from the bush like Nagg from his trashcan, offering to explain the situation, but Nate shrinks automatically from these overtures and toddles off to search for a toilet. He thinks it’s all some kind of ‘intervention’. I’ve been there, Nate. I too have arbitrarily shrugged off help in a mood of passive-aggressive bitterness. Mind you, I’m not wholly sure I trust the other dude, whose kindly hectoring occasionally reminds me of Dante’s Virgil and occasionally of a mollycoddling P.E. teacher.

Here is how you step in Baby Steps: you clench a controller trigger to raise one leg, lean Nate’s body with left analog stick to take a stride, then clench the other trigger to step with the other leg. The right analog stick controls your orientation, but it only turns Nate’s head, not his body with it, so you’ll need to perform smaller steps to change direction.

Walking in a straight line isn’t actually that hard, given some nice flat earth. In places, I was skipping over the terrain like a Morris dancer. But the terrain is seldom that accommodating. It is full of dips and rises and slippery patches and low obstacles. Hence the notion that this is a game for people who love punishment, and for streamers who profit by making a spectacle of their own humiliation.

Image credit:Devolver

Is it, tho? Baby Steps’ title may sound like an infantalising putdown of its protagonist, but in this era of Dualshock uniformity, it is genuinely wonderful to learn to walk “for the first time”. Especially in the context of an open world game, a genre that prides frictionless exploration like few others. There are glowing waypoints on the skyline, but you can’t just zip along the obvious routes. You have to study what’s underfoot and organise your mass accordingly, and when you fall, it’s at once ludicrous and frustrating and a source of connection.

Swimming, for instance. At one point I tripped while tottering over a bridge and fell into a stream, which bore me off to a shallow pool. Nate refuses to use his upper arms, at this stage at least, so breast stroke and front crawl are beyond him, but you can kick your legs frantically to hove along facedown. It’s agonising to behold, but also wonderful. Look at him go! Look at the flying spray! I can think of one other recent video game character who has this much ‘fun’ in the water - Mask Quest ’s hyperventilating lead, who swills and sputters it out with panic and gusto.

Games like Mask Quest and Baby Steps reveal how accustomed we are to being denied embodiment in video games, for all the promise of letting us inhabit bodies we can otherwise only dream of. In Assassin’s Creed, for example, holding the trigger relinquishes a large measure of muscular exuberance to the simulation. The avatar leaps and mantles and clambers and flows while the player settles into the role of piggyback driver, issuing broad direction.

I realise this is a bit facetious - abstraction is necessarily inherent to video games. But so much possibility is routinely squandered in the name of power fantasy. In most games, the player is permitted only to savour the ‘hero moves’, like punches and dodges, and rarely the smaller or less purposeful idiosyncracies of the flesh, the fumbles and frolics of inexpertly wielded matter.

Image credit:Devolver

It’s one of a few things I unreservedly like about Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain : its bespoke inputs for entirely ordinary activities such as opening doors and turning faucets. Lodged in amongst the auteurly see-that-handle-you-can-QTE-it bullshit there is sincere enthusiasm for levels of bodily being that other games tastefully minimise. And as in Baby Steps, there’s genuine pleasure to derive from screwing up and watching your Finchery private-eye go arse over tit .

The video game industry’s abstraction of bodily agency overlaps with its insistence on celebrating certain kinds of bodies - the kind that have six packs and strong thighs. Baby Steps resists this as well, albeit in ways that could backfire. Nate appears overweight and possibly disabled, depending on how literally you interpret his behaviour, and Baby Steps is clearly angling to be some kind of comedy (the marketing blurb boasts of a “fully dynamic onesie soilage system”).

As such, the game has a difficult line to walk in terms of subverting expectations for video game bodies without playing the tuba against footage of an obese and suffering person falling over. Another developer might have taken the Wholesomeness route and erased all sign of stigma, but Baby Steps feels more useful, to me, in anticipating an unkind response, and making all that cruelty and shame part of the picture.

Here’s hoping that it resolves these mixed feelings constructively. And here’s hoping that they find a way to support co-op, so that my brother and I can relive our childhood moorland escapades without putting our older, heavier and less flexible bodies through the wringer. You can find a demo for Baby Steps on Steam .

Baby Steps

Video Game

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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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