Endzone 2 early access review: rebuild humanity as a post-apocalyptic plate-spinner

Drought’s a-comin'

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Assemble Entertainment

• Developer: Gentlymad Studios
• Publisher: Assemble Entertainment
• Release: Out now
• On: Windows
• From: GOG , Steam
• Price: £20/$24/€24
• Reviewed on: Intel Core-i7-11700F, 16GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, Windows 10

Sometimes you forget to build a graveyard. It happens. When ten citizens dropped dead on the roads of one of my settlements in post-apocalyptic city builder Endzone 2 , I had to work fast to avoid a sickness breaking out. But graveyards require a lot of space, and if you’ve already filled your shanty town with a sea of corrugated metal roofs, this poses a problem. Welcome to the pleasant headache of town planning in a post-nuclear world, where most of the land is brown and uninhabitable.

Endzone 2 conforms to a lot of expectations when it comes to building games, although it does have a small side hustle in CRPG-style scene exploration (more on that in a bit). You play a band of underground survivors repopulating the surface. But the resentful earth dictates your use of space, with little red squares of swamp or mountain or lake or wasteland refusing to conform to your desire for more housing, or a market in the otherwise perfect spot. The resulting townships often feel organic and real, rather than the endless rows of apartments or perfectly round suburbs that might be permissible in other building games.

There are plenty of building types to plop down and plenty of workers to assign. Little unseen fishermen will add to your food stash, little invisible weavers will increase your stack of fabrics. Many buildings get bonuses for being near others of a certain type. A coal furnace near a lumberjack’s shack, for example. A storage depot near… uh, anything. But since you are sometimes forced to squeeze stuff together in awkward ways, you’ll often have to abandon hopes for a perfect level of output. This, I think, is the game’s quiet appeal. It’s about efficiency, sure, about clicking the knobs of a machine back and forth. but it’s a machine that doesn’t want to accommodate you all the time. It says: “Look, this is how things are in the deadlands, deal with it.”

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Assemble Entertainment

Maybe that’s because, at any time, you can leave the workshops ticking over and go on a road trip. A toylike truck offers Endzone 2’s side gig in scavengey adventuring. You guide the truck along the cracked roads of the garbage future, looting various ruins for extra resources. Some locations allow your drivers to hop out of the vehicle and explore the surroundings, interacting with objects from an isometric perspective in an almost CRPG style. Find an axe and force open some doors. Discover a book that will help you identify plants, thus unlocking new seeds to farm. Blowtorch open a shipping container and scoop out all the iron ingots inside, like a child in an irradiated yellow raincoat cracking open a long-lost Kinder egg.

This is also how you advance up the game’s research tree. By exploring these urban dives and roadside dumping grounds (sometimes quite far from your settlement) you gain “knowledge points” that allow you to work your way down a traditional tech tree of mines, water treatment plants, bathhouses, crematoriums, not to mention plenty of upgraded versions of the same buildings you already own.

It’s a nice distraction, and linking it to the research tree makes it feel important to indulge in an outing now and again. That said, Endzone 2 is first and foremost a game of checking in on green arrows and dispelling red arrows with judicious meter tweaking and on-the-hoof construction projects. This becomes clear once you use that same little exploration truck to establish whole new settlements on the same big map, at which point the plate spinning begins in earnest.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Assemble Entertainment

Each small zone of green and habitable land that you discover will have distinct strengths and weaknesses. One settlement might get a lot of fresh water from many lakes, great for keeping a cloth industry thriving. Another will be in the swamp, well-suited for making medicinal herbs. Another might boast a seam of iron to capitalise upon, or an iodine mine. Since each village on your wider map will come to specialise in these specific goods, you then have to set up transport links, again using the road trip trucks as lil’ lorries, nipping back and forth between your towns with their boots full of syringes or rubber gloves or clay bricks or gas masks.

In time, a small network of goods starts to form. Interdependent chains of productions arise, and you might start to try to optimise things. Workshops will produce tools faster if there is a scrapyard and a woodcutter’s lodge nearby to provide materials, and fisheries will gather more seafood when those toolmaking workshops are placed nearby. It’s a fairly standard base-building process of creating multiple towns with criss-crossing logistical needs. The challenge comes in placing these buildings when the terrain doesn’t allow for perfect efficiency, or when the haphazard decisions you made previously have created a sprawl that makes new building placement its own puzzle. Folks, do we really need a graveyard?

When a sudden drought or a blast of illness sweeps through the landscape and threatens the stability of your provincial paradises, you end up tweaking those import-export routes in micro-managey ways, trying to ensure that Grimdork Lakes gets enough medicine from other towns, or that plenty of water is delivered to Garbageville (yes, you can rename your settlements). When toxic storms strike, a little geiger meter shows how much radiation your settlers are getting exposed to. And you have to keep an eye on the soil as well, because it too can become poisoned with radiation.

If the sound of the geiger doesn’t unsettle you, the rickety voice acting might. The music too feels very placeholder. The synthwave soundtrack, while not obnoxious in and of itself, doesn’t pair well with the art style or subject matter. It’s the kind of music you hear in sci-fi space games, an almost robotic beat that might fit if this were a base-building game set in a twinkling cyberpunk city ruin. But against the bucolic backdrops and overgrown country houses it creates a strange clash of ambience. I turned this music down to 0% and put on a “chill guitar” playlist instead. It works a little better.

I have other misgivings. For a game about efficiency and chains of production, there is sometimes unnecessary friction. The long loading times when resuming your save file will hopefully shake out in early access. As for other stuff, I don’t know. A pharmacist and a pharmacy are two different buildings you can create, for example - one to make drugs and another to distribute them. Not only do the similar names cause confusion, it also feels like overkill in a society that has to cut corners by nature. Can’t one building do both?

There are other restrictive quirks. For instance, since each settlement has its own pool of resources, you need to toggle between towns, opening the research tree in each one before finding the settlement with enough iron or glass or whatever to punch the “research” button on a particular piece of tech. This also means you sometimes have to funnel a meagre handful of clay or meds or clothes to where they are necessary, just to press a button, when your logistics brain is busy shouting “I already have all the things I need!”.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Assemble Entertainment

In general, this is why research and skill trees in games often operate on their own separate currency - it ringfences them from problems like this. But the research tree of Endzone 2 requires not only knowledge points, but also worldly goods. This makes it more rooted to your production and transport network, yes, but also results in these sometimes unintuitive moments. It is, at times, a slow game, even on its fastest-forwardedest setting.

For those who prefer their logistical twiddling to be more abstract and neat, this isn’t going to tear you away from the factory lines of Shapez 2 . But it might be worth a pop for those who prefer their number-fiddling to be wrapped up in a thematic purpose. It doesn’t have the moral compassing nor the defined flavour of Frostpunk (which, for me, remains the more eye-catching post-apocalyptic city builder). But it does enough with its humble scavengers and salvaging expeditions to at least invest you in the populace as a whole. Even if that concern is always attached to a selfish desire to avoid resources plummeting.

“Oh no, the residents of Bogbottom are being lashed with acid rain again,” you’ll say to yourself. “This will slow down vaccine production.” Better get digging now, those bodies won’t bury themselves.

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Endzone 2

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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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