Herdling review

Flock-watching

Image credit:Panic / Rock Paper Shotgun

• Developer: Okomotive
• Publisher: Panic
• Release: August 8th 2025
• On: Windows
• From: Steam , Epic Games Store
• Price: $20/£16/€19
• Reviewed on: Intel Core-i7 12700F, 16GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 3060, Windows 11

Switzerland-based Okomotive are here to escape from dystopia once again. In their previous Far: Lone Sails and its sequel , you played a child operating a cutaway landship that often resembled a rampaging beast - the last surviving specimen of a race of monstrous engines, carrying you rightward through empty cities and petrified industry towards some kind of new beginning. Okomotive’s latest game Herdling flips the poles of the metaphor somewhat, even as it shifts to 3D movement: rather than a bestial machine, you’re driving a herd of intriguingly robotic “Calicorn” beasts to a promised land beyond the peaks.

The game starts with your character - another tenacious, faceless kid in red - waking up beneath a flyover and discovering the first of the Calicorns in an alleyway. You usher your hairy charges through desolate streets haunted by the roar of traffic, coming to a tourist billboard that shows some Calicorns gazing up at a mountain - this being your unspoken final destination.

The very end of the game and that billboard are basically the same thing, in that both seek to capitalise upon yearnings for a rustic, unpolluted Elsewhere. As a story about ‘getting back to nature’, I don’t think Herdling has much to say. It feels less sophisticated than Lone Sails, more straightforwardly utopian in its tale of an impoverished sprog and companion creatures retreating from the woebegone scrapyard of modernity. But as a study of human/animal relations and how they can be performed by game design, it’s sort of engrossing. Also, it has Okomotive’s usual captivating soundscape, and those mountains are certainly easy on the eyes.

Sometimes when analysing a game, it’s helpful to start by forgetting all context. What is a herd, according to Herdling alone? It’s a single shape - a blob that stretches into a wedge during motion, and congeals into a rough oval when at rest. You stand behind the blob and wave your sorcerous shepherd’s staff to send a conduit of flowers through its heart, as though tracing a compass needle. The herd then moves in the direction of the line.

Scramble around the outside of the blob and wave your staff again to whistle it onto a different trajectory. Hold a button to make it move slower, when you’re navigating dangerous terrain. Slash it back and forth to have the blob power through denser undergrowth. Double-tap another button to stop the blob in place. Hammer and hold that button to have the blob knuckle down against gale-force winds - a brief challenge towards the end of the game.

Usefully, you do not shape and steer the blob in first-person. You’re given a third-person camera that gently pulls back into panorama when there’s something spectacular on the horizon. Without the convenience of that drone camera - so subtle in its shifts, so easy to take for granted - Herdling would be a much harder experience, and possibly a more intriguing one. You’d be part of the blob, down there in the stink and heave of bovine musculature, unable to scry the routes and obstacles.

Your Calicorns are branded blue, yellow and red, and these colours also suffuse the world and highlight its sparse spread of collectibles. Blue flowers fill up a gauge that allows you to channel the wind and initiate a stampede - whether for the sheer glee of it, or to force the herd up a slippery glacier. Red flowers initiate or prolong a stampede automatically: they’re Mario Kart speed pads. Yellow flowers pollinate fur with a painterly energy that can be vented to restore old murals, unlocking the path through certain ruins that plug into backstory dream visions of primordial Calicorns and their shepherds. The three primary colours repeat obsessively throughout those ruins, as though the geography itself were the hide of a Calicorn.

Beyond the urban prologue, you’ll rescue a dozen other Calicorns along the route to that promised mountain. The “taming” process is necessarily streamlined: you might have to fetch a wounded Calicorn a health-restoring fruit to earn its trust, but mostly, you just walk up and do a QTE, as in the rather less cuddly Far Cry Primal . Then you get to name them. I named all mine after colleagues, which was very amusing until I ran out of colleagues and had to tunnel into Rock Paper Shotgun’s recent history of departures and layoffs.

The Calicorns come in all shapes and sizes. Some are built like Yorkshire terriers, bobbling along adorably on stumpy legs. Others are ponderous emperor penguins in cassocks. Some of the Calicorns have or acquire traits, such as “Brave” (that would be hardware editor James) and “Rascal” (that would be our old editor in chief Graham – RPS in peace).

Detailed in the pause menus, these behaviours didn’t make a huge impression on me during my review playthrough, even at periodic campfire intervals where the herd spreads out in a stagey way, and you can do things like hoik a ball to play fetch. You can also pet Calicorns, pull twigs and branches from their hides, and adorn them with the baubles and harnesses that litter the landscape. These last three actions don’t have any functional impact that I noticed: they’re simply an opportunity to express affection, a chance to bond with individual Calicorns.

Image credit:Panic / Rock Paper Shotgun

I can’t say I ever really bonded with my Calicorns. Partly, this was because I decorated them at random, according to my gamerbrain understanding that Thou Shalt Leave No Collectible Behind. By the end of Herdling - my playthrough lasted four hours - it was like leading a battalion of bellowing Christmas trees.

The wider complexity is that the game’s efforts to sell you on the individuality of Calicorns are at odds with the practical need to treat them as a blob, a tension I’d have loved Okomotive to do a lot more with. The major consequence of taming Calicorns is that the blob becomes harder to wield. Calicorns may bumble about a little, snagging on spiked scenery or breakable objects, even falling off cliffs at scripted intervals if you’re not watchful. It’s fiddly enough that you start to think twice about later additions. When I was deep in the woods, trying to navigate a labyrinth of smashable alarm totems and evade the fury of massive demon owls, I found myself regretting the addition of Ollie (our guides editor) to my herd, “Affectionate” though he may be.

The owls are Herdling’s antagonists, a predator population who, if I’m deciphering the wordless backstory correctly, have driven the Calicorn from their old stomping grounds. They are harrowing presences, their ivory masks glimmering in the mists, but they’re also, surely, stand-ins for the real villains of the piece: all those bloody humans who built the awful urban junk you’re journeying away from.

That last observation falls flat, of course, because in Herdling you are playing a human, presiding over nonhuman animal lives in what is at least partly a self-serving fashion. Caretaking responsibilities aside, you periodically require the Calicorns to shove boulders and trunks out of the path. They also willingly serve as platforms when you need to scale a ledge and complete a very simple terrain puzzle – handy, given that you don’t have a jump button. In this way, Herdling explores a desire to be intimate with other creatures while also using them.

The game’s real shepherd could be its score, another surging collection of heart-inflating orchestral tracks from composer Joel Schoch. As in Far: Lone Sails, this as much an album as a videogame, which explains the tight running length: the snow-blown hills and escarpments often feel secondary, structured around the peaks and troughs of the music.

The invisible orchestra is another kind of herd that mirrors the one you drive before you – sometimes devolving to individual performers when your beasts are scattered, only to gather itself furiously when the Calicorns are in full flight. It’s a lovely audible modelling of a disorderly group of beings in motion. It’s also an audible expression of your power over those beings and the limits of their simulated autonomy.

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Herdling

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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