How multiplayer horror Killer Klowns From Outer Space: The Game does away with downtime

Kno Klowning around

Image credit:IllFonic/Teravision

Upon learning of the existence of asymmetrical multiplayer horror Killer Klowns From Outer Space: The Game , from Friday the 13th and Predator Hunting Grounds ’ Illfonic and Teravision Games, you’d be forgiven for having, well, questions. The first of which, understandably if you don’t happen to carry a burning penchant for cultishly adored but undeniably niche 80’s schlock, is simple: Why? First, why get invested in another asymmetrical multiplayer game from a studio that has a bit of a history with limited shelf lives ? And why, of all the licenses, have they chosen one so relatively forgotten, at least in comparison to Predator, Ghostbusters, and Friday the 13th?

I can’t really answer that first one for you, but after playing matches as both human and Klown with the Illfonic crew, the second query starts to make a bit more sense. Whether you’ve seen the Chiodo Brothers’ 1988 film or not, Killer Klowns From Outer Space is an easy concept to wrap your head around. Clowns are inherently terrifying. Space clowns so nihilistic that they simply do not care to adhere to basic spelling conventions, moreso. On the other side, you don’t need much of a primer to put yourself in the regular length shoes of a basic, largely space-ignorant but spelling-proficient human in this situation. Run, hide, fight, escape. Do anything you can to stop those klowns getting too close. They’re killers, don’tcha know?

I play as a klown for my first match, the choice of which being mainly cosmetic. You’ll unlock upgrades and weapons as you play, and abilities can be freely assigned and swapped around, so you won’t have to sacrifice utility when playing your favourite klown - assuming you have a favourite. We load in to a night-time carnival map, and my Illfonic klown-guide immediately throws me a ‘cotton candy cocoon’ he finds behind a car, which I then lug over to a contraption called a ‘lackey generator’ and plug in. This helps spawn irritating little companions to aid our human hunts, but it also counts toward an early ‘klown-pocalypse’ timer. Matches last fifteen minutes, after which any un-escaped humans are killed by a giant cotton candy bomb. But, if we can hook up 16 of these cocoons, we’ll trigger the end early.

Image credit:Illfonic/Teravision

16 sounds like a lot of cocoons to find just lying around, but we’ve got another option here. Each klown is armed with a raygun that can transform humans into cocoons with sustained fire - very quickly, if we work together. As with traditional, mallet-based killing (my other weapon), cocooned humans can be resurrected by a one-time use feature, but each one hooked up brings us closer to victory. It’s a 3 vs 7 game, so there’s plenty humans to harvest. The mallet does offer at least one distinct advantage though. Downing humans allows for a flashy execution kill, and at least one of them involves pies. Humans do have a short window to rescue their companions from the hooked cocoons before they add to the klown-pocalypse count. One such human does attempt this in my match, but an AI lackey jumps on their back, and my trusty mallet finishes the job.

It’s then we spy a big red exclamation mark on the far side of the map, which means a human is trying to escape. We run over to the bridge, but the slippery bastard gets away. However, the bridge is quite rickety, so after a vigorous jig, the boards fall through, meaning the other team won’t be able to use this route to escape again. Elsewhere on the map, we can block off bunker doors with cotton candy to make alternative exits more difficult for humans to use. So, to prevent more of them escaping, what else is at my disposal aside from my mallet and raygun?

As you play, I’m told, you’ll unlock a variety of weapons and gizmos, including boxing gloves, a pizza box disguise, and balloon dogs to help with hunting. For this match, I’ve got three abilities hotkeyed on the left side of the screen. The first and, dare I say, most klown-tastic of these is a giant leap. Pressing the key brings up a top down view of the map which I can use to plot my jump. Later in the match, I’ll see a teammate land on top of a human, stunning them. Me? I keep getting trapped on invisible geometry, although I’m able to just walk right off. I take some fall damage, but luckily my second ability is a heal with some stat boosts. My third, which I’m able to test soon, is a lure that forces a nearby human player to walk towards me for a short time. It’s helpful, since humans are faster than klowns by default. Then again, they don’t have that jump.

When the timer hits 30 seconds to the klown-pocalypse, a human-friendly ice-cream truck comes smashing through a fence, giving them one final chance to escape, and things become a mad scramble for both teams. We end the match with three humans killed to four escaped. Granted, I imagine some of the team were concocting scenarios for my benefit as well as explaining things to me intead of playing optimally, but it did somewhat assuage my worries that the klowns would be an unstoppable force.

While the humans don’t have as many tricks, numbers, speed, and multiple escape routes do seem to even the playing field. “We playtest this a lot, and that’s the only way you can truly playtest an asymmetrical game,” says Jared Gerritzen, Illfonic’s CCO. “You can’t just do pen and paper math like you can with a red team vs blue team multiplayer game.”

“We’ve found that asymmetrical horror games aren’t always for the hardcore gamer, so we’ve really tried to balance this out to make it fun and interactive for any type of playstyle,” Gerritzen continues. “We’ve found with [our previous games], fans that don’t play videogames but love the IP will come in. With Klowns, this is that opportunity to bring that ‘evade and escape’ vs having that hardcore shooter mentality. I think we’ve got a really good balance.”

I start my human match, and the first real change here is how quickly a game plan is needed. While there are a few instant escape routes, like the bridge and the last-ditch truck, others take multiple steps to pull off, like a portal that requires collected spark plugs to activate. A ‘safe room’ on the map allows us to meet up and get some map information on where the different escape points are, alongside some weapons. I find and install one plug early, and things are looking up, but quickly devolve into chaos when the klowns come running.

Image credit:Illfonic/Teravision

I spend the next five minutes or so sprinting, sneaking, and occasionally hiding in bins. My absolute favourite Game Thing I noticed in this human match was how what could have been otherwise be dull downtime was enlivened by various minigames. Hiding requires you to hit progressively faster QTEs to avoid alerting the klowns, and even when you die, spectating itself features minigames you can play to help out your surviving teammates. You can, for example, win and gift weapons and health items if you play well enough. This meant that I was always active during the span of the match, and thanks to that resurrection system, I even got to jump back in after getting thoroughly malleted earlier. If I wanted to, I could have kept those weapons for myself. Sometimes, you can gift critical items like keycards, so the tides of fate can switch even when the klowns appear to have the upper hand.

While this is Teravision’s project, for which Illfonic took on sole publishing duties from Good Shepherd late last year, the Friday The 13th studio are also bringing their own genre nous in a co-development role. “It was a great car, and we added a new turbo charger, new exhaust, new wheels, parts to make it into a really great hot rod,” says Gerritzen. The clown car simile was right there, Jared! But I appreciate the image. Another image I appreciate is just how creepy and authentic to 80’s practical effects those klowns look, which Gerritzen says is down to both the next-gen lighting engines, and working closely with the Chiodo brothers themselves in bringing their vision to life. It’s good to know Illfonic have their input, then, not least because the license might stick around for the long term if you do happen to get invested when the game releases on June 4th this year.

Killer Klowns From Outer Space: The 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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