I threw hands with Doom: The Dark Ages and its rock ’em sock ’em robot

I chainsaw what you did there

Image credit:Bethesda

Doom is going medieval. Id Software’s next brutish shooter, Doom: The Dark Ages , was revealed with a shield-flinging trailer last summer, and we’ve since learned more about how it’ll actually play. Nic already summed up the new features but I gots something that Nic boy don’t: three hours of hands-on time with the Doomlad, including some dragonback dog-fighting, and a fifty-storey fistfight in a gargantuan mech. Let me tell you what it’s like.

In short, it hits heavy. These two levels are the eye-catching setpiece flashpoints to the far more beefy and intense runnin’ and gunnin’ of the usual levels (more on those in a minute). The dragon level saw me doing trench runs over a Byzantine castle skyline, for example, chasing demon ships under arches and getting into hoverfights with giant eyeballs. Much of the sequence has you machine-gunning turrets on bad guy airships, dodging their shots to gain a boost in firepower. Eventually, you clear a landing zone, crash down, hop off, and wreck your way through the innards of the ship on foot until you punch to death the demonic power core that lies within. Just a normal Wednesday for Doombloke.

The dragon is new but the cathedral-like cityscapes are an old friend. |Image credit:Bethesda

As for why he’s doing any of this, I’m not 100% sure. This is a prequel to 2016’s reboot, and for reasons that will become clear in the full story, Mr Doom is mostly just doing what he is told. I’ll talk more about the story bits later, but for now just know that the dragon is a good-looking killer who can perform some of the series’ classic execution animations of his own.

If there’s flubber to this flyabout, it’s probably in the hovering moments. You have to hold down the left trigger (I played on controller) to target the aforemantioned turrets, and this immediately snaps your dragon to a particular part of the sky that the game wants you to exist within while you shoot. It can feel a little jarring, like the designers are grabbing you and shoving you to your designated fun zone. “No, you go here!” It’s still metal and stylish, but when you pause in these skyspaces to dodge those turrets’ heavily patterned toxic green attacks, it might feel to some Doomsters like stopping for 30 seconds of Dance Dance Revolution in the middle of a dragon fight.

This is what it looks like when you get snapped into place during a turrety dragon fight. |Image credit:Bethesda

The big stompy “Altan” mech is its own castle-crushing pleasure. You face giant enemy demons, and pummel them with metal fists to charge up a circular meter, then cash in that meter to deliver a heavy final and fatal right hook. Like the dragon bits, these brawls also require dodging incoming sword swings that glow that poisonous green (this green glow will be something to watch out for across the entire game, you’ll see). For each dodged attack you get the immediate chance to follow up with a severe counterattack. There’s also a ground-closing charge that launches you towards your foe for a slammin’ biff.

It’s a straightforward salsa of suckerpunches, but it does the job. Perhaps more enjoyable is simply walking through the environment in the mech, with bridges and buildings coming down with every step, the ant-like figures warring on their walkways sent tumbling away as the ground they fight on collapses. It’s a fulfilling Kaiju fantasy that reminded me of throwing cars amid the skyscrapers in Slave Zero , of all things. I wasted a little demo time just wrecking stuff for no reason. I have no regrets.

I’m leading with these big setpieces partly because they are the flashy toy-like elements that might catch your attention as a nu-Doom acolyte. Players haven’t seen stuff like this before (well, they have - they just weren’t allowed behind the wheel). Yet despite the inviting promise of riding a laser-winged dragon that cannot decide if it’s a fantasy creature or a sci-fi one, the truly important changes to The Dark Ages exist in the more grounded first-person shooting. It’s down in the dirt where you’ll feel the biggest difference.

To be reductive, it wants to put a little Bloodborne in your Doom. They’ve given you a shield to parry melee attacks from all types of enemies. The common refrain from the developers at id Software is that you should “stand and fight”. This means stopping in front of larger enemies and parrying their glowing green attacks so that you can counter with a fist or mace whip of your own. The bigger the foe, the more likely this is to become a kind of tennis match of ripostes and counterslams, and when it works it’s a satisfying miniduel in the midst of a larger battle. But you’ll have to thin the crowd around you first to prevent irksome crossfire from smaller foes. All this might take some getting used to if Doom Eternal has conditioned you to never stop moving.

Still it functions as part of nu-Doom’s combat economy. To shoot demon dorks you need ammo, to get ammo you need to melee the scum. To melee you need to wait for your fists to recharge (or scrounge nearby gauntlet pickups). It’s a familiar jam of slam and blam, but it has a subtly distinct tempo. Partly because of the parrying you’ll be doing, but also due to other abilities that mix fights up even further.

The difficulty options include a meter to narrow or widen the parry window for these glowing green strikes. |Image credit:Bethesda

The bottled execution animations are gone, for one thing. You now just boot or punch a demon to death in real-time, much like any other fast-paced shooter. This allows for uninterrupted killing and a new sense of flow. But it also changes the feeling of battle in a way that some people might not favour. Doom and Doom Eternal had a sense of punctuation to fights, each mashed skull and torn-off limb a comma of temporary invulnerability in a longer sentence of ultraviolence, where the full stop might only come after a final demon heart is ripped from its ribcage.

That does not exist in the same way here. The developers boast the new approach is a means of keeping the fight flowing, and technically I think they’re right. But it likely also saves on the expense of animating multiple executions for every single demon. Understandable from a development perspective, but perhaps disappointing if those animations are something you have grown to love in these games.

There are a lot of other alterations. Your shield has a zooming attack that gets you right into the fray immediately, while killing everything in its hilariously broad splashdown area. That shield can also be thrown like a buzzsaw into freaks to stun them for a time - a useful “shut the fuck up” button to any Arachnotron pestering you from a distance. The smaller demons feel frailer than ever, mere “fodder” to slurp upon for health and ammo. The flamethrower you used in Doom Eternal to harvest armour from devilish dirtbags is gone (although it can be replaced with a shotgun upgrade that does more or less the same thing).

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t fond of this fella. |Image credit:Bethesda

As much as these changes alter the rhythm of its gunfights, I still walked away from my three-plus hours of The Dark Ages with a heart going like the clappers. So far it still feels beefy, intense, high-pressure, and unwavering. These are all reasons I have never actually finished a Doom game outside of the 1990s originals (and the much slower-paced Doom 3 ). My body simply cannot handle mainlining this much adrenaline straight to the fingers and thumbs.

There’s a lot of glowing stuff flying around the screen at any given moment. |Image credit:Bethesda

But they are the same reasons Nic, our resident Doomer, will likely squeak with glee when he gets his own hands on the game come its May release date. For anyone worried that the changes might water down a hardcore wreck session: the settings screen is overflowing with difficulty options to tweak. I pumped them all up to max , just to see what would happen, and I nearly suffered instant cardiac arrest. It was brutal.

There is one thing that slows things back down in a promising way, though. That’s the larger, more open maps where you can complete objectives in whatever order you please (clear enemies, destroy artillery, et cetera). Here you can explore secret areas that catch your fancy - some with no enemies to worry about at all. There was a lot of gold to collect throughout the biggest level I saw, which you’ll spend at shrines to upgrade your weapons and abilities.

There were even a couple of simple puzzle rooms where I could catch my breath. Here you use the shield to smash metal chains to unlock doors and the like. One tomb held a wonderful weapon as its reward - the “Reaver Chainshot”, which punts a chained medieval ball of iron at any silly sausage unfortunate enough to stand in front of you.

DONK. |Image credit:Bethesda

Outside these secret areas, the war raged on, with tons of open spaces chock-a-block with enemies to demean. Some of the bigger threats are “Morale” enemies - minibosses who are more or less invincible until you murder all their bystanding hellgoons.

I don’t know how many of these open levels will feature in the finished game, though I doubt it will make up the majority. The designers at id still want to pre-program the Doomba’s blood hoovering. You can tell as much by how heavily they’re leaning into the story. The Doom guy is enslaved and controlled by some interdimensional robo-barons with a touch of Dune’s House Harkonnen about them. A shackling device gives our guy the glowing yellow eyes of Frankenstein’s monster and keeps him following orders. Meanwhile, the head honchos of hell are invading this world and talking with their usual guttural reverb of ancient evil.

It’s over-the-top metalhead nonsense, sometimes self-aware and tongue in cheek, as when our hero rides a dragon and slams his foot on a pedal like he’s driving a Lamborghini. “Assault mode engaged,” says a robovoice, and the dragon’s wings reshape to suddenly become a reptilian fighter jet. But that same devotion to story is also sometimes worryingly earnest. The human characters pause to look concerned and deliver lore with a voice that suggests what they say should somehow matter to the man who just wants to tear off Beelzebub’s ballsack.

If you can make the enemy’s armour glow a superheated red, throwing the shield will then smash the armour to pieces. |Image credit:Bethesda

Compare this to the comedic contempt with which Doomfella treated any character who ejected lore at him in 2016, closing his fist in rage and smashing any hologram or audio log that spoke for too long. This drift to truly indulging Doom’s lore with longer cinematics reminds me of the subtle shift when a friend has been using some online slang term ironically, then one day it slips out fully sincere.

Anyway. We’ll have more thoughts on its shield-wieldy, Captain America-style battering in May, when The Dark Ages comes out. There is a feeling with all these glimmering green attacks and clearly signposted pickups that the Doomfeller is being gradually professionalised, honed and toned, made gamier and gamier with each passing instalment. But as far as this nu-est of nu-Dooms is concerned, it seems to be striking a decent balance with that shield. Different but familiar. Slower but not too slow. Defensive and offensive, all at the same time.

Doom: The Dark Ages

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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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