Julian’s most anticipated games for 2026

In which I barely hide my machine heart

Image credit:Noio / lauflauf / Bandai Namco Aces / Creative Assembly

As we cross out the final days of 2025 on our Treehouse calendar, we’ve allowed ourselves to look out at the encroaching mists of 2026. These are the games we hope will emerge from the fog .

While the old saying goes ‘A game in the basket is worth two in Steam Wishlist’, as we teeter into a new year it’s good to highlight a couple of the games shuffling our way. Especially when there are quite so many of them that include big stompy mechs. Some of them as big as cities. My engine oil-starved heart beats and thumps in anticipation.

I’ve tried to keep the list to games confirmed for release next year – tragically cutting The Free Shepherd, which is planned to release in 2027 – but there is one exception.

So let’s begin with the outlier that’s likely to wander tardily into 2027.

Total War: Warhammer 40,000

Release date: TBA From: Steam

While I am a fan of Warhammer 40,000, that’s really just the wrapping for what I’m looking forward to in the new Total War. It’s that blend of ground and orbital warfare that could be a properly good upset to the formula.

Traditionally in a Total War game – really, in most strategy games that feature real-time battles – there is a distinct separation between the battles and the world map. You prepare your army in the strategy layer, you pick the place of battle, you do all you can to weight the coming fight in your favour, but then, in the real-time battle the world around the conflict falls away. You deal with the enemy with what you have available on the day.

Orbital units that thin the wall between the battlefield and the world map could breach that separation, allowing you to significantly alter the dynamic on the battlefield once the fight has begun. I’ve no idea how true that will be in practice, or whether it will be a good change for Total War, we only have a brief trailer to gawp at, but I want to find out.

Though, of the games on my list, Total War: Warhammer 40,000 is the least likely to release in 2026.

Ace Combat 8

Release date: 2026 From: Steam , Xbox

I’ve never had the resolve to learn to play actual flight simulators. I get excited at the prospect, put aside a Saturday afternoon, and then grow increasingly frustrated as I struggle to get a plane off the runway. Too many times have I simply retracted the landing gear, making my plane sit down on the asphalt as a final act of disobedience with my virtual flying instructor. But I love the games that look like serious simulations and let me play on a gamepad.

The Ace Combat series is chief among the sim lookalikes. Each plane is rendered in incredible detail, looking the part, but crucially operating with a simplicity I can handle. With roots stretching back to a 1993 arcade cabinet, the series’s focus has always been on aerial action over realism. Missions see you downing tens of planes, with the volume of enemies bringing the thrill rather than the challenge of operating a complex plane against a single foe.

Where Ace Combat 8 looks like it may differ from previous games is by expanding your out of the cockpit activities, with more focus on your role as a commander. My hope is that that materialises in a Persona-like social meta game where you can play pool with your wing buddies. In reality, it probably just means a lot of cutscenes.

Castle Come and Wanderburg

Ever since reading Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines books, I’ve been delighted in the idea of cities that move about a landscape. In recent years there have been a bevy of games that capture something of that fascination – Monster Are Coming is the one I’ve covered most recently – but none have yet gripped my attention as I’d hoped.

2026 sees at least two more games contend for my traction city affections.

Release date: Q2 2026 From: Steam

The first, is Castle Come, a game in which you control a drone that can resurrect dead mechs and Frankenstein them together. Starting with a small gun bot, you cobble and amass your way up to a settlement-sized walker populated by a human crew who operate its weapons and engines in turn-based battles. Every enemy you topple can be broken down and added to your own bulk. Lovely stuff.

Release date: 2026 From: Steam

The second is Wanderburg, which looks the closest game to Mortal Engines I’ve yet seen. You control a small suburb as it pootles the world gobbling up sheep, trees, and municipalities that get in its way. As you gorge on the landscape’s bounty your small suburb expands into a fortress bristling with cannons, wizard towers, and battering rams. All the better to knock off other castles’ crenellations with.

Both games are roguelites and may lack the depth that would give them the sticking power I’m hoping for, but, well, sometimes all I want is to to become a cannon-wielding NIMBY.

Garbage Country

Release date: Q2 2026 From: Steam

There is an enticing tension at the heart of Garbage Country. You split your time between driving around a rugged landscape in a beaten up old land rover, viewing the action overhead like the old Micro Machines games, and taking part in tower defense battles against the robots that have taken over the land.

Thomas van den Berg, the creator of Kingdom: New Lands , is leading development of Garbage Country and it has that same unexpected peace in a genre that’s traditionally far from soothing.

PVKK: Planetenverteidigungskanonenkommandant

Release date: Q3 2026 From: Steam

While I’m not willing to learn the basics of a flight simulator, a skill that could feasibly (but hopefully never) come in handy in real life, I’m ready and waiting to master the ins and outs of controlling not one but two fictional gun turrets.

In Bippinbits’ previous game, Dome Keeper , you split your time between mining for resources below your base and operating the gun turret above to fight off waves of incoming monsters. For PVKK: Planetenverteidigungskanonenkommandant , it looks like they’ve dropped the whole resource gathering business and instead focused entirely on stimulating the life of an orbital cannon operator. The trailer hints there is a lot more going on than purely gunnery, with suggestions that (shockingly) your authoritarian superiors may not be wholly working to your benefit, but I wouldn’t want to presume any civil disobedience will be called for. If so, I’ll find out what the equivalent of retracting a landing gear is for a massive turret. Presumably pointing its barrel at the ground like a sad salute.

I’ll also make a quick shout-out for Iron Nest: Heavy Turret Simulator , a game inspired by the trailer for PVKK. I’m not one to pin my colours to a single turret simulator flag, I have room enough for two mega cannons in my heart.

Ace Combat 8

PC

Castle Come

PC

Garbage Country

Video Game

Iron Nest: Heavy Turret Simulator

PC

PVKK: Planetenverteidigungskanonenkommandant

PC

Total War: Warhammer 40,000

PC

Wanderburg

PC

Rock Paper Shotgun is better when you sign in

Sign in and join us on our journey to discover strange and compelling PC games.

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

Rock Paper Shotgun is better when you sign in

Sign in and join us on our journey to discover strange and compelling PC games.