Lightyear Frontier early access review: a speedy farming simulator with one sticking point

Space to grow

Image credit:Amplifier Game Invest/Frame Break

• Developer: Frame Break
• Publisher: Amplifier Studios
• Release: March 19th 2024
• On: Windows
• From: Steam , Game Pass
• Price: £21/€25/$25
• Reviewed on: Intel Core i5-8600K, 16GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 2060, Windows 11

My day in Lightyear Frontier starts out with a bit of farming. On a good day, it’s raining, so I don’t need to water the crops. On a bad day, there are weeds spontaneously spawning from the sky and I need to catch them before they land right on top of my precious plants. Either way, when I’m done, I’ll put the day’s harvest into the processing machines to work while I’m away, and then go exploring for minerals.

My goals are clear. I need to build a new machine, or upgrade my mech so that I can clean up a new area of the map and get new resources in return. Those will – you guessed it – let me build new machines or upgrade my mech again. There might be a few steps to juggle on the way, but nothing that needs me to hold long recipe flowcharts in my head. When I get back I’ll have everything I need to take the next step. It always feels like I’m making forward progress.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Amplifier Studios/Frame Break

I carry out this routine basically undisrupted, raising round after round of alien crops that range from the familiar (Rabbage are cabbages, only red, and wheat is, well, wheat) to the conveniently strange (Zappertwigs, as the name suggests, are electric). I’m usually gone before the trader shows up, because she doesn’t really sell anything that I need – it’s all out there in the world for me to pick up myself. I could do some requisitions for a guy on the next planet over, but he pays me in money, and again, I don’t have much use for that.

I’ve got my mech to keep me company, although it doesn’t feel especially unique compared with the superhuman feats that characters in these sorts of games can do anyway. That isn’t really the fault of Lightyear Frontier, but when I’m used to being able to swing an axe a couple of times and break anything it doesn’t much matter if I’m in a giant metal suit instead – and you can do that if you’re ever outside of your mech, anyway. It’s nice being able to fly short distances and understand why you’re able to carry huge amounts of stone and iron, but other than that it’s easy to forget about, other than when my stomping around scares the local animals.

And then there’s PIP-3R. PIP-3R is a satellite who orbits around the planet, and after decades alone, they’re just happy to have someone to talk to. Or at least talk at, since you can’t reply. And, look, I have a lot of patience for companion characters – I don’t even have beef with Navi – but I know how these things go, and I fully expect that the first patch will drastically cut down on PIP-3R’s voicelines.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Amplifier Studios/Frame Break

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Amplifier Studios/Frame Break

Those three aside, it’s just me and the planet. Wake up, farm, process, explore, build, sleep. It’s both meditative and full of momentum. Lightyear Frontier does also have up to four player co-op , which I can imagine being fun, but for me it was blessed, podcast-listening alone time. (This, by the way, is the solution to PIP-3R, although I feel a little bad because the rest of the sound design is all the crunchy, soil-turning, mech-grinding effectiveness that you could want.)

I can also imagine, though, that co-op play would not last very long right now. Alone, it only took me about eight hours to hit the ending of the game’s early access story. That meant cleaning up six areas of the map, each similarly decked out in colourful trees and minerals but with minor differences like pines over broadleaves or more valuable metal ores, upgrading my mech a few times with a stronger watering cannon and weed-whacking hoover attachment in order to do so. There was some more that I could have done – I ended up about half way through the upgrade tree – but without cleaning to do, that probably would have gone quickly, too.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Amplifier Studios/Frame Break

On the other hand, those not playing at a reviewer’s speedy clip may well want to settle into a slower rhythm of farming and exploring, which could theoretically go on forever. One aspect of that slower playstyle I didn’t really touch at all was the chance to decorate. Almost half of the build menu and even more of the trading opportunities were aesthetic considerations: campfires, fences, potted plants, and so on. I also crawled to sleep every night in the original tiny tent that I made, rather than building anything bigger. Naturally, dedicating resources to these would mean fewer to put into my mech and machinery, drawing out the pacing of the whole game.

But my drive to see the story ending in time to write this review wasn’t really the reason that I didn’t engage with those systems. And I’m relieved that the story isn’t finished, because it means I can talk about the question that I kept turning over in my head without getting into any spoilers.

The thing is, building anything in Lightyear Frontier felt kind of mean. The planet is gorgeous; all twisted, multicoloured trees and flowering shrubs and glittering crystals. Rattling my mech’s spiked arm to harvest them for resources and using them to forge giant bits of machinery didn’t seem especially cosy-wholesome-gaming to me. I tucked my entire farm into the shadow of a cliff face and kept it as small as possible, decorations were the last thing on my mind.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Amplifier Studios/Frame Break

The game feels like it might be building towards subverting this – but I’m not sure. It opens on a stark line: “Earth’s no good anymore.” It certainly seems like the weird goop and invasive weeds that need clearing from each new area are linked in some way to the mysterious man-made ruins. The fact that they appear over your farm every few days certainly implies that you, too, are disrupting something.

But then I fall back into the day to day cycle. I need wood. I’m planting at least a few trees to replace the ones I’ve shredded, so that’s okay, right? I need minerals, and they regenerate so quickly that there’s no problem taking as much as I want – even quicker if you feed the local animals, in a causal relationship I don’t really understand beyond its acquiescence to the greedy player. So it would probably be fine, right? If I fenced off my farm. If I made it pretty. If I lived out my cottagecore dreams on this beautiful planet that seems to have been put here just for me?

Lightyear Frontier brings up just enough questions to feel uncomfortable and then sets you off on a loop with such forward momentum that you can’t do anything with them. And that momentum is fun, and its questions leave me curious, both of which are good things for an early access farming game . I will probably come back to both enjoy more of those chill, resource-guzzling days and to find out what the game has to say about them. Whether I’ll be satisfied in the end, though, remains to be seen.

This review was based on a review build of the game provided by developers Frame Break.

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Lightyear Frontier

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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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