Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth’s Dondoko Island is Animal Crossing with baseball bats

Smash trash to attract tourists

Image credit:Sega

We got our first look at Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth ’s Dondoko Island at last year’s Xbox Partner showcase . Right as it dropped, I was in New York giving the Animal Crossing -esque minigame a go myself, albeit for a quickfire half hour of bashing rubbish bags with a baseball bat and plonking a urinal on the dirt to satisfy a tutorial. Still, in that brief time I’ve come away thinking I could lose much of my life to the promise of converting a polluted island into an idyll with the power of abs and friendship. There is the strong possibility of a grind. But hey, it’s optional!

LAD producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto says that Dondoko Island opens up in Chapter 6 of your adventure, where you befriend a turtle and events transport you to the island’s dilapidated shores. The setup is simple: Dondoko has been ravaged by pollution and garbage and it’s your job to make it a habitable place for yourself, its wildlife, and the fuzzy goofs who have your back in your Sujimon team. The end goal? Transform it from a feeble one-star heap of gunk to a five-star resort, where tourists pour in to peruse its newfound convenience stores and bars and, fingers crossed, cat cafes.

Since Dondoko Island is entirely separate from the main story, the official currency isn’t yen but Dondoko Bucks. The devs also say you can convert these Dondoko Bucks back into US dollars for spending in Hawaii, so there’s some added incentive to earn big. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Sega

My 30 minutes on Dondoko Island didn’t start with a turtle, but did see me come face to face with the enemy: The Waste Disposal Deviants, aka The Washbucklers. They’re a band of pollutant pirates, of course, led by the dastardly Dread Pirate Hook. After some taunts and a promise to bring ruin upon our lands, he set three of his cronies on me. Combat was real-time rather than turn-based, and ever so slightly top-down, almost as if it hinted at future large scale battles reminiscent of, say, Yakuza 6’s clan battles. It seemed a little simplistic and a bit floaty, though, as I swung my bat and the pirates toppled over without much resistance. Perhaps the only ounce of tension lay in avoiding hits, as my health had been split into three brittle hearts.

In the main, though, Dondoko Island is clearly a parody on Animal Crossing, and borrows heavily from Crossing’s daily incentives. Each morning on Dondoko you have a morning assembly, where you’re able to assess your island’s overall condition through a map screen, and see daily tasks that contribute to your star-ratings milestones. I’m unsure exactly how these daily tasks will evolve, but mine had me clearing out areas of the Island, like the Great Tree and the Entrance. “Clearing out” means “evaporate bags of trash with your baseball bat”, naturally.

Inevitably, Dondoko also mirrors Animal Crossing in having a shop with a rotating selection of sought-after items. Bridges represent important milestones, allowing you to move around your island more easily and access new areas. You can collect bugs by crashing a net down onto them, filling in a cute entry in your logbook. Head to a pier and you can charge up your spear and launch it at shadowy blobs to catch fish.

You start with a baseball bat that’s only capable of hitting single trash piles at a fairly mediocre pace. Over time, though, you can upgrade it to swing with a wider arc and a much faster rate for those speedy clear times. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Sega

But! Dondoko Island has some important differences to AC, and it isn’t just because rude little rhinos don’t pitch up tents and then roast you for saying hello. Getting cool furniture and items seems a touch more immediate than AC, in that you won’t be shaking trees or dipping into your coffers. Instead, you’re encouraged to craft stuff with the resources you collect from bashing trash around the island, which then levels up your Building Talent. A higher building talent unlocks more things, and the cycle continues. While there’s absolutely a possibility of the resource side of things getting a bit grindy over time, in my short session it didn’t take long for me to unlock a whole array of benches and ornaments.

Spending time furnishing your house also seems vital to success. My demo abode had a single room I was able to pop nice housey items into - like a bed, a sofa, and horny statues. If I had plopped more things down and expanded my place, it would have increased my Livability stat, which would then increase my maximum health and help me get more resources when batting trash. A calendar on the wall also let me decide whether to skip time, usher in a new day and, crucially, reset the daily treats.

Dondoko Island is entirely separate from the story and optional, so you can not bother to engage with it. Up to you. However! I’m told you can earn access to a unique Kiwami action for butt-kicking use in Hawaii and beyond if you make Dondoko Island your own. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Sega

Sakamoto also revealed that we’d be able to visit each other’s islands online. When asked about it, he clarified that it wouldn’t be “in sync”, so both players won’t see each other pottering about in real time. Instead, it’s more like visiting someone else’s island while they’re out at Big Tesco. While a bit of a shame, it’ll be interesting to see if players design their spaces to direct your eye to cool things, since they can’t steer you themselves.

In another interesting twist, Sakamoto said players will be able to battle each other’s Sujimon teams on island visits. Who knows what sort of rewards we might get, or whether there’s a leaderboard. Will people flock to the island of the Sujimon Grandmaster who’s designed their place to mirror a Pokémon gym? I’m intrigued.

Considering I only spent 30 minutes with the mode, it’s far too early to tell how it’ll hold up after a few hours. I worry about any possible grinds, and if RGG find a way to make them enticing enough not to get tiring. Still, from my brief stint I’m amazed at the potential depth of the AC parody and knowing my history in getting hooked on the series’ real estate minigames, I can see myself succumbing to the tourist trade in Infinite Wealth.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

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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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The Electronic Wireless Show S3 Episode 4: Steam Next Fest recommendations and general indie game enthusiasm

We didn’t think there was much news happening this week and then loads did

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Here at the Electronic Wireless Show podcast we like indie games (inasmuch as “indie” can ever really be a helpful term; as the “good” doctor Peterson would no doubt say, what do words even mean? It’s bloody complicated!) and thus are using the news that Day Of The Devs is a non-profit (what does non-profit even mean? What does profit mean? It’s bloody complicated!) as a flimsy excuse to talk about indie games. Plus: Steam Next Fest kicks off next week, and there were indie game demos a-plenty, so we talk about some favourites of those, too. Plus: we’ve been playing JRPGs! And I was wrong, it’s episode 4. Please ignore every time I say it’s episode 5. I told you my notes aren’t to be trusted.

You can listen above, or on on Spotify , iTunes , Stitcher , or Pocket Casts . You can find the RSS feed here , and you can discuss the episode on our Discord channel , which has a dedicated room for podcast chat.

Music is by Jack de Quidt.

Links We record on a - wait we recorded this morning this time, things should broadly be as you remember them.

This week we’ve been playing Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth , Granblue Fantasy: Relink , and The Lord Of The Rings: Battle For Middle-earth 2 , for some reason.

Recommendations this week are for the YouTube channel RambleLime , Tank Tested and Tank Tested Two , and the book From Malin Head To Mizen Head .

Granblue Fantasy: Relink

PS4 , PS5 , PC

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

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The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king

PC

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