Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders review - cross-country skiing as rewarding for the journey as the destination

A slippy-slidey ice world, natch

Image credit:RPS / Megagon Industries

• Developer: Megagon Industries
• Publisher: Megagon Industries
• Release: January 21st, 2025
• On: Windows
• From: Steam
• Price: £20.99/€22.49/$22.49
• Reviewed on: Intel Core i5-12600K, 32GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti, Windows 10

Few games place me so betwixt the yin and yang of frustration and flow state as Snow Riders . Here is a compact selection of ski slopes, each one yodeling the promise of my smooth and exhilarating descent over fresh powder. But wait, someone has littered this Ski Sunday with obstacles, forcing me to run a gauntlet of trees, rocks and rivers. I am thrust headlong into each of these obstacles a dozen times before my withered synapses and tired bones internalise these arboreal teachings and I make it safely to the bottom.

As in life, there is joy to be found in this journey precisely because it is hard. Unlike in life, the camera is often facing backwards while you do it.

Snow Riders contains 12 tracks split across three regions, with a blue and a black slope for each track. Each of these tracks and slopes must be unlocked one-by-one by completing courses, time trials, and crash-related challenges, but a capable player will have access to them all after a couple of hours. At this point you might think, “Is that it?”. Bury your head in a snowdrift immediately. Snow Riders’ macro-progression continues via level-ups, unlocked ski types (with different balances of speed versus steering versus falling-over-ness) and jaunty scarves. But its true longevity comes from the progression of your own mind and fingers.

For a start, each track is not really a track. You’re not doing three loops around Nürburgring, you’re picking your way cross country, and even within a chosen blue or black slope there are multiple routes. Sometimes that’s as simple a choice as whether you go left or right around a boulder, and sometimes that’s a choice of four distinct directions which take you across radically different terrain. One of them is probably a near-sheer decline and a Homer-on-a-skateboard leap across a canyon.

A screenshot of Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders with no changes.

I found skiing came alive for me in a new way when I tried Zen mode, which removes timers and crash counters and lets you place your own checkpoints. This is not, as its name suggests, simply a chill way to play, but an invitation to more thoughtfully pick your way down the mountain, experimenting with new shortcuts and brake points. You then carry your new knowledge back into the regular modes.

I unlocked all these clothing items, and that’s why I’m so stylish. |Image credit:RPS / Megagon Industries

Zen mode is great because it’s a way of absorbing the skier’s equivalent of The Knowledge with less frustration, but in general the game makes plenty of concessions to ease your burden. Each course is split into regular checkpoints, so a crash doesn’t send you back far. Resetting after a crash is almost instant, the wasted time wiped from your clock, and speed is easily regained. It also feels generous in the hands, with quick and easy braking and sharp turns a doddle.

Where I do feel frustration is where the challenge feels more arbitrary. Trees, rocks, rivers: these are a fair source of difficulty in a game about skiing down mountains. The camera not pointing in the direction of travel, as I alluded to above, feels less fair.

Snow Riders gives you no control over the camera whatsoever. It is at a fixed angle at all times, zoomed in pretty close, and at times as the route winds down and around, you will find yourself skiing at speed towards a future you can’t see. On second thoughts, maybe this is a lot like real life - but the fact remains that you will crash into an obstacle you had no way of seeing until you were upon it. This makes trial and error a necessity, and success a test of memory as much as reflex or coordination.

Perhaps this grants some affordances. Perhaps a front-facing camera would make traversal too easy, and as counterbalance the game would need less generous handling or trickier courses which in turn may prove more frustrating. I don’t know. The fixed camera angle is clearly a part of the design firmament, such that changing it would cause an avalanche of design issues, and so I don’t know that I’d advocate for its removal. All I know is that it feels more frustrating to crash into a tree I couldn’t see than hitting one I could.

Image credit:RPS / Megagon Industries

For this reason, I’d recommend retaining as much of The Knowledge as you can before heading into multiplayer, one of Snow Riders’ new additions over its mountain biking predecessor, Lonely Mountains: Downhill . With up to 8 other players, you can race to the bottom of mountains in three-race Tours, and knowing of a shortcut - and being adept enough to take it and not crash - is essential if you want to win.

I did want to win, but I also found my heart increased three sizes with a surprising feeling of camaraderie during my hours spent racing others. Snow Riders is first and foremost about skiers attempting to overcome the mountain itself, and so, in spectating other players and watching them fall and fall and get up to try again, I began to cheer them on. My cheering mostly took the form of emojis, the only available in-game communication, but still I felt support in response when they blasted hearts and party poppers right back.

Alas, my heart shrunk by exactly one size again due to the multiplayer mode’s general jankiness. Several rounds left me trapped on the loading screen - a problem I also encountered in singleplayer when trying to use ghosts to compete against my prior performances - which forced me to alt-F4 from the game. I also experienced a troubling amount of lag, which was deadly when even a split second delay caused me to careen into a gorge.

Image credit:RPS / Megagon Industries

These are, I think, minor quibbles. The reality is that I’ve had a great time over the past week, learning routes and outpacing strangers. I also know that I’ve barely scratched the surface of the kinds of times more adept players will achieve, and hardly touched the mid-air trick system at all. I will continue to hit the slopes for the fun of attaining that snowy flow state, even if only for brief moments before the tree of frustration clobbers me in the face again.

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Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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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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