Mask Quest review: the cops don’t have to breathe

Canabalt from the blue

Image credit:increpare games / undef / Rock Paper Shotgun

• Developer: increpare games/undef
• Publisher: increpare games/undef
• Release: October 17th 2024
• On: Windows
• From: Steam , Itch.io
• Price: £9/€10/$10
• Reviewed on: Intel Core-i7 12700F, 16GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 3060, Windows 11

When I was a competitive long-distance runner at school, breath control was paramount. We were never really taught this, mind. It was an art you picked up through practice: how to breathe before the race, saturating your blood with O2 without dizzying yourself; when to permit the shorter, emergency breaths and when to apply restraint; when to deepen your inhales and charge yourself up for an attack on a hill.

And then, how to organise your body around your breath, straightening your posture to expand your lungs without tipping back too far and squandering muscle power; how to breath in time with your stride and the movement of your shoulders, so as to firm up your momentum and shave a miraculous-feeling minute off your finishing time. All this, plus various daft psychological war gambits of my own devising. When overtaking or being overtaken, I used to seal my lips shut on that side and breath through the other corner of my mouth, to make it look like I was hardly out of breath at all.

Video games seldom require us to think about breathing, which makes sense given that most of us don’t really think about breathing, most of the time. There are a few in which awareness of your avatar’s lungs is a factor - you’ll hold your breath to steady your scope in Call Of Duty, and feel its absence in the woozy animations of a Souls character who’s out of stamina. But not till the brilliant, buffoonish, aggravating and disturbing Mask Quest have I played a game that de-automates breathing and turns it into a mechanic, a button you must deliberately push and release to fill a cartoon diagram of your character’s chest with air. Fail to do so, and you’ll perish within seconds.

It adds considerable difficulty to a game that is already at the bruising end of the Celestial cosmos, a precision-platformer in which brushing a hazard kills you instantly, a game that challenges you to navigate a dreary fusillade of bullets travelling in opposite directions through a stack of walkways, or survive a labyrinth of ladders while being harassed by a drone. Now, try doing all that while remembering to inhale and exhale. It’s not enough to spam the button: there’s a carbon dioxide gauge beneath the cartoon lungs, and if you empty that out with uncoordinated, rapid breaths you’ll hyperventilate. You have to maintain the drumbeat of your respiration, while synchronising your movements to those of murderous police officers who don’t, seemingly, need to breathe, who appear lifeless and inhuman in their regularity.

As the title may suggest, Mask Quest is a “political” game, but not in the sense of wearing a moral on its sleeve. It’s more of a painstakingly weird exploration of a historical moment than a statement. The Mask you are Questing for is the familiar Covid-era blue-white respirator, and the Quest itself is a journey to different parts of a modern western city, hoping to find a store that still has one in stock. Between the platform challenges, you’ll mingle with groups of people brandishing placards about brutal pandemic restrictions, hedged in by armies of police.

Image credit:increpare games / undef / Rock Paper Shotgun

Mask Quest isn’t an argument against protecting yourself from Covid, but in both the premise and the sparse, toilet-graffiti writing, it expresses massive ambivalence about the enforcement of social distancing: how it can be used as a pretext to thwart collective organisation, and above all, how it intersects with discriminatory policing.

It’s a study of systematic racism that appears to take inspiration (originally, another word for inhalation) from specific atrocities. I won’t spell the parallel out, or at least, not any more than I already have , but your character is Black, your enemies are all cops, and the whole game is one giant struggle to breathe. There is also, perhaps, an overlapping investigation of ableism in public spaces, though I don’t want to conflate ableism with racism. Again, the cops don’t seem to respire. In requiring you to do so manually, the game turns breathing into your disability.

Mask Quest really teaches you to hate cops. One of its nastiest touches is the text when you die, which resolutely blames the victim - never “a cop shot you”, but “you got shot”, never “a cop beat you to death”, but “you touched a cop”. Even as it monsters the old bill, however, it also transforms them into toys, reducing them to platform-game props with repetitive behaviours that can be reliably gamed, given immense concentration and persistence.

Some of them come bounding at you yelping yobbishly - time it right, and you can sneak under their leaps. Others stand there shooting monotonously in either direction. Some carry riot shields that function like pachinko bumpers, launching you diagonally and so, allowing you to reach areas you can’t jump to. Some hurl gas grenades that lock you spluttering in place if you try to inhale. Most despicable of all are the drones, which home in like wasps, even when you’re out of view; their movements are a bit ungainly, which occasionally lets you lure them into terrain traps, but also means they’re capable of surprising you.

Image credit:increpare games / undef / Rock Paper Shotgun

Your only means of fighting back is the air in your lungs. You can blow drones away when exhaling, which might buy you a second to reach safety, but is hardly a dependable strategy. You can also blow on sails to propel boats, including boats crewed by the fuzz. At the game’s most hopeful, there’s the idea of synchronised breathing as a form of resistance, a gathering gale that throws the organs of repression into disarray. As you explore the city, you’ll make friends who can be magically summoned to huff on statues, shattering them and so, luring outraged enforcers away from previously locked areas.

Puffing furiously at drones and statues looks very silly, of course. In general, Mask Quest walks a razor-thin line with its humour. It can be amusing when you fall into water, accidentally inhale and have to spit it all out when you reach ground. There’s a Charlie Chaplin-esque absurdity to doubling over coughing while hopping through tear gas, even as your last few percentage points of oxygenated blood dribble away. The writing is ridiculous: protestors shout things like “no U”. But the scruffy comedy never hides the ugliness. It’s of a piece with the unfairness. You are the butt of every joke.

Visually, the game seems purposefully makeshift, like Canabalt fed through Kid Pix, but the breathing animations and their accompanying vocalisations - personally supplied by co-developer undefdev - are powerful. Your character gapes like Kirby when you hold the button, and you can all but feel the restorative oxygen whistling down their pipes.

Image credit:increpare games / undef / Rock Paper Shotgun

The cleverness of the game’s level design is as double-edged as the humour. It gracefully weaponises and politicises the casual sadism of any game that defines itself as a series of goals and punishments. There are moments, typically during your first few tries at a level, when you marvel at the ingenuity of it all, at how smartly and vindictively the more familiar platforming concepts mesh with the breathing constraint. Later levels are pleasingly abstract, all but discarding the city backdrop. You’ll ride platforms that travel gunfire-fast, obliging you to hop over bullets as you catch up to them. You’ll use those pachinko riot shields to soar over gas clouds and suck in a lungful of sky. There were many moments when I thought of Fez , Braid , and the other indie darlings of the Xbox Live Arcade era.

It makes me wonder - again channelling my memories of cross-country running - about how breathing mechanics might be incorporated into a variety of other games. Or whether there are any existing video game mechanics or routines, like scouting clear space in a bullet hell shooter, that could be productively reconsidered as respiration. But I’m not sure the aim here is really to add another tool to the game design repertoire.

Again, Mask Quest is punitive: I have died hundreds of times while playing it. The one bone it throws you is some extremely generous checkpointing, with rapid reloads, and sometimes this only steepens the failure spirals, as you throw yourself at puzzles that measure victory in pixels. I haven’t sworn aloud and ragequit so often for years, and this feels appropriate to a game that systematises injustice so hilariously, so horribly. The best outcome, perhaps, is that you stop trying to have fun and simply acknowledge that what’s being asked of you is enormously unkind.

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Mask Quest

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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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