Militsioner isn’t just a weird and ambitious immersive sim, it’s a game of titanic emotional labour

Big mood

Image credit:CRITICAL REFLEX

If the mountain-sized cop in Militsioner were just a massive looking glass in the sky, registering your every motion or infraction with sterile exactness, that would be fine. The trouble is, he is also a needy piece of shit. If you don’t glance up and address him every few minutes, he’ll complain thunderously about being unappreciated, and when the Cop feels bad about himself, it leads to floods. Tunnels and other low-lying areas become inaccessible. The Cop’s wayward emotions rain down upon the game’s clenched handful of city, which I think may be smaller overall than the Cop himself.

You can sometimes lift the Cop’s spirits with an “existential joke”, picking punchlines from a context-sensitive menu as you gawp at his misty silhouette, but I get the sense he’ll sour on these eventually. You’re better off finding him a treat, aka bribe, but every time you glance at him he wants something else: a bottle of soda, a croissant, a pet.

Gift items transmit themselves instantaneously and without visible contact from your punitively small inventory to the Cop. This could be a show of limited resources for animations, but it’s maybe better read as evidence that this Cop is not a wholly literal Cop. He is a Mind Cop, a Cop wrought of copulating clouds, the bloviating, sun-blotting embodiment of a stagnant carceral system, a Cop spun out from personal slavishness, cynicism and guilt.

Whether kaiju or “Kafka-esque”, the Cop is an asshole. You’ve fallen into his huge hands after committing some unspecified crime. You now have three days to escape the city before your trial, assuming you decide to evade the machinery of justice. I’m pretty sure developers Tall Boys want you to do this. After all, the first menu option Militsioner offers you is “Run”.

I utterly despised the Cop the second I spawned in his grip, at the beginning of my Militsioner playtest this week. As he told me severely to on no account procure a ticket for the next train out of town, I beheld the glacial shuttering of his vast, moist eyes, counted the ginger girders of his silly, juvenile moustache, and imagined the brackishness of his breath, blasting over my face. I felt an unbearable, insectile desire to sabotage and distress him. My mum always used to reassure me that spiders look up at us and feel terror - I now suspect that they look up at us and feel contempt.

The first time I died in Militsioner, it was by falling off a roof during an over-ambitious housebreaking attempt. I promptly respawned as another soul accused of another, unknown crime. As he set me down on the wharf at the bottom of the map, the Cop grumbled that he might have to prohibit climbing as a public safety measure.

I suggested that he’d likely be blamed for the death, and he panicked - one of several “tamagotchi-style” emotions you’ll unlock through experimentation. It was a happy moment, the implication being that somewhere out there is another, even bigger Cop, breathing down the neck of this one. I declined to cheer him up - I had no pressing need to enter the sewers, anyway - but I did eventually hand him a pilfered bottle of champagne for the satisfaction of watching him fall asleep at his post. I hope his superiors catch him napping.

Image credit:CRITICAL REFLEX

With the Cop in a stupor, I was able to roam relatively unchecked across the game’s urban crab-bucket. It’s a place of Dunwallian apartments, forgotten garages, cramped stairwells and anomalous blockages, with a shop or two and smashable vending machines all over. It is appealingly grubby and specific. There is trash everywhere and half the doors are boarded up. There are scattered bricks with which to bust through glass and plank. There are copious aircon units with purple rags fluttering from them, Ubisoftly hinting at routes to upper windows.

While the Cop is awake, he’ll berate, fine and otherwise punish you for sneaking into houses or stealing, sometimes detecting your misbehaviour through walls. He’ll reach down and pluck you up and treat you to a lecture in the sky. But his X-ray oversight has limits, or at least, degrees of permissiveness. To begin with, at least, he doesn’t object to you walking on roofs, and he doesn’t seem able to notice you entering forbidden areas while already inside buildings you’re allowed to access.

There are other citizens. They have day-night behaviours, but mostly keep to their homes, their proximity given away by incessant, desperate humming. Many seem afraid of you. Others are outright malicious. There is a terrible, half-hidden entity called “Friend” who attempts to trap you early on with the promise of a false train ticket. He laughs and gestures from barred sewer grills as you pass - like Pennywise, except that Pennywise had a face. This guy may be nothing but a beckoning arm.

Image credit:CRITICAL REFLEX

In terms of Ye Olde Play Verbs, Militsioner is a spartan breed of immersive sim, which I hope will shine for reminding us that immersive sim players don’t need superpowers - just ratlike cunning and resentment. To begin with, at least, your skillset consists only of a jump, a ledge grab, a crouch, and the ability to pick up and throw objects. There’s no Blink teleport, not even a homely double jump.

Progress seems to hinge on fetching people things, such as cigarettes, which tend to be in the possession of other, unwilling people. Like the Cop, the townsfolk have a variety of emotions to tease out and prey upon. There’s a squalling Ticket Seller by the train station - she professes to be a close confidant of the Cop, threatening to report you if you displease her, but perhaps there’s a way you can twist the two against each other.

The final insult, in terms of expectations for games like these, is that only the Cop gets to level up. When you perish, you can pour points into his traits to, for example, shrink the fines he doles out for petty theft, or shorten the recovery time from angry outbursts that seal off important buildings. This is technically an indirect way of levelling yourself up, I guess, but still, the RPG progression element just felt like an extension of the chore of managing the Cop’s mood.

Gazing up at him towards the end of my playtest, as he groaned at me to fetch him a coffee, I felt like I was staring into the face of god. That’s “god” as I have come to understand the concept, based on my own youthful experience with organised religion: a sanctimonious gargoyle squatting over and inside my head, at once powerful enough to destroy me utterly yet somehow pathetically in need of validation through the minutiae of my life. Apparently you can seduce the guy. I wonder if there’s a way to kill him.

Militsioner

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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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