My secret favourite game of 2023 is now on Game Pass

I had to uninstall Brotato for my own good

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Blobfish

I completely forgot about Brotato in our 2023 game of the year voting because I had played so much, so intensely that I had to uninstall it for my own good and try to flush it out my brain. Brotato arrived on Game Pass today, so you too can enjoy creating problems in your life. I might try to pique your interest with caveated comparisons to Vampire Survivors ( and previously have ), but I’d rather tell you that what hooked me in the wave survival shmup is constant little opportunities to push your luck and skill trying to create advantages. Death or glory. Likely death. But what if glory?

A few snippets of endgame action as I play several quite different builds, from sniper ultraviolence to camping in a turret farmWatch on YouTube

Brotato is a wave-survival shoot ’em up where aiming and attacking are handled for you. As waves of alien invaders spawn in and the round timer ticks down, all you have to do is run and dodge and grab healing fruit pickups and not die while your potato auto-performs violence. Defeated enemies drop green blobs which are both XP and money. As you’d expect from a shmup-ish game, a lot of skill is in dodging and prioritising targets. Over time, you learn how to dance through waves, pushing on weak spots while taking passing swipes at big lads.

Your spud can hold six weapons at once, and the game has dozens of weapons with different stats and attack patterns. Some are fairly straightforward murder tools: clubs, hammers, rocks, knives, shotguns, rocket launchers, flamethrowers, and such. Some have neat tricks like sparking chain lightning or giving you permanent stat boosts every so many kills. With some, the fact that you can swing them as weapons is largely secondary to effects like giving you a turret friend or a garden which spawns healing fruit.

Brotato does have an option to manually aim and shoot but feels like a different game to me, one I like that less. Part of the skill I enjoy is learning the timings and attack patterns of your weapons so you’re constantly preparing for what it’ll do next. Another little problem to solve every second.

Grab enough globs by performing this violence and you’ll level up, immediately gaining a hit point. At the end of the round, you’ll then get to pick a stat to increase from a random selection (which you can pay reroll): health, attack speed, melee damage, armour, luck, elemental damage, harvesting (passive income), lifesteal, and more. After any end-of-round business, you’re off to the shop. Much of Brotato’s skill is in savvy shopping.

Much like the Pet Shop Boys, we’re shopping |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Blobfish

The shop is familiar from autobattlers. It has a random selection of stock, offering fancy stuff as you get deeper into a run and increase your luck stat. The stock rerolls every time you enter the shop, and you can pay a little to reroll it at will. You can freeze items so they stick around through rerolls too. Like autobattler heroes, you can combine two copies of a weapon of the same tier into one of the next tier up, bringing benefits such as higher damage and faster attack speed. And like autobattler classes, weapons come in types like blade or elemental, which give stat boosts scaling to how many of a type you’re holding.

Along with weapons, the shop sells items which boost stats or offer whole new abilities, often with a downside. Extra attack range. More damage but less attack range. An autonomous sentry turret. Make enemies launch a bullet when they die, at heavy cost to your range stat. A chance to heal when you dodge an attack. More crit chance but less armour. Extra explosion damage. Bigger explosions. A chance to make enemies explode upon death. Oh, I do like explosions. Even items which appear entirely good can be bad with the wrong weapons, or on the wrong run, or at the wrong time.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Blobfish

To me, Brotato is best at its higher difficulty levels. Whole new types of enemies appear, you face horde and miniboss rounds, more enemies spawn and are tougher, and at the highest level you even face two bosses in the final round. Here, surviving a wave is not enough. To have any chance in later waves, you must take risks to thrive. Dive deeper into waves. Delay building a defence as long as you dare. Buy items that will do little for you right now but should over time, if you survive long enough. Walk on the razor’s edge and earn every win.

Do you buy this okay item or spend cash rerolling to fish for something more impactful? Pick this solid defensive stat at level-up or dare to take that damage stat? Is it too late to refocus your build around this phenomenal item you just found? Will this item boosting enemy spawn rates give you more fodder to farm or overwhelm you? Ahead of a horde or boss wave, dare you buy an item which will double XP gains in the next wave but also increase the damage you take that wave? When you’re lagging behind and desperately need to accelerate your run, can you afford not to try? In that case, I double dog dare you to also buy the item which raises your damage stat at cost of spawning tough bonus enemies at the start of the wave.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Blobfish

All of your decisions can change entirely based on which of the 44 characters you’re playing. Many characters push you towards certain builds and weapon types by boosting or reducing specific stats, while others require whole new strategies and tactics. The Soldier, which only attacks when standing still. The Pacifist, earning cash and XP by not killing enemies. The Weapons Dealer, losing its weapons every round and buying a whole new arsenal at discount. The Lich, which hurts a random enemy every time it heals. The Demon, spending health to buy items. An item’s unpleasant side-effect of hurting you once every second second might actually be invaluable on a character like the Bull, who cannot attack but does trigger an explosion every time it’s hit, and so must normally run directly into enemies who’ll do far more damage than that 1HP. I feel very clever hitting upon run-specific combos and tricks like this.

It is immensely satisfying when all of your tiny decisions and gambles and strategies and missteps come together as you casually stroll through a screen full of enemies because you know exactly how to move and where to strike on this particular run. Push through that cluster of weak enemies to grab the globs over there, knowing that your dodge stat will have your back even if don’t take them all, but note that you’ll pop the spawner so be sure to loop back and catch its roaming ranged progeny or they’ll disperse and cause problems later, and you’ll want to cut upwards because you’re using slow jabbing spears so it’s best to pull enemies into a long line and hit as many as possible, and that charger is charging up so take a brief stutterstep, and if you could knock out that cluster of healers that would be grand, and ooh treasure goblin get it get it get it. You don’t think this, you just know it. And all that was only two seconds of play. This hectic game becomes blissful.

Alright, for my own good, I’m off to uninstall Brotato again. Please play so I can live vicariously. It’s now available through PC Game Pass , and of course still sold on Steam .

Brotato

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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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Vampire Survivors meets Newgrounds in this Steam Next Fest demo

Brotato stars one hot potato

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Blobfish

The auto-attacking action of Vampire Survivors and rude ’tude of Flash games combines in Brotato , an upcoming indie game with a free demo available in the Steam Next Fest right now. We play as a potato dodging around waves of aliens while blasting them with sticks, stones, guns, knives, rocket launchers, and weird mutations. I mean it as a great compliment when I say the roguelikelike arena survive ’em up feels like a Newgrounds game.

Pick a class for your potato and your starting weapon then off you go into a small arena, your weapons automatically aiming and attacking as you dodge the waves of spawning enemies. Grab XP and coins from their guts then, between waves, you can pick new perks and purchase new weapons and items. Soon, your spud has gone from meekly poking with a stick to roaming around with a shotgun, cactus club, flamethrower, rocket launcher, pistol, and magic wand, wearing a dead hedgehog on its head and jabbed full of syringes as it spews murder.

It’s pretty fun! Vampire Survivors split into waves, all wrapped up in the ’tude of Newgrounds-era edginess and silliness with the look of Flash games like The Binding Of Isaac and some nods to Nuclear Throne .

I’ve made some weird and fun builds, and classes do encourage leaning into synergies with particular weapons, perks, and items, (though you can pick an all-rounder if you want). Extreme melee mutilation. Bullets galore. Elemental effects sparking all over. Six fists, punching wildly. Pretty good violence.

My big gripe: with little (maybe even no?) grace period of invulnerability after taking a hit, a run can go from great to over in a splitsecond. Not every game needs to behave the same way but it feels weird and, worse, not fun. It sucks to power through low levels and finally pull together an interesting build then make one miscalculation and need to start over with nothing. It’s enough that I think I wouldn’t stick with Brotato long-term. The dev does still seem to be tweaking, adding, and overhauling systems, so fingers crossed.

You can download the Next Fest demo from Steam . The plan is to release the full game “in the next few months”, priced at $3-5.

Brotato

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