Paradox still want to make a Sims competitor after Life By You, but “we need to start smaller”

“A life sim made sense, and perhaps still make sense,” says chief creative officer

Image credit:Paradox Interactive

Paradox Interactive have not had a rosy couple of years. While the company’s core business in grand strategy remains prosperous, their approach to games outside this niche has been mired by delays, cancelations, closures and layoffs. Let’s run through the big setbacks: The Lamplighters League , which we overall liked , was a $22 million financial flop - Paradox have now parted ways with creators Harebrained Studios . Cities Skylines 2 should have been a victory lap, after the success of the first game, but it launched with severe bugs and performance issues . Prison Architect 2 , another follow-up to a hit game, has been delayed indefinitely , and Paradox have split from developers Double Eleven. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is borderline vapourware: originally announced in 2019 with Hardsuit Labs at the helm, it’s currently in the hands of The Chinese Room, and was recently delayed for the umpteenth time into 2025.

And then there’s the abrupt cancellation of Life By You , a life management sim designed to compete directly with The Sims 4 , and the closure of its creators Paradox Tectonic. Writing-down the development of Life By You cost Paradox around 208 million krona, or $19.2 million. It was the primary contributor to a 90% decrease in the company’s operating profit for the second quarter of 2024, versus the same quarter in 2023.

Paradox recently invited journalists to a Media Day in London, seeking to reset perceptions and explore what they’ve learned from this run of disasters. I have a few stories from that event, which we’ll run over the next week or two, but above all, I wanted to ask about Life By You. Announced barely a year before cancellation in March 2023 with a former EA boss at the helm, it was an undisguised attempt to usurp The Sims , with a host of ambitious elements such as context-sensitive generated dialogue. I thought it made a lot of sense for Paradox to try its hand at a life sim - a genre that can be as system-led as grand strategy, but with a lighter, more approachable format that might have lured in players who aren’t massive history buffs.

In an interview at the event, Paradox’s deputy chief executive officer Mattias Lilja agreed that Life By You was a “strategically sensible project” for Paradox, adding that the company haven’t given up on the life sim genre. “It makes sense to us strategically, finding that core team who want to do that game for us is a really good idea, and I think we should try again, if we have a similar opportunity,” he told me.

Next time, however, Paradox need to make smaller investments at the outset and be prepared for a longer spell in prototyping, Lilja went on. “We need to do it a different way. We need to start with a smaller team. We need to do pre-production longer. We need to prototype a lot, before we go into big production, because when you have a full game team, quite honestly, it costs a lot, so any pivot is going to cost all of that.”

The game’s relative expense meant it had to show significant progress faster than the developers could manage, Lilja said. “We were not getting the game we wanted, and the burn rate and cost was really high at that point, which is on us as a publisher. The devs did everything they could, but there were lots of them, so any major change would just put us more into [debt]. We were digging a hole that was just getting deeper. That’s why we had to stop it, and we didn’t really see any other option. It’s not like you can change dev team - we have to stop now.”

The game’s problems were too fundamental to iron out in early access, Lilja added. “If we thought people would be happy, we would have released it, but we were certain that they wouldn’t. So we had to stop.”

Paradox’s chief creator officer Henrik Fåhraeus echoed much of this in a separate interview at the event. “The thing with that game is we saw a lot of problems for a long time,” he said of Life By You. Fåhraeus touched briefly on the game’s graphics being “not good enough” for Paradox leadership, but added that Life By You’s issues were more “big picture”.

“What is the player experience going to be like, is it going to be better than Sims 4 in some way, at least?” he said. “And the unfortunate answer to that is that I didn’t feel it would be, and the other people who tested it were of sort of the same opinion.

“So, it’s not about single points of failure, if you will, it’s more the big picture experience of playing the game, and even in early access, you need to have a really solid experience that is fun and bug-free. It can be a little thin on content, sure, that’s not the big problem. It’s having that really fun experience playing. The game needs to be there.”

Like Lilja, Fåhraeus thinks Paradox have a future in the life sim genre. “The greenlighting of Life By You was perfectly reasonable, I think,” he said. “It does kind of fit our pillars in many ways.” While Fåhraeus acknowledges that life sims are “less challenging” than the grand strategy sims Paradox have a reputation for, he argues they rely on a similar mix of the “cerebral” and “creativity”. “So a life sim made sense, and perhaps still make sense,” he concluded.

All this will likely make sour reading for people who used to work at Paradox Tectonic. Some of the laid-off developers have spoken out publicly against the cancellation, insisting that the game was in better shape than advertised. In June this year, a few months after Life By You was delayed indefinitely , game designer Willem Delventhal aired his frustrations on LinkedIn, claiming that development was going “extremely well” before Paradox suspended launch for the final time.

“I cannot share specific numbers, but I can say that we had an internal metric we were aiming for that had been approved, and that we exceeded that number by a significant portion,” he wrote. “We also got a thumbs up a few weeks before launch.”

According to Delventhal, the developers “spent a month in purgatory” after release was postponed indefinitely, during which “we did everything we could to prove to them we were worth launching, including things like finding potential buyers or suggesting cutting ties and going indie. We heard virtually nothing back.”

“But I can tell you that the game was not what we needed it to be. The promise that they talked about, that people got excited about, was not the game that we were looking at. And there were many different reasons, and I’m going to own up that we did not control or help them steer that in a good way - that’s on us.”

Look out for more stories on Prison Architect 2, The Lamplighter’s League, Bloodlines 2 and Paradox’s grand strategy operations at large in the days to come.

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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.

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ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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