Reality Bytes: Lego Bricktales offers a glimpse of the future. But it could be even better

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Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Thunderful Publishing

VR is at its best when it makes you feel like you’re living in the actual future. Given how everything new and exciting ultimately becomes normal and mundane, this is perhaps an unfair expectation of technology that is now a decade old. Nonetheless, if you want me to sit with a shoebox pressed uncomfortably against my eyes for two hours like an ocular gom jabbar, then what’s inside the shoebox better be pretty darned transformative.

Which is to say that LEGO Bricktales provided one of those moments. I was sat in my living room, with all its clutter visible through the Quest 3’s coloured passthrough, and hovering above my table was a great big LEGO diorama of a jungle. All of it was rendered perfectly to scale, as if I could pick up the minifigs between my thumb and forefinger. Yet all of it was moving of its own accord, as if I’d somehow stumbled into a child’s dream.

Crash . In barrels the future, smashing through the temporal wall like the Kool-Aid Guy. You can play with LEGO that moves now. Oh yeah!

As is always the case with reality, virtual or otherwise, there are caveats. For all it does well, LEGO Bricktales is not the killer app for Mixed Reality it could be. Moreover, the price you pay for LEGO that moves is that you can no longer feel its studs and edges between your fingers. But even as someone who is at best a LEGO fan by proxy, I can’t help but find Bricktales a little bit magical.

If you’re sat there thinking “Wait, isn’t LEGO Bricktales a regular, flatscreen game?” Don’t worry, your brain is working properly. Bricktales originally launched for PC and consoles about a year ago, but developer ClockStone Software has since ported it to Quest 2, 3, and Pro, adding touch controls and other VR features. The premise sees you, playing as a custom LEGO figurine of your choice, trying to help your nutty professor grandad rebuild his amusement park, which you do by teleporting to alternate dimensions to collect “Happiness Cubes”.

If you just laughed and/or gagged at the phrase “Happiness Cubes”, don’t worry, the game’s writing is better than this summary makes it seem. It’s light on plot, heavy on jokes, and while a slight lack of precision stops many gags from being hi-larious , most of them elicited a daft grin or a light chuckle from me. In short, not as good as the LEGO Movie, but better than the LEGO Batman Movie.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Thunderful Publishing

As for what you do in these levels, well, it’s varying degrees of tactile puzzle-solving. Your LEGO avatar in the game world is controlled separately using the left thumbstick, much like the mouse in the similarly adorable VR game Moss. But it won’t be long before your character finds their path blocked by a cliff or a gorge. At this point, the game will switch to a whitebox view, and ask you to build a bridge or a stairway out of designated LEGO blocks.

These building puzzles are more challenging than I expected, although I wouldn’t go so far as to call them difficult. To start with, Bricktales features a basic physics simulation, so you need to ensure that each build is structurally sound. Your bridge or stairway must be connected to the starting anchor point, and support the weight of your character at all connections. In addition, each puzzle furnishes you with a combination of bricks that tend toward the eclectic. Rare is it you’ll get more than a couple of 4x2 blocks, and you’ll often be building with a handful of plastic shrapnel that requires careful, considered assembly.

Aside from the unavoidable lack of tactility, Bricktales’ building system is intuitive and satisfying. It is a slight shame that it pulls you out of its colourful worlds for each building activity. Building something separately and then seeing it appear in the game world isn’t as fun as gradually assembling it in situ, even if it makes the actual construction process easier.

Outside of the building challenges, your character acquires numerous abilities that let them navigate other obstacles in the world. There are five of these in total, including a stomp ability that breaks objects like pots and small plants, and an X-ray vision mode that highlights invisible objects on the world (and briefly turns your LEGO avatar into a LEGO skeleton, one of the game’s better visual gags). Some paths will push you further along the story, while others lead to optional rewards like currency-filled treasure chests, which you can use to buy new outfits for your blocky self. Not all these paths are accessible immediately, meaning you’ll return to previous worlds often if you want to explore everything.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Thunderful Publishing

I’ve no major complaints about what LEGO Bricktales does. The story is a heap of nonsense, but in a way that’s mostly fun, and I’d prefer the building puzzles to be embedded in the world itself. There are, however, a couple of things Bricktales doesn’t do that feel like missed opportunities. The first is a dedicated sandbox mode which lets you build whatever you want. You can play around with individual puzzle sets once you’ve completed them, but that’s still limiting compared to what Bricktales could let you do.

In addition, while Bricktales uses the Quest 3’s mixed reality features to project its giant puzzle cubes into your living space, it isn’t really a mixed reality game. You can orient the dioramas so it looks like you’re playing LEGO on your table, but the game doesn’t let you interact with your table, playing with virtual LEGO toys in your own space. In fairness to ClockStone, Bricktales wasn’t designed specifically for Quest 3. Heck, it wasn’t designed for VR at all initially, which makes it quality as a VR game all the more impressive. But such a feature would not only justify the Quest 3’s MR features, it would also make Bricktales an absolute must have.

As it stands, Bricktales is merely an excellent VR game, rather than an essential one. But I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time with it, a gentle, funny VR puzzler that’s a little chewier than I expected, but not too much. And those first few minutes with it, looking down at a LEGO set come to life, were wondrous in a way I’m unlikely to forget anytime soon. Be careful giving it to your children, because their heads might just explode.

LEGO Bricktales

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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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