Roots Of Yggdrasil’s gorgeous roguelike citybuilding is a real grower

It’s heading to early access on January 24th

Image credit:ManaVoid Entertainment/Indie Asylum

Back in the depths of 2023’s February Steam Next Fest, Roots Of Yggdrasil was one of a handful of games that really caught my attention. Not because it was another beautiful-looking deckbuilder (though that does seem to be a steadily growing niche of mine these days), or because its colourful, inkwash visuals had the air of a Norse-flavoured Okami about them (though it did also help). Rather, it was the way its roguelike foundations meshed with its freeform, but still very goal-driven turn-based building systems, giving you drive and purpose in your construction choices, while also being light and chill, with just the right amount of existential threat nipping at your heels.

It struck me that if, say, my best puzzle strategy bud Dorfromantik was ever turned into a roguelike, this is probably a good approximation of what it would look and feel like, which is, frankly, yep, I’d like that game right now, please. Happily, with Roots Of Yggdrasil now approaching its early access launch on January 24th, I’m very happy to report that it’s come on leaps and bounds since that Next Fest demo. This is already a very moreish and polished building game , and I’ve been struggling to tear myself away from it as I guide my longboat of magic Vikings away from their impending Ragnarok.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/ManaVoid Entertainment

The UI in particular has had a major overhaul since the Next Fest demo, and it’s now much easier to see how all your supplies, might and eitr are being replenished each turn. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/ManaVoid Entertainment

If you’ve played The Banished Vault or the now sadly cryogenically frozen Jumplight Odyssey , the fundamental structure of Roots Of Yggdrasil will feel intimately familiar, as your band of warriors are forever trying to outrun the all-consuming Ginnungagap, the primordial void from Norse myth. The only way to stay ahead of its fatal purple clouds is by briefly touching down on fragmented floating islands and building up settlements so you can tap the local Yggdrasil tree roots for a much-needed top-up of magic longboat juice (aka: seeds). Then, once you’ve got enough power to leg it over to the next island, you up sticks and keep on running, all the way up to the top of the Yggdrasil tree.

You’ve only got a set number of turns to grab your seed stash, however, and the more time you spend on an island, the more unstable the landscape becomes. The timeline bar across the top signals when certain “events” will start happening, but you don’t know what they’re going to be until they happen. During my time with the early access build so far, these have ranged from flooded tiles to thick, nasty brambles that I need to get rid of, and even storms that gradually cruise across the map, stopping you from building on affected tiles.

Story events also crop up randomly on the map, adding an extra frisson of tension to your citybuilding strategising. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/ManaVoid Entertainment

As you move up the map (left), you’ll see “The Gap” slowly build up behind you, but upon death, you’ll always end up back at The Holt (right) for another go. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/ManaVoid Entertainment

Still, it’s a neat narrative device, and one that works well within for Roots Of Yggdrasil’s setting. And really, it’s just a good excuse to play level after level of its moreish building puzzles. As mentioned earlier, your goal on each island is to build up your town toward the titular roots poking out of the ground. They’re often stranded on separate chunks of land from your initial starting position, but accumulate enough Might and your warriors can magic up more terrain to help bridge the gaps. Might comes from plonking specific buildings down such as a Barracks or Training Ground, though these have their own requirements to fulfil as well, such as being in range of a certain number of houses, say, or having two supply buildings nearby and a tavern. New cards are added to your deck by hitting population milestones, but the cost of each new house increases with each one you build, so you’ll need to place down enough supply buildings and maximise their refresh bonuses in order to your economy in check and make the most of your deck.

It’s a winning formula, and one that really makes you think about the placement of your buildings. For instance, you can’t just lay down two Waterwells within range of each other to double up on the initial bonus you gained. They’ve got to have their own distinct catchment areas. Likewise, any bonuses you might get to help bolster your Supply, Might or magical Eitr reserves can only be gained from buildings already on the map, not the ones that are built near it afterwards. As such, the order in which you play your cards is important, as you might miss out on a vital multiplier otherwise. At the same time, though, you’ve only got so many supplies you can spend on buildings per turn, and so maximising your hand and keeping your population growing quickly becomes quite the satisfying juggling act. Best of all, you get to decide where all of your buildings go, too, as you can drag and drop them onto the map with your mouse, and fiddle about with their pixel-perfect locations to get their bonus ranges just right .

This shrub will only ever grant you one extra supply refill bonus, but it’s still scratches all the right parts of my brain to get the numbers as high as possible. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/ManaVoid Entertainment

And yes, while you are under a bit of time pressure, the turns themselves last until you hit the big ‘End Turn’ button in the bottom right corner, giving you plenty of headspace to consider your options. That said, there have been a couple of times where I’ve felt some unfair rugpulls during my journey. Not such much from the cards themselves (though I have fallen foul of having too many in my deck at times, which can slow down the frequency of obtaining particular cards), but from the way Roots Of Yggdrasil’s procedurally generated islands sometimes handle their exploration. For instance, I’ll be quite merrily making progress toward a particular Yggdrasil root, spending my Might on the special scouting tiles that are seemingly heading in the root’s direction, only to find the actual route to that, err, root, starts somewhere completely unexpected.

In its defence, most of the time it’s reasonably obvious which scout tiles will take you to which root. But the biggest kick in the teeth for me came when I landed on a big rocky Dwarven stronghold map, with two trees lying ahead to my right and a third right in front of me behind a big gate. I didn’t have the right cards to make the gate open, but no problem, I thought, I only need to reach two roots in this level, so I’ll go after the other ones. Exploration takes time, you see, and you’ll often need to wait two or three turns for paths to open up. So I make pump my points into the one that looks to be heading toward both, only to effectively run out of track after reaching the first one. As it turns out, the requisite exploration tile to reach the other tree a literal stone’s throw away from me was actually behind my starting settlement, with a whole other snakey bit of land bobbing up from beneath the clouds when I eventually unlocked it.

• Developer: ManaVoid Entertainment
• Publisher: ManaVoid Entertainment, Indie Asylum
• Release: January 24th 2024
• On: Windows
• From: Steam
• Price: £15/€15/$15

Part of this, I’ll admit, is my own fault. I should have been more proactive with building up my Might and exploring multiple routes simultaneously. But when the procedural nature of its map become more difficult to predict and strategise against, there’s an inevitable friction that occurs that can really end up souring a particular run. And yes, I did die on that Dwarven stronghold, and I wasn’t able to mind “The Gap”.

Still, it’s not like this has happened so often that I’d consider it a major problem or anything - such is the nature of roguelikes and all that - and I have every hope that its stint in early access will help iron out some of these procedural kinks over time. Developers ManaVoid Entertainment estimate they’ll spend around six months in early access at time of writing, putting it roughly in a late June, early July kind of timeframe for a full release, but this may change depending on player feedback, they say. Even so, what’s here is already eminently playable, and I’m looking forward to spending more time with it over the coming weeks and months.

Roots Of Yggdrasil

PC

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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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