RPS Verdict: Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Overshadowed?

Image credit:Ubisoft

Nic: To kick off this verdict, I have no choice but to ask my most insightful question: how Assassin-y is this Assassin’s Creed Game?

Jeremy: This is the first AssCreed game I’ve engaged with since Assassin’s Creed II, which I watched my roommate play through in university. So my opinion is not especially scientific, but from what I’ve seen it is very Assassin-y. The story – which is serviceable if not anything original – revolves around tackling a group of masked bad guys known as the Onryo (that’s Japanese for ghost), who are introduced with cool chanbara-style music. You’ve got to kill all of them, and sometimes you have to kill other folks who are connected with them, and in general there is a whole lot of assassinating going on, either with Naoe (who slices and dices with the standard hidden blade) or Yasuke (who has a ‘brutal’ assassination where he shoves his katana into someone’s face).

The educated fanboys on YouTube who have filled me in on old AssCreed lore make me think that on the Assassin-y meter, this one probably ranks higher than other recent entries in the franchise. Generally I think that Shadows will be received well and perhaps compared with Odyssey once most people have played it, and anyone who’s felt that recent AC games aren’t Assassin-y enough should turn on guaranteed assassination mode, which returns from Valhalla and made the game a lot more fun for me. I prefer stealth over decent-but-not spectacular combat, and I like insta-killng someone without worrying about them blocking my blade at the last second.

Brendan: It’s pretty murdery. But generally a lot of the big targets just turn into boss fights, rather than assassinations per se. But one of my most-liked missions sees Naoe killing her target not in a rooftop attack or open battle, but in a cutscene. All you do in that particular mission is chat to a few people at a tea party and make some educated guesses as to the identity of your unknown target. The game does the rest. I want to ask for more assassinations like this, but then maybe I should just ask IO Interactive to make a Hitman game set in ancient Rome or something.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

Nic: If I took one look at Valhalla’s map and decided that no, actually, I don’t think I will, is Shadows a bit less intimidating in terms of checklisting? If not, is there at least enough on the map to convince me to pour a billion hours into exploring?

Jeremy: So, one of the reasons I’ve avoided Assassin’s Creed games until I was forced to start this one is wonderfully petty - I was and continue to be a huge fan of Prince of Persia, and I resent how AssCreed started as a PoP spin-off and then became one of Ubisoft’s biggest stars while the Prince was left to rot for nearly 20 years. I also don’t think highly of Ubisoft for a number of reasons – but on the gameplay front, it’s because I hate the way they populate their open worlds with a bajillion doodads that remind me of the Reminders section of my phone. As someone who almost always prefers smaller, more realised maps over gargantuan playgrounds full of busywork, I’ve long considered the Assassin’s Creed games to be mighty offenders of excess.

Shadows didn’t really subvert my expectations in this regard. The world is undeniably beautiful, but there’s a lot of checklist-type stuff scattered across the map, ranging from collectible treasures, wandering ronin to fight, castles to infiltrate, places where you can sit on your butt and do a meditation mini-game, and even the odd decision to show you images that other players have taken with the game’s photo mode. (No, I don’t want to see anyone else’s pics of Naoe and Yasuke running around in their underwear! Yours do not compare to mine!)

Ollie: Why? Have you found special underwear, Jeremy?

Jeremy: That said–

Ollie: Oh fine, ignore me!

Jeremy: That said, I get the sense that Shadows has actually dialed the excess back a bit from the Valhalla days. Thus far, I’ve not been punished for ignoring half of the stuff I listed above. But it’s undoubtedly a map that feels like it was designed as big as possible to maximise CONTENT, and I’d rather have something smaller. The Prince never barraged me with so many distractions – he just had tight environments to parkour through. (If Ubisoft succeeds with their inevitable dream of turning the Sands of Time remake into a big-budget content grabbag, I will happily redact this statement.)

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

Brendan: The icon clearing is something I doubt Ubisoft will ever abandon. But what I’ve found interesting is how they do quest waypoints now. Everyone made fun of Ubisoft for always mindlessly funneling players between waypoints, so recent Ass Creeds have built quests where you’ve gotta learn a thing or two before they’ll show you the precise location of your next goal. They do that again here. Instead of a straight shot to your target, you get some bullet pointed clues. “He is in Sakai” the objective text might say. “She is east of Amagasaki”. Stuff like that. Theoretically, you then narrow it down, observe things naturally, and find your target - whether that’s a person to kill or question, or just some object you have to pick up.

And sure, this diminishes the feeling of going from waypoint to waypoint, but its effect is suuuper limited. Mostly because quests lack memorable characters or dialogue (why am I helping this guy find a statue again?) But also because most players will just use eagle vision to spot the gamey “object of interest” markers that throb through buildings like pulsing blue pimples. In the end, the patching over of waypoints with treasure hunty “clues” just feels like another formulaic way for Ubisoft’s designers to systemitise meaning. This is my fancy way of saying: listen, a waypoint is a waypoint. If you want space, characters, and relationships to have meaning, the real solution is not to paste a riddle on the HUD. Try making a smaller game, without the waypoint at all. So yes, Nic. I absolutely understand how overwhelming that icon-strewn map is. I see the likes of Assassin’s Creed Mirage , and I say to Ubisoft: no, smaller. Smaller.

Nic: I remember downloading a level cheat thing for AC: Odyssey because the level gating was so grindy that I decided it actually didn’t count as an open-world anymore. Are you free to actually explore this one at your own whims?

Jeremy: There’s only been one instance where I was underleveled and needed to run through a bunch of side quests in order to continue with story missions, so I’d say it’s not too bad, though once again, I haven’t played Odyssey.

But on the topic of exploring Shadows at your own whims, while you need to watch out for overleveled mooks if you venture to faroff parts of the map from the get-go, it’s still very possible. This game clearly wants you to wander around its vision of 1579 Japan and appreciate the research that went into its production, and despite my qualms with the open world, I have enjoyed the moments when I’ve meandered Naoe from province to province, sometimes by horse, sometimes by boat, sometimes by hopping across the masts of Portuguese ships. (You can find them selling Christian paraphernalia at shops that you can then use to decorate your base. Talk about foreign propagandists.)

Ollie: Quite early on I stumbled upon a couple of enemies with skulls instead of level numbers above their heads, and despite the visual feedback of gouts of blood spraying from them as I sliced them up, in damage terms I may as well have been wafting a hot dog stall sausage vaguely nearby. And then they killed me in a single hit. After that point, while I could definitely have delved deep into one of the later regions of the map, the big red numbers hanging above their names instilled enough terror into me that I’ve largely avoided doing so. On the whole I like that the game has made me feel this way, although I think the manner in which they did it could be improved. If an enemy’s too good for me, make me unable to land a blow. I’m okay feeling powerless against a superior soldier. Less okay feeling that my sharp-enough-to-cut-dimensions-in-two katana is powerless against a soldier’s blood loss apathy.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

Brendan: Yeah, basically you can explore the regions that are beyond your level - so long as you don’t get into any fights or try any quests out there in the danger zones. I don’t think level gating is a great design trick, but I perversely like dipping into these places before I’m “supposed” to. It feels like trespassing. It’s one of the first things I try in MMOs too - see how far I can get into The Deathswamps before I get squashed by a level 999 Enfuckinator.

Nic: How’s the base? How are the deer? Also, can you kick bears in this one?

Jeremy: The base stuff is fine but honestly not what I’m here for, though I imagine some folks will dig it. You cannot kick bears as far as I know, but on the subject of wildlife, there are multiple spots throughout the game where you can sit and engage in sumi-e wildlife painting. There are no mechanical benefits to doing so as far as I can tell; just inner satisfaction, and out of all the checklist stuff on the map, I’d probably vote to keep these.

Ollie: I petted a cat once, and now I can add that same cat to my base a hundred times, so that an army of dupli-cats comes meowing whenever I return home. I hate that this brute force approach works on me, but it does. I’ll now forgive the game for pretty much anything.

Brendan: Same.

Nic: Any giant women about? Asking for a friend .

Brendan: Is the giant fella with the sad expression every time he is asked to kill not enough for you? You can romance people, if this is where your gutterbrain is going, Nic. I tried to flirt with a high-born lady and she was categorically against it. Snob.

James: I haven’t seen any giant women but I am sure that Naoe is the tiniest AC protagonist thus far, including No-Shoulders Desmond. I wish they made it so that if you have her copy Yasuke’s door-breaking sprint move, she just pings back off like a tennis ball.

Nic: What, if anything, does this game mean for the series? Is a question I definitely asked ahead of time rather than sticking it the doc later to make Edwin’s insightful observations flow better

Edwin: However intriguing or lacklustre Shadows proves, it’s a pivotal game because it’s launching against the backdrop of Ubisoft undergoing what could be a major corporate restructure, following a dismal 2024 and many months of investor whinging. At the time of my writing, the rumour is that they’re going to spin off a separate business entity to manage games like Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry . There’s also been talk that Tencent are looking to up their investment, in collaboration with the founding Guillemot brothers. Whatever happens, I do not have much confidence that it won’t involve further job losses.

Shadows has been delayed repeatedly – it’s hard to know how much that reflects the quality of the game, and how much is just Ubisoft playing 4D chess with release dates in the hope of securing a big win, after not quite setting the galaxy on fire with Star Wars Outlaws . Personally, I think Assassin’s Creed is too familiar at this stage to seriously change Ubisoft’s fortunes. I’m interested to know if Shadows feels in any way like a fresh start.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

Jeremy: On that note, I know that Ubisoft is relying on Shadows a lot, both as a means of turning flailing company fortunes and possibly revitalising AssCreed by acquiescing to all those folks who wanted a set-in-Japan game. I also know that there has been much attention flung towards Shadows over its historical representation, including a whole lotta harassment over Yasuke’s inclusion.

Thanks to colonisation, I have tangential family links with Japan on my Taiwanese mother’s side. They’re probably not bloodline-related, but my grandmother supposedly burst into tears when Emperor Hirohito declared surrender at the end of World War II. I’ll use whatever authority that grants me to say that I think Ubisoft did a good job at touching real-world history here. I’m sure there are missteps, but as someone who cares about Asian representation in video games, I did not see anything that offended me. Frankly, Yasuke was my preferred character story-wise, since Naoe feels like she was pulled from the pages of a shonen manga.

That said, I’m also not terribly impressed when Western studios make a product set in feudal Japan, a time period that is everywhere in gaming, and dare I say media in general. If this game sells millions of copies, I’m sure Ubisoft will pat themselves on the back for being brave enough to delve into the world of shinobi and samurai. But I find myself wishing that a ‘fresh start’ came in the form of something more diverse.

Perhaps I’m in the minority, but I’d love to see AssCreed give us a game in an underrepresented region like Cambodia, Vietnam, or anywhere else in Southeast Asia. And even Japan itself has more to offer than samurai – just look at all the possibilities of the Meiji Restoration or the injustices suffered by the Ryukyu people in Okinawa. At least Ghost of Tsushima, which Shadows will be endlessly compared to, dabbled in Mongol-Japanese relations. Ubisoft can dig a little deeper, I think — and maybe I’ll continue to revise my feelings towards this franchise when they do.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC , Mac , Nintendo Switch 2

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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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