Silent Hill 2 Remake’s PC performance isn’t a total horror show, but low-end rigs will shudder

This mysterious letter from my wife says “Lower the shadow quality”

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Konami

The Silent Hill 2 remake is only out today, but it’s been nearly two years since the first system requirements appeared , immediately distressing our PCs so badly that they started having their own nightmares of fog-smothered towns and James Sunderland in an uncomfortably high-poly nurse outfit. Those requirements have since lowered and risen, and now we know for sure that nu-Silent Hill 2 is one tough customer for performance – albeit one that benefits greatly from just one or two key settings tweaks.

Among its arsenal of hardware-battering weapons include a seemingly non-negotiable requirement of 16GB of RAM – I tried playing on an 8GB MSI Thin GF63 laptop and it wouldn’t even launch – as well as our old friend from Unreal Engine 5, stuttering. In the opposing corner, there’s support for DLSS and FSR upscalers, and the simple fact that certain low quality settings don’t… look that bad? I’m sure someone with more skin in the Silent Hill game could better tell you how faithful this remake is to the original in spirit and mechanics, but on its own merits, there’s little denying that SH2R is a fine-looking horror romp. Like last year’s Dead Space , it makes good use of modern tech to set the mood, even if it’s more about the eerie and unsettling than the gory and gruesome.

Still, it could use some help on the framerate front. Here, we’ll take a look at how Silent Hill 2 runs of different tiers of PC hardware, before delving into the options menu to see which settings are best toned down.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Konami

Silent Hill 2 Remake system requirements and PC performance

First, a reminder of those updated minimum and recommended specs. The former no longer asks for a GeForce GTX 1080 – rejoice – but then only drops that to the GTX 1070 Ti. The AMD side of the minimum CPU requirement has actually risen, as has the system RAM demand: that’s crept up from 12GB to 16GB. The recommended list is largely unchanged, except that it no longer specifies Windows 11 as the operating system, so it won’t be a sticking point if you’ve held off “upgrading” from Windows 10. Not that it’s become an easygoing set of specs, mind – there’s still that worrying want of an RTX 2080, supposedly just for High settings at 1080p.

Silent Hill 2 Remake minimum PC specs

• OS: Windows 10 x64
• CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• RAM: 16GB
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Ti / AMD Radeon RX 5700
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 50GB (SSD recommended)

Silent Hill 2 Remake recommended PC specs

• OS: Windows 10 x64
• CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
• RAM: 16GB
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 / AMD Radeon 6800 XT
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 50GB (SSD recommended)

If it helps, know that you can skirt just below some of these specs and still have a good time. I tried a GTX 1070 – admittedly because I, uh, don’t have a 1070 Ti – and at 1080p/Low, it averaged 47fps in one of the most demanding sections of Silent Hill I could stumble into. Even the Medium preset only dropped that to a more-than-playable 40fps.

However, that was with my test PC meeting the 16GB RAM requirement, while also packing an above-spec CPU in the Intel Core i5-11600K. Aim too low, and you can and will have problems. Obviously my 8GB laptop wasn’t up to the task, even with its up-to-date RTX 4050 GPU, and I couldn’t reliably stay above 30fps on the Steam Deck either. It does run the game, bless it, and some parts are decently smooth with Low settings and TSR upscaling, but no amount of settings-rejigging could save the Deck from big dips in the tougher areas.

In fairness, Silent Hill 2 isn’t the kind of game that twists your arm and punts your shin into accepting an upscaler. Running on the highest preset, Epic, at fully native 1080p, the RTX 4060 averaged 42fps and the RTX 3070 averaged 46fps. It’s only at 1440p and above where DLSS and FSR feel truly essential, allowing these mid-level cards to stick with both the higher rez and maximum quality. With DLSS on Quality mode, the RTX 4060 and RTX 3070 managed to keep at 40fps and 48fps respectively.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Konami

As for higher-end kit, DLSS also boosted the RTX 4070 Ti to a slick 70fps at 1440p/Epic, as well as 50fps at 4K. This shows you don’t need the absolute best-in-class to get by, though for the record, the RTX 4090 produced 72fps on the same 4K settings.

A quality implementation of DLSS and FSR suggests that Silent Hill 2’s PC version was, in spite of its lofty requirements, no mere afterthought. As does the ultrawide monitor support, something that was missing – temporarily or otherwise – from certain other big-budget PC releases recently. Still, the fact that so many of these results don’t comfortably blow past the 60fps mark is a reminder that it’s geared pretty much specifically to more powerful, or at the very least newer, desktop rigs.

Not that having one is guaranteed to spare you from Silent Hill 2’s stuttering, which seems to happen increasingly often as you progress through its misty streets and mouldy flats. And the PC porting job isn’t flawless either: cutscenes are capped at 30fps, and FSR 3.0 is uncharacteristically limited in its hardware support. This might have helped get the Steam Deck over the line, but launch on the handheld and this option goes missing, leaving only the (drastically inferior) FSR 1.0.

I’m not saying that the feared performance nightmare has truly come to pass, but even if you’re used to blitzing games on a 100Hz-plus monitor, Silent Hill 2 will be a serious test for your hardware. Especially if you insist on sticking to the highest possible settings. Though on that note…

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Konami

Silent Hill 2 Remake best settings guide

I’m not entirely sure if it’s a good or bad thing that more and more games (including this one) are narrowing the quality gap of their highest and lowest settings. One the one hand, you can more happily lower certain options for the resultant speed boost, knowing that you’re not absolutely butchering the aesthetic – but then if a low setting remains deatil-rich, that boost could be little more than listless nudge.

Silent Hill 2 does have extra performance laying within its lower settings: compared to the Epic preset’s 42fps on the RTX 4060 at 1080p, dropping to Low shifted the average up to 58fps, which will look smoother to anyone with the most basic of trained eyes. Yet it’s also an oddity, in that very few of individual quality settings contribute to that.

Normally I’d run though all of these individual settings, benchmarking them one-by-one to see exactly how many frames they could wring from my test PC when lowered. In this case, however, I’d just end up writing “This did nothing” over a dozen times, which wouldn’t be fun for either of us. This time, then, let’s go backwards, starting with what I’d consider Silent Hill 2’s best settings and examining the hows and whys afterwards.

• Supersampling: DLSS on Quality, or TSR on Low
• Shadows quality: Medium
• Shaders quality: Medium
• Global motion blur: Off
• Everything else: Epic preset equivalent

…Aaaaaaand that’s it. Honestly, the vast majority of the performance difference between presets seems to come down to shadows and shaders. When lowering the shadows setting, by itself, to Medium, my RTX 4060 jumped to averaging 46fps, whereas whacking shaders on Medium got me 48fps – barely shy of the entire Low preset. Pretty much everything else, from textures to effects to SSAO to reflections, either added no frames at all on their respective Low settings, or only added a piddling 1-2fps apiece. So why bother lowering those?

As usual, DLSS wins the upscaling quality competition, and is worth enabling even at 1080p. TSR, the engine’s built-in upscaler, is a reasonable-looking alternative for those without GeForce RTX graphics cards; FSR 3.0 is slightly faster, but doesn’t preserve fine details as well as TSR does, even with the latter on Low.

Lastly, a word about ray tracing, because Silent Hill has that too. As you can imagine, it eats up frames when they’re already at a premium: my RTX 4060 dropped from 42fps to 34fps with RT enabled at native 1080p. It’s also only a modest upgrade, the most noticeable change being the lack of a weird glow on glass panels:

Slotting ray tracing into those custom settings, the RTX 4060 could still pump out 54fps, which is okayish. But I’d rather enjoy the velvety 68fps that this GPU achieved without those luxury effects, a result that outpaces even the Low preset when running at native rez. And you don’t need a recent GPU to take advantage of these settings – the greying GTX 1070 shot up to 65fps, with TSR standing in for DLSS.

Silent Hill 2 Remake

PS5 , 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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