The Forever Winter early access review: a messy extraction shooter that should have stayed in cover longer

The winter of our discontent

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Fun Dog Studios

• Developer: Fun Dog Studios
• Publisher: Fun Dog Studios
• Release: Sept 24th
• On: Windows
• From: Steam
• Price: £25/$30/€30
• Reviewed on: Intel Core-i7-11700F, 16GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, Windows 10

Wartorn sci-fi extraction shooter The Forever Winter has had a messy launch into early access. For those who don’t know the game, this third-person helljaunt sees its players wandering through the battlefields of an endless conflict between three major world powers. Mechs stomp past you, ignoring you in favour of decimating enemy soldiers. Bug-like drones hover overhead, scanning for prey. And horrifying mommy harvesters scavenge bodies from the debris. As a collection of imagery, it’s powerful stuff. As a game that you can play (with up to three pals) it is very rough, and not just around the edges.

The Forever Winter’s like Escape From Tarkov , or the Dark Zone of the Division games. Just swap “PvPvE” for the letters “PvEvEvE”. You have a HQ called “the Innards”, where you prep for excursions into open maps of varying size. You scav around in the bodies of fallen enemies for loot: ammo, weapon attachments, floppy discs that can be sold for cash, cases of tools, cybernetic detritus. You don’t have a whole lot of room in your “rig” (a big steel backpack), so you need to prioritise, often fulfilling requests for goons from different factions.

A quest might ask you to bring back parts stripped from “Europan drones”, for example. One option is to take these violent drones on yourself, firing your meagre bullets into the air in an attempt to pierce their tinny bods. At this point you become an open target. Nearby enemies will investigate the gunfire too, and before you know it you’re surrounded by cyber-zombies and tactical SWAT bastards who all consider you hostile. Survival in these scenarios is often a case of running away and hoping you don’t get shredded by the helicopter that has suddenly shown up to join in the murder festivities.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Fun Dog Studios

Or! You could just skulk around for a moment. The factional groups perform (often unpredictable) patrols throughout the landscape, and frequently encounter one another. Your coveted drones will inevitably get into a scrape and (if you’re lucky) find themselves exploded. The remnants are yours, if you can grab them without being seen. Make it to an extraction point, and you bring all the loot home. Die, and you are sent back to HQ with your hands empty and all your gear stranded on the battlefield (you can recover it, though, Souls-style).

Conceptually, it is a nice twist on the Tarkov formula. And sometimes an expedition into the eternowar does evoke feelings of being the little guy in a grander conflict, hoping not to get quickly annihilated. Once or twice I felt the buzz of scraping my way out of the trenches, such as the time I made a desperate decision to start a gunfight with a horde of mecha-undead close to the extraction. I had only a few fistfuls of shotgun shells left to my name, but I had to risk it. I got out, barely.

Sadly, both the illusion of a grand war and the tension of a bigger threat is often shattered by the game’s buggy nature and treacley movement. The player character’s handling, for instance, feels appropriately weighty (you’re carrying a big metal back-box). But it’s irksomely slow to get moving and has a very “railroaded” sprint, with zero leeway for strafing movement. Something that would be useful for avoiding the many jagged rocks, rebars, and rubblebits that your character can get caught on. This is not a “tidy” space.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Fun Dog Studios

The enemy is likewise janky, often turning jerkily or skating across the ground like they’re wearing a pair of Heelys. Bad guy squads will spawn incredibly close to you, filling your fragile body with surprise lead long before you can get away or return fire. Big mechs freeze and do nothing, then splort to life without warning. Tanks are particularly hilarious, driving courageously into obstacles and doing donuts like a boy racer in a small town car park late at night. In one of my wanderings, a tank was being shot by three enemy troopers. Presumably furious, it farted out a huge cloud of smoke and catapulted into the sky, spinning wildly like a plastic toy flicked across the bedroom floor. War is hell. Or maybe just funny as hell.

There’s another quirk that has upset some players. You need to keep your HQ stocked with enough water for the citizens of your homehole to survive. This means finding water barrels out in the wastes and often prioritizing the extraction of those barrels above other more exciting loot, like lockboxes you can sell for cash, or “gacha” crates with unknown trinkets you can only crack open when you get home. If water runs out, your HQ effectively dies and you lose everything in your stash - all the items you’ve gathered so far evaporate.

This in itself doesn’t sound too bad, and it fits with the theme of survival in a harsh world. The kicker is: water depletes in real time, even when you’re not playing the game. Which no doubt summons for many hellish flashbacks of withered crops in Farmville; the anxiety-inducing countdown timers of social network games of the late 2000s.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Fun Dog Studios

It’s an instant turn-off for lots of people, even those predisposed to enjoy a game that markets itself as unforgiving. The developers have said they’re looking into how to tweak this mechanic. But to be honest, it’s the least of the problems I’ve encountered with the game: juddering frame rates, wacky bugs, borked network play, loot piles overlapping in a way that makes them impossible to distinguish from one another. This is as early access as early access can feasibly get.

A lot of the game is marketed on its striking environments, and I have to admit: there is much to like. Some maps are relatively small, like the “Scorched Enclave”, a trench-ridden frontline that becomes dense with flashpoints. These smaller maps are especially prone to spawn-ambushes and tight squeezes between patrols. Others, like the much grander " Ashen Mesa", are expansive battlefields with plenty of striking vistas and variety. A wide city has been reduced to concrete crumbs, open fields of ash give way to cracked highways, which fall into a vertigo-inducing canyon. You can get to the other side of this canyon, but only by crossing the gargantuan spine of an ancient, long-dead megabot. The Forever Winter is good at making you feel small and vulnerable, even if some of that vulnerability comes from the fear of a zombie T-posing into existence randomly in front of you.

The artistry of the large scale scenery is somewhat offset by how chaotically laid out the maps are. This is a good-looking world, yet its level design feels cluttered and unclear. You will get waylaid and stuck on lots of rubble is what I’m saying. Exploring them for the first time, I found the maps don’t often “flow” or make a whole heap of sense.

This may be intentional, a case of “war makes geography untenable”. But I get the impression of a game where art and design have clashed. Artists like clutter, it makes things look detailed. Designers like tidiness, it makes routes clear for the player. For me, Forever Winter feels a touch too artistically messy. I was moving along routes and climbing material that was probably never intended to be used as a passageway, glitching through meshes and getting trapped in geometry because something in my primate brain said “go that way” even while the game didn’t expect it.

So far, it’s a game of poor affordances: good at looking the part, bad at communicating what it would like you to do. An example of form kicking function into the long grass. Imagine an interior designer was given the keys to the architect’s office and decided to have a go at designing a hotel instead of just dressing one. The result is an interesting-looking building with lots of space for rugs, but no fire escape or toilets.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Fun Dog Studios

It can be disappointing when a distinctive concept can’t keep up with the mechanical and technical necessities to deliver on its promise. Part of the challenge here is perhaps that there is something very un-gamelike about the Forever Winter at a conceptual level, in that much of it is about not interacting. You are encouraged to allow other factions to fight amongst themselves, rather than get involved yourself. Some principal verbs of the game are those of inaction: “do nothing” , “don’t engage”, “stay still”.

That’s 100% viable as games go. A clever stealth game can turn these verbs into tense moments within a larger game of hide and seek. And there are glimpses of that here. Sadly, The Forever Winter has some way to go before it can call its stealth chops fully sensible or readable. For the most part, enemies don’t notice you until you fire a shot. You can be three metres from them and they’ll often entirely ignore you, which can make attempts to stay hidden in cover feel a little pointless.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Fun Dog Studios

Then all of a sudden they take a random interest and you’re the fish of the day at a restaurant for starving cats, with squads of troopers and wonkily animated helicopters raining hell upon your pre-corpse. There are predefined rules about the enemies behaviour (I can tell from the timed Metal Gear Solid quesion marks and exclams above their heads) but their sightlines and priorities are often unreadable and seemingly random. Once again, it feels like the game needs to communicate itself better.

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The Forever Winter

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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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