The Last of Us Part II Remastered gets Sony’s PC ports back on track, with fine performance and no PSN requirement

Modern spore fare

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/PlayStation Publishing

Whatever peace treaty that allowed erstwhile PS4/PS5 exclusives to slink over to PC has, generally, been a fruitful one. I only say generally because the porting process has seen the occasional whoopsiedoodle, from the face-warpingly sorry state of The Last of Us Part I’s initial release to the more recent intrusion of mandatory PSN sign-in requirements.

Happily, The Last of Us Part II Remastered gets off to a much better start. Tech-wise, anyway: the PC version, out today, performs smoothly and is nowhere near as buggy or crashy as Part I was at launch. And while PSN account syncing is still here, it’s fully optional , dodging the territorial block-outs and Steam Deck compatability problems that Sony’s other recent ports were yoked to.

I never played the pre-remastered Part II, mainly because it was 2020 and I was having more than my fill of outbreak-induced bleakness at the time, so I can’t speak much to how this version upgrades the visuals. It’s definitely a pretty game, though, presenting its leafy ruins and crusty mushroom baddies with an eye for detail that never rolls back into outright graphics fetishism. As such, it runs well enough on older hardware while allowing newer PCs to engage DLSS (or FSR , or XeSS) and aim for framerates in the triple figures.

You might still want to do a dash of fine-tuning, so I’ve cobbled together a settings guide down below. Following, as is tradition, a look at how The Last of Us Part II Remastered’s hardware performance measures up to its advertised system requirements, as well as how well its PC-specific features pan out.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/PlayStation Publishing

The Last of Us Part II Remastered system requirements and PC performance

While not as spec-happy as Assassin’s Creed Shadows , The Last of Us Part II Remastered still has a lengthy list of supposed hardware needs for various resolutions and graphical qualities. On GPUs alone, these span from the old, cheap GTX 1650 and Radeon RX 5500 XT to the glitzy excess of the RTX 4080. Still, even the latter is last-gen these days, and ultimately there isn’t anything among these graphics cards , CPUs, or RAM amounts that should be cause for alarm.

150GB of SSD space, on the hand, is a mighty big ask. This remaster does include an added roguelike sideshow, No Return, but this recycles enough from the main story mode that it alone shouldn’t account for the game being such a glutton for gigabytes. Maybe Naughty Dog really did just put together enough unique variations on crumbling concrete textures and/or frowny facial animations.

Image credit:PlayStation Publishing

For what it’s worth, the actual installation size is more like 116GB at the current count, and that’s not the only thing that’s lighter than it looks. The Very Low quality preset should ensure that the GTX 1650 and Radeon RX 5500 XT aren’t just limited to crummy 720p: I tested a GTX 1060, which is older than both, in an especially demanding early section and averaged 39fps. 46fps, too, with FSR 3.1 upscaling on Quality mode.

Skipping ahead a few generations, the RTX 4060 isn’t just enough to score 80fps on the Very High preset at native 1080p, but produced a respectable 55fps – with the same preset – at 1440p too. The lowest-ranked RTX 40 model, the laptop-only RTX 4050, also did just fine at a non-upscaled 1080p: 56fps on Medium and 61fps on Low.

I’ve posted separately about how The Last of Us Part II Remastered runs on the Steam Deck , though will say it’s a colossal improvement on the Part I port. It even has a special ‘Steam Deck’ preset, which together with FSR on Quality got me between 30-45fps on the original LCD model. Although, you can get the same speeds with higher overall quality, using similar settings to the ones detailed below.

That system requirements list might also be underestimating the RTX 3070, which at 1440p, managed 87fps with Quality DLSS helping out the Very High preset. On two counts, that comfortably outdoes the 60fps/High estimate of the official specs. 4K, naturally, takes a fair amount of extra muscle, though you don’t actually need something as espensive as the RTX 4080 or RX 7900 XT to get by. The RTX 5070 could handle 4K just fine, averaging 97fps on Very High with DLSS Quality – and by engaging DLSS 3 frame generation, that rose to 113fps. These results also put it commendably close to the new RTX 5080 , which on the same settings, pumped out 105fps and 158fps respectively.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/PlayStation Publishing

Frame gen, however, also reveals that while Part II Remastered is a step forward for TLOU on PC, it’s not without fault. DLSS 3 works fine on these spanking-new, high-end RTX 50 GPUs, but on the RTX 4060, it appeared downright broken, failing to improve framerates and adding an unpalatable jittering effect. Be wary of FSR 3.1 as an alternative, too, as AMD’s frame gen was lousy with visual artefacts, up to and including a wibbly rectangle around the middle of the screen (above).

These can be avoided by, obviously, just going without frame gen. Though there are other little hiccups from time to time: a flickering glass texture, for instance, or a cutscene bug where a certain golf club floats slightly outside the hand of a certain character that’s meant to be holding it. I’ve also had a couple of crashes in the thirteen-ish hours I’ve played so far, which is unfortunate even if it isn’t completely damning.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/PlayStation Publishing

Again, though, it’s a damn sight more stable than Part I was, in terms of both crashes and overall framerate-spinning. And while frame gen might be a bust, all of the other PC-specific doodads work fine, from the generous selection of upscaling options to ultrawide support that includes a dedicated toggle for disabling the black bars that maintain a 16:9 view during certain cutscenes. The game warns you of possible improprieties that might be visible on the edges of the screen if you turn these off, though when I tried on a 21:9 monitor, I couldn’t spot anything untoward popping up in the expanded view.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/PlayStation Publishing

The Last of Us Part II Remastered best settings guide

Besides the unexpected speediness of the Very High and High settings – at least on anything above the most basic PC kit – there are plenty more frames up for grabs if you’re willing to lower some settings. Remember how the RTX 4060 averaged 55fps on Very High at native 1440p? Dropping to Very Low boosts it to 81fps. At the same time, that inherent slickness means that it’s not worth cutting too deeply unless you absolutely have to. The lighting and shadow effects, in particular, take hard knocks on the lower presets, which makes everything look a bit flat and sad. Sorry, sad der .

I reran my RTX 4060 benchmarks, still at 1440p, while lowering each of TLOU2 Remastered’s thirty-plus graphics and display quality settings individually. That, if you’re not a numbers person, is a lot of settings. Yet the vast majority didn’t end up doing much of anything: even dropped to Low, most still returned the same 55fps as the Ultra preset. The upside is that performance can be visibly improved with just a light smattering of amendments, none of which make the game significantly uglier in the process. Here’s my suggestion:

• Upscale method/Upscaling quality: DLSS or FSR on Quality
• Level of detail: Medium
• Texture quality: High
• Image based lighting: Off
• Screen space sub-surface scattering: Cinematics only
• Motion blur quality: Off
• Everything else: Very High preset equivalent

As per usual, upscaling is basically free performance, and thus a no-brainer (provided you stay away from frame gen, which could use a patch or two at the very least). Among the actual quality settings, Level of detail proved the most frame-rich when reduced, and because its Low setting was only imperceptibly quicker than Medium (producing 60fps vs 59fps), Medium is the level to go for.

Otherwise, optimising these settings is all about grabbing little gains where you can, including from some surprising sources. Disabling motion blur alone got the RTX 4060 up to 58fps, and while 3fps doesn’t look like a lot, that’s a relatively big boost for a blur effect. It also adds up with similarly minor gains from reducing image based lighting and screen space sub-surface scattering, with the latter offering especially little to the remaster’s moment-to-moment fidelity.

All told these settings got the RTX 4060 up to 85fps, even higher than using the Very Low preset at native rez. Without DLSS upscaling it’s ‘just’ 64fps, though that’s still a nearly-20% improvement for very little quality loss in exchange.

The Last of Us Part II

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The Last of Us Part II Remastered

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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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