The Maw - 12th-17th February 2024

Our weekly news liveblog, with this week’s best/bizarrest videogame releases

Image credit:John Hamilton Mortimer/Wikimedia Commons

It’s the middle of February, and the games are afoot. This week brings at least one major news event in the shape of a “business update” from Microsoft about “our vision for the future of Xbox” , which is widely rumoured to be the announcement that first-party Xbox titles will come to rival consoles. Why is this of interest to us, a PC gaming site? Well, because console gaming can’t help but shape the weather for PC gaming; more specifically, Microsoft’s alleged multiplatform ambitions seem to reflect the plateauing of Game Pass subscription growth, which has become the cornerstone of the Xbox biz.

If the rumours are true, it’s a time of much rejoicing for Switchers and StayPlationers desperate to get their mitts on the likes of Starfield . But of course, the only real winner here is the Maw, that ghastly extra-dimensional monster that hungers to gobble up the entire universe unless we can placate it with regular offerings of videogame news. Here are a few new PC games we’re minded to feed to the beast this week: surreal metroidvania Ultros (13th Feb); neoclassical multiplayer puzzler Islands Of Insight (13th Feb); period journo-botherer News Tower (13th Feb); colonial spook-hunting RPG Banishers: Ghosts Of New Eden (13th Feb); bullet hell roguelike Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor (14th Feb); retro Croft trilogy Tomb Raider I-III Remastered (14th Feb); hellish boarding sim Helskate (15th Feb); barmy animal sandbox Goat Simulator 3 (15th Feb); open ocean loot ’em up Skull And Bones (16th Feb).

Our live coverage of this event has finished.

IT IS MONDAY . The creature waxes wroth! FEED IT.

Helldivers 2 is a popular game, but it’s been hit by a fair few technical troubles since launching last week. Here’s an update from Arrowhead’s CEO and creative director.

A message to the community in regards to our latest server update. @helldivers2 @ArrowheadGS #Helldivers2 . pic.twitter.com/lwriSFbBbK — Pilestedt (@Pilestedt) February 11, 2024

Blizzard have laid out plans for “revitalising” Overwatch 2, and more specifically, “striving to make PvP gameplay more rewarding and fun and providing greater transparency for players in-game” over the course of Season 9 and beyond.

Here’s an interview with David Pierce, senior game designer at Bethesda and a member of the Elder Scrolls 6 team. What does Pierce look for in a videogame story? “Human-scale stakes. The world (maybe even the galaxy) needs my help, but at the end of the day, there has to be something that I can connect with on a personal level.”

Former Crytek and Arkane dev Julien Eveillé has announced Threshold , a “short, dark and atmospheric first person exploration game”.

Squidgy farmimg sim Slime Rancher 2 has received a bunch of new gadgets as part of the year’s first major update. Here’s an overview trailer.

As spotted by PCG , From Software’s parent company Kadokawa have dampened hopes of an Elden Ring Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC release in February in their latest earnings call , commenting only that “we are currently working hard on the development of DLC for ELDEN RING but we have not announced a release date at this time”.

According to Shannon Liao of Inverse , Microsoft’s Phil Spencer held a town hall meeting last week in which he reassured Microsoft employees that the company won’t stop making Xbox consoles anytime soon, even if they do start releasing first-party games on other consoles.

Vampyr-esque dark fantasy RPG The Thaumaturge has been delayed to March 4th.

With February’s busy launch period, we’ve decided to move the release of the Thaumaturge to March 4th, 2024. The game is complete, but we want to give it space so it can be enjoyed the way we believe it deserves. See you in 1905 Warsaw and thank you for your patience! pic.twitter.com/2TEvgwTqrh — The Thaumaturge (@thaumaturgegame) February 12, 2024

As Edwin noted earlier, FromSoftware owners Kadokawa have dampened hopes that Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree might release this month - despite recent rumours and backend updates hinting otherwise - as they say there’s still no update “at this time”.

Of particular note in the earnings report is a reference to “major DLC” said to be in the works as the devs look to support the game in the “medium to long term” - could that mean another expansion to come?

yo-less says: I love the whole idea behind “The Maw” and I understand you’ve launched this as some sort of experiment, so I didn’t expect it to look amazing from the start. It would be cool, though, Edwin, if you could get your CMS team to somehow implement a different layout for this thing. Some kind of virtual pinboard would be cool, reading through something that looks like a list of comments is pretty tedious and might keep more people from appreciating what you’re doing here.

Our liveblog tech is definitely not designed to be used like this, and I’m in the process of negotiating with our valiant tech people about various changes. The trouble is, they have a lot on their plate! I’ll keep everybody posted. Suggestions very welcome in the meantime.

Former Final Fantasy devs’ upcoming JRPG Lost Hellden boasts some gorgeous handpainted art applied to 3D character models, a world with dynamic weather and a battle system promising to mix action and strategy. It’ll be out in 2025, with a demo landing later this year.

Days from release, Part-Divinity, part-Persona RPG The Thaumaturge has been given a two-week delay to find some breathing room from the crowded February release slate, developers Fool’s Theory have announced.

Helldivers 2 has overtaken God of War and Spider-Man to become PlayStation’s biggest PC release to date . Could this mean we see more PC releases alongside their PS5 counterparts in the future? We can only hope!

itshappening.gif

Please join us for a special edition of the Official Xbox Podcast. Hear from Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond and Matt Booty as they share updates on the Xbox business. pic.twitter.com/TxwWJVUbgx — Xbox (@Xbox) February 12, 2024

I_have_no_nose_but_I_must_sneeze says: For anyone thinking of participating in this month’s Game Club, Cobalt Core is currently 20‰ off at Steam for the next week. I’ve already been zapped to oblivion by a larger foe on my first run. Result!

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IT IS TUESDAY . How is it only Tuesday? Did the Maw eat one of the weekdays again? FEED IT.

IGN has a big report about the games industry’s mass layoffs this and last year, which probes beyond the standard “companies overstaffed during the lockdown boom” narrative.

Posting on Discord , Rocksteady says Suicide Squad has or had “a major unintended bug” which causes the Burn status effect’s damage to increase so much it “basically meant that if you used a Burn build, every Mastery Level had the same difficulty”. As PCG notes, what’s interesting here is that the developers considered leaving it in, because Rocksteady’s hope is that players will “continuously find a new meta and then break it by finding a better one”.

Katharine just posted this in the Slack because she not-so-secretly despises us all.

I saw this so now you have to too pic.twitter.com/aCnfEtpgUZ — Old DeuTaranomy 🐺 (@kindofstrange) February 13, 2024

Arrowhead have released another Helldivers 2 patch , which addresses server capacity, login access progression and mission rewards.

GLAAD have released their inaugural annual report on “the quantity, quality and diversity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) characters in video games” during the past year.

An excerpt from the introduction: “Our data shows that 17% of active gamers—nearly 1 in 5—are LGBTQ, a figure that has been replicated and confirmed by Nielsen in multiple recent surveys. Moreover, LGBTQ gamers are as dedicated to gaming as non-LGBTQ gamers in terms of regular time spent playing PC and console games and average financial spend per month. In stark contrast to the fact that 1 in 5 active gamers are LGBTQ, games with LGBTQ content account for less than 2% of all games currently available on consoles.”

Extra, extra! Management sim News Tower has launched into early access. It’s all about wallowing in the thrill of old-timey journalism, before journalism became a massive game of chicken with Google’s algorithms. “Dive into the roaring 1930s as you build your media empire in the bustling heart of New York City,” exhorts the Steam page . “Hear the clatter of typewriters, the shouts of newsboys, and the hum of printing presses churning out your latest edition.”

Some afternoon music: Chuck Ragan’s Flame in the Flood title theme .

Rhianna Pratchett has weighed in on the question of who owns the rights to the old Discworld adventure games.

This story has been updated with a few clarifications from me. Additionally no one has spoken to us about any re-release being on the cards. https://t.co/G0YnaMSsez — Rhianna Pratchett 🧙🏻‍♀️ (@rhipratchett) February 13, 2024

Xbox have surprise announced a free Dune expansion for Microsoft Flight Simulator - and it’s available now, wouldn’t you know. Here’s a launch trailer, featuring a very tetchy Ornithopter:

treelo says: You may say Katherine hates you but I’d say Katherine loves you and wishes to spread the good word.

Truth.

One final shout-out from me today: go and play the very good demo for sheepy action roguelike Stand-Alone !

Image credit:Lifuel

Paradox have dropped a demo for Escape the Mad Empire - “a party-based, rogue-like dungeon crawler with intense and deeply tactical combat.”

Pulling from the IGN report into layoffs Edwin linked earlier: magical FPS Immortals Of Aveum reportedly cost $125 million to make and “no one bought it” , according to developers who worked on the project.

Horrible cannibal survivasl ’em up Sons Of The Forest reaches 1.0 next week on February 22nd. We already knew, but there’s now a trailer that shows some of its new features .

Earth Defense Force 6 has been delayed until this summer from its previous “spring” release window. If EA had put $125 million into making a game with the same concept as EDF, I bet it would have sold better.

Dead Island 2 arrives on Steam this April after its year of Epic Games Store exclusivity. To fertilise the ground for its arrival, Dead Island: Riptide Definitive Edition is free to keep from Steam for the next two days.

Dragon Quest Builders is out now on Steam . Originally released in 2016 on PlayStation 3 and 4, this is its first arrival on PC - although its 2019 sequel has been on Steam since the same year.

I’m glad Square Enix continue to release all of their games on PC - eventually.

Katharine mentioned it earlier this evening, but here’s a fuller post on Microsoft Flight Simulator’s free Dune expansion, which is out now. It lets you pilot the Royal Atreides Ornithopter over Arrakis, with some time trials and a rescue mission to play.

Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters is coming to Steam on February 19th. It’s a freeware re-release of Star Control 2, sans the trademark, and it’s being released by the original creators .

IT’S WEDNESDAY . Bless the halberds and magnetise the shields! Form a Penrose triangle! FEED THE MAW.

As reported by Eurogamer.pl , Bloober Team’s president Piotr Babieno has said that the recent State of Play Silent Hill 2 remake trailer “doesn’t reflect the spirit of the game” (machine translated from Polish). He also noted that Konami are “entirely responsible” for the game’s marketing.

Gematsu report that Sony have trademarked “Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet” for entertainment goods including games in the USA. Perhaps it’s a collaboration with The Beastie Boys .

Those Larian people are about to patch Baldur’s Gate 3 again - they’re incorrigible! This one lets you dismiss party members while asking another person to join your crew, and tries to prioritise your character during automatically triggered dialogue so that party members don’t steal the show.

Patch 6 brings more than just romance, with multiple gameplay improvements and fixes to address player-reported issues. Here’s a teaser for what’s coming 👇 — Baldur’s Gate 3 (@baldursgate3) February 13, 2024

Yoshitaka Murayama, head of Eiyuden developer Rabbit & Bear Studios and the creator of the Suikoden series, has passed away due to illness .

EA and Maxis are adding a Vitiligo skin feature to The Sims 4 via free update.

Via Gematsu , Sony don’t plan to release “any new major existing franchise titles” next fiscal year - in other words, between 1st April 2024 and 31st March 2025. That doesn’t rule out smaller original games, I guess. What about PC ports, Sony?

Ubisoft France employees are on strike today after “management offered a budget dedicated to raises that would be lower than inflation for the second year in a row”.

Austin-based Monumental have acquired Kongregate, a games publisher and web portal who were dear to me back in the days when I used to run a Flash gaming blog. GI has more.

IT IS THURSDAY . How dull it is to make an end, to rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use! FEED THE MAW.

Hermetica is a deckbuilder with an alchemy theme and illuminated manuscript-style visuals, similar to Pentiment and Inkulinati. If you’d told me years ago that games with illuminated manuscript-style visuals would be a Thing, I would not have believed you. Here’s the announcement trailer.

There have been layoffs at Homeworld 3 developer Blackbird Interactive. As reported by Game Developer , these are part of a “realignment plan” at the studio necessitated by “economic pressures outside of our control.” Homeworld 3 was delayed from March till May 13th last week.

Palworld’s community manager has gently suggested that people impatient for new Palworld updates stop calling the game “dead” and play other games instead.

With Palworld quickly approaching the 1-month mark, it’s interesting to look back at my own thoughts for launch. In May of 2023, I was convinced that Palworld could break the 50,000 player mark. Anything above that seemed unobtainable though, and I certainly never expected it to… pic.twitter.com/1rZaV30QON — Bucky | Palworld & Craftopia (@Bucky_cm) February 14, 2024

Open world pirate RPG Caribbean Legend has a 10-20 hour demo that’s going down well among the Steamsters. It’s based on the old Sea Dogs series and inspired by Sid Meier’s Pirates.

Here’s a two hour video interview with Grinding Gears about Path Of Exile 2, in which there is talk of WASD and endgames.

Helldivers 2 will “never” have a PvP mode, according to Arrowhead.

Hey; We’ll “never” add a PvP-mode. This is to reduce toxic elements from the community. We want an environment that’s supportive, fun and where we all are fighting on the same side! — Pilestedt (@Pilestedt) February 14, 2024

Embracer have released their latest financial results .

Stunlock have devlogged about what to expect from vampire action-RPG V Rising’s 1.0 update. The offerings include a story finale, a new visual customisation system, and some enhanced weapons. Has anyone here played this much? I missed it when it first came out, but I do like me a vampire game.

Viking management sim Land of the Vikings has received a new update which adds fresh Land for the Vikings to be managed on. Also a new set of resource menus.

Here’s a video from Nightingale devs Inflexion detailing how they’re updating the survival sim for its early access launch on February 20th. There’s mention of changing up the UI/UX, which has been a bone of contention round these parts.

Well-received wizarding FPS Wizordum has had a community mapping jam, and the results are rather fetching.

No Man’s Sky is getting an Omega update with a swathe of additions, broadly geared towards getting new players involved. Here’s a trailer.

Edwin referenced V Rising’s recent developer update earlier, and here’s a fuller post on the updates coming this spring to the vampire survival ’em up and its PvP, endgame content, armour, and lighting effects.

Starbreeze say that sales and player numbers for co-op heist sequel Payday 3 are “significantly lower” than hoped, but they’re not giving up. They’ve outlined a 2024 development roadmap that includes an offline mode, solo mode, changes to progression, a UI revamp, and both quickplay and Crime.Net-style server browser functionality.

A Disco Elysium standalone expansion has reportedly been cancelled and a quarter of the studio’s workforce placed at risk of redundancy, according to sources close to the matter . This is seemingly the third project cancelled in three years, with two projects - one related to Disco Elysium - apparently still in development.

Maximum Games are working on a competitive multiplayer fighting game set in the Avatar: The Last Airbender universe, as spotted by Gematsu . It’s due to alunch in early access in 2025.

Diablo 4 is headed to Game Pass on March 28th . It’ll be the first Activision Blizzard game to join the subscription service since Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition.

IT IS FRIDAY. Edwin has mysteriously vanished this morning, though we fear he may have been lured into the Maw’s interdimensional vortex. A rescue team is on its way to pull him back to the land of the living, but for now you’ll have to make do with me instead. FEED THE MAW.

The annual DICE Awards took place last night, and Larian will clearly have to build yet another trophy case, as Baldur’s Gate 3 came away with five awards, including Game Of The Year. You can see the full list of winners here .

Happy 5th Birthday, Metro Exodus! Has it really been that long already? To celebrate, developers 4A Games are teasing the next mainline Metro game that’s coming… “when it’s ready”, according to their Xweet yesterday.

Metro Exodus turns 5 years old today, and has now sold over 10 Million copies. Metro will return in VR with Metro Awakening from @vertigogames in 2024 - and the next mainline Metro from @4AGames … When it’s ready Thank you for coming on the journey so far with us. pic.twitter.com/qlOW9du4Jc — Metro (@MetroVideoGame) February 15, 2024

Alan Wake 2 is Remedy’s fastest-selling game yet , shifting over 1.3m copies and selling 50% more than Control managed in half the time, but is still yet to make a penny of profit. Remedy are optimistic, though, with two bits of DLC to come and plans for future updates and “other activities”.

Palworld developers Pocketpair have outlined their plans to step up anti-cheat measures in the survival game , as players struggle to connect to its official servers due to hackers and other ne’er-do-wells. Among the incoming measures will be a player list functon arriving later this month, followed by a dedicated “external anti-cheat solution” after that. You’ll be able to choose whether you want it in your private and single-player games, though.

As Katharine shared earlier, post-apocalyptic mask-wiping shooter Metro Exodus will see a sequel - but only “when it’s ready”, according to devs 4A Games (hopefully before 2033).

Elden Ring and Tekken 8 publishers Bandai Namco have cancelled at least five games in development , saying they are working to put the “emphasis on quality” in the future with stricter standards and fewer titles.

Epic have posted their Epic Games Store 2023 year-in-review, which includes stats and plans for the year ahead. Spending on third-party games fell 13% last year , despite 1300 new games being added to the storefront - and despite spending on Epic’s own games growing. Epic say they’re going to focus on improving game discovery and the overall player experience in 2024, which includes adding a proper download manager and an offline mode, alongside other features.

Jump King is a famously punishing platformer, but if you’re a glutton for more then there’s good news: five years after its release, it now has Steam Workshop support and a new modding tool .

Rocksteady say that fixing server and login issues in Suicide Squad is their top priority , but they’re apparently a tough nut to crack and they ask for patience while they work on them.

Brighton band Lime Garden released their debut album yesterday, which gives me excuse to share opening track Love Song, which I’ve been listening to regularly since last year.

Helldivers 2’s team is likewise working on server issues, but todayh released patch 1.09 which includes crash fixes, matchmaking improvements and some balance tweaks. The full patch notes are over on Steam .

New World is rebuilding all its combat and its animation system in order to improve performance, by moving over to their own C++-based scripting language. The development update on the changes explains the benefits, challenges and compromises in uncommon detail.

The voice actor Richard Wells, who recorded the “PEGI 18”, etc. that plays before game trailers, says he was paid just €200 (£170) to do it . Wells created a TikTok account on Friday and has already accrued over 17 million views.

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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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