The RPS Selection Box: Julian’s bonus games of the year

Click for more games. Click. Click!

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Blendo Games / Bad Viking / Snapshot Games

While I would go so far as to say that I have an affection for the team here at RPS, they certainly tried my patience when it came to the Advent Calendar voting. How dare they not have played and loved the same games as me through the year? Here I was, new head honcho, and I couldn’t find a single one in the bunch who had put the necessary hours into Chip ’n Clawz vs. The Brainoids. Shameful.

Thank goodness I can put that right with my Selection Box.

Next year, after a full 12 months in the editor’s chair, I’ll have learned all the levers of power that will allow me to create an Advent Calendar that truly reflects my tastes. That, or I will have learned to love this democracy of which they speak.*

Though, in truth, my first game is more an admission of omission.

Skin Deep

Image credit:Annapurna Interactive / Blendo Games

Developer : Blendo Games Publisher : Annapurna Interactive From : Steam

I started playing Skin Deep too late to include it in this year’s Advent Calendar voting, and I think I will be kicking myself for that oversight for a long time to come. In Blendo Games’ bite-sized im-sim, you play an insurance commando cryogenically frozen on deep space ships piloted by cats. In the (surprisingly common) occurrence that the vessel is boarded by pirates, you are thawed out to rescue the purring members of the crew and escape the ship.

Like the best im-sims, how you go about your mission is up to you. You might sneak up on the pirates and brain them on a nearby wall, or throw soda cans at a window until it shatters and vacuums the marauders out into space, or use a soap dispenser to create a cloud of flammable gas, draw an unaware pirate near, throw a lighter into the combustible flames, and take the head of the newly deaded pirate and flush it down the loo.

Skin Deep is a welcoming and funny entry to the genre that sits just as well alongside the Dishonoreds, Preys, and Deus Exs of this world. It has one advantage over them, however, as it features significantly more cats and it has a James Bond-esque opening music number.

Strange Antiquities

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Iceberg Interactive

Developer : Bad Viking Publisher : Iceberg Interactive From : Steam

Left in charge of your boss’s antiquities shop, it’s your job to sell customers the magical charm or knickknack that suits their needs. They might arrive knowing exactly what they want – a shadow hold, say – but it will fall to you to consult your catalogue for a rough description of the item. At which point, it’s up to you to search the shelves and drawers of the boutique relying on all your senses to identify the item. Guessing, for instance, whether the gourd with the intricate etched pattern is more likely to be “used to contain an Oshadic Spirit” or the wooden box that’s strangely cold to the touch.

Just as Hardspace: Shipbreaker has a permanent docking port in my heart for teaching me the ins and outs of a job I’ll never have in reality, the path to becoming an expert in the identification and sale of magical items is deeply satisfying. If this were a just world, 16-year-old me would have spent his work experience week helping customers find the perfect ward for keeping away pigeons, not working behind the counter at a PC game shop telling someone they really shouldn’t bother with Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude.

Herdling

Image credit:Panic / Rock Paper Shotgun

Developer : Okomotive Publisher : Panic From : Steam

Completable in a single evening, Herdling sees you break out of a dirty city with a pack of strange animals called calicorns. These shaggy-haired, horned creatures are part bear, part goat, part guinea pig, and all heart. You lead them to the mountains on a journey accompanied by a soaring orchestral score, shepherding them between manmade and natural dangers.

Edwin wasn’t a huge fan of Herdling when he reviewed it in August . And, while I agree that its story is simplistic and its themes of ‘city bad, nature good’ are well-trodden, and your role as herder/tamer isn’t questioned or explored, I found it a much-needed tonic. Herdling left me rejuvenated in a month when I was feeling penned in by the short winter days and loud traffic in the streets around my flat.

Let’s hope The Free Shepherd, the game where you play a border collie guiding a flock of sheep , gives me the sharp critique of the power dynamics between herder and herdee I’m looking for…

Chip ‘N Clawz Vs. The Brainoids

Image credit:Arc Games / Snapshot Games

Developer : Snapshot Games Publisher : Arc Games From : Steam

Looking like a lost Saturday morning cartoon, Chip ’n Clawz Vs the Brainoids sees you trying to save what’s left of Earth from some brain-in-jars alien invaders. A co-op mix of real-time strategy, tower defense, and MOBAs, the game has you repel the invaders by harvesting resources, building unit-spewing towers, and leading your troops against the enemy’s bases.

Your troops fall into fairly simple rock, paper, scissors style counters, with artillery smashing buildings, aerial drones thrashing artillery, rifle troops shredding drones, and melee units topping ranged units, but the small maps and low unit numbers make for a forgiving setting for micromanagement. That said it can be a challenging strategy game at times, particularly if you’re playing in single player. From map to map, you will need to wield your units like scalpels, cutting through each layer of an enemy’s base defences one at a time.

For someone like me who adored the genre-blending strategy games of the early 2000s, such as Giants: Citizen Kabuto , Hostile Waters, and Battlezone 98, Chip ’n Clawz is a much-missed gaming flavour.

The Count of Monte Clicker

Image credit:Adam Travers

Developer : Adam Travers From : Steam

As I wrote about in my Advent Calendar entry for The Alters , this year I have spent a lot of time playing idle games on a second screen while filling hours at a less than demanding job.

It’s not a genre I’d wholly recommend, as I think most of my pleasure comes from the smooth delivery of dopamine when clicking upgrade buttons, and certainly not through any challenges of meaningful choices. And the Count of Monte Clicker doesn’t change that. What it does do, however, is have the sheer gumption… the chutzpah… the raw ambition to retell the story of Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo with the blunt tools of an idle clicker.

With scenes where you incrementally upgrade your masonry chipping tools as you dig a tunnel out of prison and another where you level up your stroke speed and unlock dolphins as you swim from the jail island’s shores to nearby land, the Count of Monte Clicker remains in my memory over all the other idle games I played this year.

It’s wonderful to see how the same mechanics I had experienced over and over in other games took on a new life with a simple change of theme. I don’t know if it’s my algorithm or there is a genuine surge in the number of idle games appearing on Steam, but if there are going to be many more of them then I hope they share the same inventiveness.

*Honestly, the residents of the Treehouse are a lovely bunch and it’s been a thrill to work with them and hear about the games they’ve loved this year.

Chip ‘n Clawz vs. The Brainioids

PC

Herdling

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

Skin Deep

PC

Strange Antiquities

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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