The Sunday Papers

Image credit:RPS

The Sunday Papers is our weekly roundup of great writing about (mostly) videogames from across the web.

Sundays are for looking at your frost-crusted window and sacking off all plans of leaving the house. After all, the central heating has been broken for a week and there is no hope of a repair for another three. There is nothing outside of the confines of your duvet that’s not cold.

How will you occupy your time in bed? How will you stave off the basic needs of food, micturation, and, well, cups of tea? It shall be with articles and essays, dear reader. Articles and essays.

While I want to say I had everything edited and ready to go for Christmas, I spent small chunks of my break putting the final touches on the RPS 100: Reader Edition , your annual opportunity to tell us about your favourite games of all time. It was a genuine joy to read the entries for each game. You’ve convinced me to try or replay quite a few games that made the top 100.

Eurogamer ’s been running its own reader-written list over Christmas, asking their audience for their favourite games of 2025. There are a fair few that didn’t appear in our Advent Calendar, and I’m going to have to make time for this year. Right at the top of the to-play pile will be Despelote , which Eurogamer writer Maccydee describes as:

A game of remarkable intimacy and intelligence. While it primarily presents itself as a remarkably vivid portrait of a very particular place and time, it’s hard to grasp the true nature of Despelote until its final few sequences. Suddenly the game reveals itself as a thoughtful work on the very nature of autobiographical art and storytelling - the clash of fact and fiction that is necessary to tell a nostalgic tale rooted in personal experience. It does so with some of the most electrifying formal tricks of the year.

Perhaps, though, as you lie swaddled in blankets pooh-poohing the cold, your mind is casting forward, not backward. ‘2025 is a closed book,’ you say. ‘Tell me of the new!’ Well, GamesIndustry.biz ’s Jon Hicks has surveyed his pocketbook of experts to gather predictions of the biggest news stories in the coming year.

Manu Rosier, director of market intelligence at Newzoo, goes big with his prediction that Valve is finally going to hit the big three.

Valve will re-enter the spotlight by officially revealing Half-Life 3, not as a nostalgia play but as a statement about where high-end PC gaming is heading. The reveal will be as much about platform positioning and technology leadership as it is about the game itself.

One can dream, eh?

Our own Edwin has done a similar forecasting of 2026 . But, rather than speak to experts, he has interrogated his own flu-riddled brain. It turns out to be equally informative. Score one for the plague brain. Take that, boffins.

This Week In Video Games continues exploring the impact and use of generative AI tools in video games by exploring the work of voice actors. As Maddie Agne says, Embark Studios use of AI-generated voice lines in Arc Raiders caused significant controversy at launch. But the work that was being replaced, they discover, is the kind of session a human professional can record in less than a day.

And four hours, it seems, is the average amount of time it takes a voice actor to record a game. “Oh my God, yeah. Many games [can be done in] a single hour session, a single session — AAA too,” explained Sarah Elmaleh, a voice actress with credits in Hi-Fi Rush, Anthem, and Gone Home, and SAG-AFTRA’s interactive media agreement negotiating committee chair, after my initial shock at how short voice sessions can be. “I would say for secondary characters or features, it might be three to six [hours], but some additional voices, the kinds of stuff that people are really scrutinizing most heavily in terms of replacing with robots and whatnot, a lot of those additional voices, enemy types, things like that — single 4 hour session.” “This particular type of performance is the most efficient that I can think of. It’s as fast as they can speak the line,” she added. “When I say we’re efficient, we’re fucking efficient.”

Okay, okay, I hear you. You don’t want to spend all Sunday reading about videogames. You’re here for mollusc orgies and snail-backed tax evasion by someone tied to the Naples mafia. Well, I have something for your niche tastes. (Or rather, Jim Waterson, writing for The Guardian , does.)

It is a drizzly October afternoon and I am sitting in a rural Lancashire pub drinking pints of Moretti with London’s leading snail farmer and a convicted member of the Naples mafia. We’re discussing the best way to stop a mollusc orgy. The farmer, a 79-year-old former shoe salesman called Terry Ball who has made and lost multiple fortunes, has been cheerfully telling me in great detail for several hours about how he was inspired by former Conservative minister Michael Gove to use snails to cheat local councils out of tens of millions of pounds in taxes. His method is simple. First, he sets up shell companies that breed snails in empty office blocks. Then he claims that the office block is legally, against all indications to the contrary, a farm, and therefore exempt from paying taxes. “They’re sexy things,” chuckles Ball in a broad Blackburn accent, describing the speed with which two snails can incestuously multiply into dozens of specimens if they’re left alone in a box for a few weeks. Snails love group sex and cannibalism, he warns.

Another article from The Guardian you may enjoy is Elizabeth McCracken’s writing advice. As with many lists of writing tips, it can be applied beyond only putting pen to paper. I, for instance, think this point on plotting could explain why I’m not particularly enjoying the twist on this year’s series of The Traitors.

In fiction there are needful mysteries and needless mysteries. If the author and characters know a secret and only the reader is left in the dark, that’s a needless mystery. If you withhold a fact and think, When I reveal this, it’s going to blow the reader’s mind, nine times out of 10 it will only make them think you’ve been playing cards with an ace up your sleeve. Fiction can disorient readers, but if they don’t know where they are, if a piece of fiction continually shuts a reader out of what’s happening, who’s talking, what year it is, they will feel as though they’re on the other side of the door of an interesting party. Some personality types enjoy this feeling of exclusion. Not many.

The people running The Traitors used to provide the appearance of total knowledge to the viewer. You knew who was a traitor, who was a faithful, and that knowledge made every interaction between contestants filled with dramatic tension. Now, however, they are keeping the identity of one traitor a secret from us viewers and this needless mystery is making the world they’re creating harder to parse.

Well, that’s quite enough Traitors sidechat. I’ve been reading Howl ’s Moving Castle this week in which there’s a curse tied to John Donne’s poem Go and Catch a Falling Star . That in turn got me listening to Pentangle guitarist John Renbourn’s setting of the poem . If you’re looking for a song without the misogyny, I recommend Pentangle’s Sovay . It tells the story of a woman robbing her suitor while disguised as a highwayman.

Rock Paper Shotgun is better when you sign in

Sign in and join us on our journey to discover strange and compelling PC games.

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

Rock Paper Shotgun is better when you sign in

Sign in and join us on our journey to discover strange and compelling PC games.