Who needs a Morrowind remake when you can explore the beautiful nightmare of Dread Delusion?

Praise Paeguth

<img loading=“lazy” src=“https://assetsio.gnwcdn.com/dread-delusion-small-review-1.jpg?width=690&quality=85&format=jpg&dpr=3&auto=webp" onerror=“this.onerror=null;this.src=‘https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe7F7TRXHtjiKvHb5vS7DmnxvpHiDyoYyYvm1nHB3Qp2_w3BnM6A2eq4v7FYxCC9bfZt3a9vIMtAYEKUiaDQbHMg-ViyGmRIj39MLp0bGFfgfYw1Dc9q_H-T0wiTm3l0Uq42dETrN9eC8aGJ9_IORZsxST1AcLR7np1koOfcc7tnHa4S8Mwz_xD9d0=s16000';" alt=“A ghost “welcomes” the player to the Clockwork Kingdom. - 1”>

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / DreadXP

I booted up Dread Delusion and fell 30 feet to my death. This throwback first-person RPG is hazardous, and not only due to the dreamlike islands floating in the sky. My leg-snappin’ plummet may be down to early access changes, causing the ground to be updated from right under my feet. Far from being a nuisance, meta-jank like this only endears me further to Dread Delusion. It is an RPG from the other side of some attic mirror, an Elder Scrolls from a parallel 2002. It has, somehow, slipped into our reality and is seeing its full release today . There are gods you can thank for this, but we dare not speak their names.

Everything about Dread Delusion leans into the trappings of the era it loves. The slopes are a little too steep, the textures a little too blown-up, or haphazardly applied. Enemies approach you like stiff marionettes, eager for blood but unable to expand their minds beyond petty swipes. Low fidelity slashing noises whiff through the hot pink air as they attempt to hurt you. You may feel like you have played this game before, but not quite. Look again at that creature. What the hell are they?

At the start of this story you are a prisoner, another tribute to Elder Scrolls. You are to be released, provided you hunt down and apprehend a notorious rebel known as Vela Callose. (You have a “one in three-hundred-and-sixty-four chance” of surviving this deed, your machine prison warden informs you). After an unsuccessful first encounter with the bandit, you are freed to go exploring, into an ambitiously dense world of skeletons, forgotten deities, and gigantic threshers rolling across the landscape on tank treads.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / DreadXP

And exploring is the main verb here. There are mushroom-filled valleys, secluded castle keeps, big towns full of shops, manors, docks, skeevy taverns. What’s most impressive is that all of these places are populated with peasants, tradesfolk, inquisitors, cultists, cutthroats… It’s rare to find an NPC who doesn’t have some small tidbit to say: a fear of the Union’s soldiers, a complaint about the Clockwork King’s madness. Early on you may find a gang of cartographers who rope you into helping them make a reliable map of these Oneric Isles. Another crowd of skulduggerers want help activating magical contraptions that allow travel across vast distances. You know what to do.

The aforementioned map is pleasantly shonky and uncooperative. It needs to be filled in as you go by marking landmarks in a big book (you get a quiet pop-up when a “location of interest” is nearby). Cataloguing those landmarks steadily reveals new sections of the map (but I still sorely needed a compass to navigate). And when quests are given, you’d be wise to remember what people say. Often I’d accept a quest but then dander off to an entirely new place, only to return afterwards and be treated to that magical sense of 90s game disconnection. Random little events I can’t quite piece together. The wackiness of a past eon of jumblesome RPGs.

That’s not to say you can’t keep track of quests (the journal does help… a bit) but in general you do need to approach Dread Delusion on its own terms; as a creature from beyond. It’s filled with imaginative and expressive world-building you don’t always get in current-day blockbusters. The trade-off for such an ambitious undertaking by a small team can be felt in the typos, bugs, and quirks of texture. But while such glitchiness might be incongruous in any other game, here it only adds to the sensation of playing the fucked-up Morrowind of another timeline. There is a spell that lets you run like billy-o and survive huge falls (albeit with a sliver of health) and it leads to some bizarre movements and shortcuts as you tumble from isle to isle, seeking the fastest route to your destination, completely ignoring the hellish, winged idiots that chase you as you pass.

For a fan of wandering who was disappointed when Bethesda’s usual reliable flair for exploration was lost in Starfield ’s loading screens and grey moons, I am buoyed by the very existence of Dread Delusion. It feels like both an expedition into warped video game history and a reassurance that games can still be weird and ambitious and faulty and gorgeous.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / DreadXP

You can choose to play as I often have: a pioneering mapmaker in a world that is slowly decaying in the pink heat of its oppressive “neuron star”. Or you can be a right bruiser, gunning from town to town and two-timing the various factions with “choices matter” mischief. Install an elder god as invisible overseer to a bustling market town. Change the settings of a clockwork auto-serf from “militant agriculture” to “benevolent agriculture”. Pledge your assistance to the Machinist’s Guild, promising to cleanse the monarch’s broken mind, but then betray the conspirator’s trust by selling them out to the King’s Speaker. (Why did you trust me, Aphra? You IDIOT.)

It is a must-play for fantasy RPG fans who value colour, ambition, freedom, and a certain amount of jank. There’s an infamous moment in Morrowind (one of our reader’s favourite RPGs of all time) where a screeching elf falls from the sky and donks himself to death on the road ahead of you. When you inspect his body, you find a curious parchment, titled “Scroll of Icarian Flight”. Curious players will use to scroll and find themselves leaping thousands of feet into the air. Dread Delusion is a loving tribute to that same sensation of reckless discovery, that same giddy feeling as you fall, laughing, to your death.

Dread Delusion

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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This RPG in the Steam Next Fest looks like Morrowind in hell

The mood coming off Dread Delusion…!

Upcoming open-world RPG Dread Delusion is, if nothing else, a hell of a mood. Soon after starting the demo that’s now available in the Steam Next Fest, I found myself just chilling with the soundtrack and watching the hot pink sun crawl across the sky, fed by tendrils swirling into it and briefly occluded by blood-red clouds. A great vibe. Like a small Morrowind, but in the sort of Hellsville where the local tavern is adorned with the giant skull of a slain god who collapsed upon it.

In the Elder Scrolls tradition, Dread Delusion starts us as a prisoner. We’re freed to hunt the leader of a band of mercenaries accused of the scandalous crime of aiding god-worshippers, kicking off the main quest, but soon we’re free to explore, do side-quests, chat with townsfolk, join the thieves hanging out in the sewer, and all that open-world RPG stuff. Movement and violence are decidely of the era which inspired the game, which I can’t say I’m super into, but that’s how it goes.

We’re also free to just watch the ’neuron star’ circle our land of hovering islands while enjoying the music, and I sure did. See:

It’s a pretty game. Lots of weird machinery and mushrooms and Warhammer 40K-esque servitors and just some great colours. Cracking soundtrack too. And I do like the wobble to everything, because I’m like that. I also enjoyed watching the plants you can harvest for alchemy:

You can download Dread Delusion’s latest demo from Steam . You might have played an early demo ages back in the Haunted PS1 demo disc . The full release will follow, like, at some point. It’s led by Lovely Hellplace, aka James Wragg, and published by Dread XP.

We’ve got plenty more Steam Next Fest demo recommendations for you too. Valve’s free demo-o-rama runs until Thursday the 7th.

Dread Delusion

PC

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