Wreckfest 2 early access review

Wheel meet again

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / THQ Nordic

• Developer: Bugbear
• Publisher: THQ Nordic
• Release: March 20th, 2025
• On: Windows
• From: Steam
• Price: £25/$30/€30
• Reviewed on: Intel Core-i7-11700F, 16GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, Windows 10

“That’s okay,” I say as my car somersaults into the hot dirt and loses a wheel. “I still have three tyres left.” My right fender hits another driver and dissolves into splinters, like rusty confetti at a wedding for metallurgists. “No big deal,” I remark, and keep driving. I veer into a shipping container and the entire engine bay flattens against me like an empty can of Pabst Blue Ribbon squashed in the hands of a frat boy. “A minor setback,” I say, and reverse back onto the track, before trundling on in glorious last place. Wreckfest 2 is further evidence of a truth long upheld by non-serious racing games: a car is funnier the more fucked up it gets.

The slippery sequel is out in early access and - to spin up the car metaphors I shall be using throughout this article - it is a reliably powerful engine that runs hot and loud and is quickly exhausted. That doesn’t mean my time with this heavy-hitting racing game has been bad. I’ve enjoyed almost every minute of jostling for position and ramming opponents into trees. But it is a bare experience so far, and even the developers understand that.

The dust and sunshine look great. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / THQ Nordic

There are only four cars, for example. Players of the first Wreckfest will recognise the nippy “Rocket” and muscular “Roadslayer”, respectively reminiscent of a Ford Mustang and Pontiac Trans Am. But there’s also an aerodynamic and modern drift machine, and an adorably boxy European banger that looks inspired by the 1980s Volkswagon Golf.

They’re offered to players as-is, with none of the first game’s customising, armour-welding, or differential tuning yet included in the menus. You can paint your vehicle a new colour, with some limited options, but aside from that, you pick a car, and you drive the car. They all handle very finely, with a thrumming sense of weight and power. Until, of course, you are smashed into a roadside barrier at 50 miles per hour. At which point, you need to pay more attention to your wonky handbrake and misaligned wheels.

It’s fine. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / THQ Nordic

The point of Wreckfest is to race with a health bar. These demolition derby chasedowns are as much about keeping yourself alive as they are about crossing the finish line first. As in the first game, little messages pop up in the corner of your screen with every shunt and slam. But they now seem to be even more comically specific. “Radiator leaking,” it says, as if I care a jot. “Engine damaged,” it warns, to my complete dismissal. “Head gasket blown,” it says, a sense of panic finally sinking in.

“Suspension damaged”.

Um…

“Gearbox damaged”.

Well, maybe it’s –

“Wheel detached.”

Oh god.

I was trying to take a nice screenshot and this player photobombed me. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / THQ Nordic

Every failed mechanism in your hot rod affects your driving in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. I have laughed and cursed as my car starts to track uncontrolably to the left and right because any number of components in my suspension have become utterly banjaxed. And yet it takes a surprising amount of punishment for your car to become totally undriveable (although this can also depend on the difficulty and damage settings you race with).

But yes, only four cars to gleefully destroy, and only four tracks to do so upon. There’s an asphalt circuit that doubles up as a free-for-all wrecking bowl, and a cracking scrapyard full of tire heaps and rustbuckets piled high. There’s also the Savolax sandpit, an industrial mining ground with sneaky bumps and harsh bends that transition from gravelly dirt to hard asphalt. The first game made players think about how their car will travel on loose and solid surfaces, letting you tune your vehicle before each race to better match the track. It looks like the sequel is gearing up to do the same, although those choosey features aren’t yet implemented.

You can paint the doors, fenders, and bonnets of each car. But aside from that there’s not much to customise. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / THQ Nordic

These tracks do have some variants, but they’re all quickly explored. They’re best enjoyed with multiplayer opponents via a very rudimentary server browser. As much as CPU foes seem eager to spin you out, it’s your fellow humans who turn the races into mischievous melees and petty pile-ups. It is forever satisfying to catch up to the tearaway who shunted you into a telegraph pole and fishtail them on a critical bend. It remains a game I would play to vent some actual road rage .

Then there is the fourth track, the “Testing Grounds”, which is basically a developer whitebox for messing about with cars. Oh boy. This is a playground of loop-the-loops, ramps, and obstacles. There are spring launchers that fire you fifty feet into the air, wacky climbs that ascend 200 metres into a piercing blue sky. There are stacks of oil drums to ram through. There is a car crusher that will turn you into a cute cuboid of squashed metal still somehow capable of driving. A rolling pin machine that will flatten you like a pancake so that only your driver’s knees stick up in cartoonish folly. Visit the car-sized basketball nets, have a go in the “car cannon”, orbit the thunder dome, toss your vehicle into a giant pachinko machine and win nothing but shattered glass and laughs. It is a delightful place.

<img loading=“lazy” src=“https://assetsio.gnwcdn.com/wreckfest-review-early-access-13.jpg?width=2048&height=2048&fit=bounds&quality=85&format=jpg&auto=webp" onerror=“this.onerror=null;this.src=‘https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe7F7TRXHtjiKvHb5vS7DmnxvpHiDyoYyYvm1nHB3Qp2_w3BnM6A2eq4v7FYxCC9bfZt3a9vIMtAYEKUiaDQbHMg-ViyGmRIj39MLp0bGFfgfYw1Dc9q_H-T0wiTm3l0Uq42dETrN9eC8aGJ9_IORZsxST1AcLR7np1koOfcc7tnHa4S8Mwz_xD9d0=s16000';" alt=“Cars line up in the “testing grounds” - an area for the players to try crazy stunts. - 7”>

<img loading=“lazy” src=“https://assetsio.gnwcdn.com/wreckfest-review-early-access-13.jpg?width=2048&height=2048&fit=bounds&quality=85&format=jpg&auto=webp" onerror=“this.onerror=null;this.src=‘https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe7F7TRXHtjiKvHb5vS7DmnxvpHiDyoYyYvm1nHB3Qp2_w3BnM6A2eq4v7FYxCC9bfZt3a9vIMtAYEKUiaDQbHMg-ViyGmRIj39MLp0bGFfgfYw1Dc9q_H-T0wiTm3l0Uq42dETrN9eC8aGJ9_IORZsxST1AcLR7np1koOfcc7tnHa4S8Mwz_xD9d0=s16000';" alt=“Cars line up in the “testing grounds” - an area for the players to try crazy stunts. - 8”>

Still. As much as I adore this playful realm of wrecking, it doesn’t fully mask that the game as a whole is, well, very light on actual stuff . There’s not a lot to get through, and a lack of any vehicular ladder to climb or customisable bits and bobs means that you just have to get your dopamine from the purity of racing for racing’s sake. It’s also hard to see from this early stage - apart from the visual fidelity and new damage physics - if the sequel is going to do anything truly different.

“The game will be in a far from perfect state,” said a PR representative in an email to RPS, “a lot of content will be missing, and features need to be added down the road of Early Access. Our experience with Wreckfest 1 back in the days led us to this decision – while we do have a lot of ideas and a lot of content already planned, we really want to include our community.”

Maybe I have the seat up too high. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / THQ Nordic

I feel about Wreckfest 2 how I recently felt about Space Engineers 2 . In that it has an impressively strong frame and wonderful motor, yet really requires some seats and mirror dice and maybe a leather wheel guard to make it truly capable of holding your attention. I like it, and yet I cannot honestly recommend that you buy it. Early access games come in all shapes and sizes. But at the end of the road, one of my jobs (aside from going full throttle on automobile analogies) is to guard your wallet somewhat. Though I like the feeling of Wreckfest 2 in my mitts, I wouldn’t shell out 25 quid for the limited hours of bouncy, crashy fun it can grant you. Some view money splashed on something like this as a buy-in cost, an investment, the ultimate act of pre-ordering. I’ve never been one of those people - when I fork over my lunch money I do want something approaching a game. Wreckfest 2, even with its horsepower, heft, and hellish good looks, doesn’t currently offer me more than an evening of messing about.

Hopefully, that will change over the next couple of years. The first proper update is two months away, we’re told, and will bring two new cars and two new tracks. As for the roadmap after that? I don’t know. I lost the glovebox in a slam three laps ago and everything in it has been turned to brilliant dust.

This review is based on a review build provided by the publisher.

Find out how we conduct our reviews by reading our review policy .

Wreckfest 2

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.

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.