After years of silence, Unknown 9: Awakening re-emerges as a supernatural mash-up of Assassin’s Creed with Star Wars Force powers

That’s the spirit

Image credit:Bandai Namco Entertainment

Since the summer of 2020, Unknown 9: Awakening has only existed as a 90-second cinematic teaser trailer . In it, a young girl called Haroona is chased through the narrow streets of Calcutta by a rabble of boys armed with sticks. It’s not clear why she’s attracted their ire, but as one moves to strike her, a shockwave pulses out from her small body, the world turns grey, and time slows down. As she deftly moves out of harm’s way, she turns back to look at her stunned onlookers, a confident smirk rising on her face.

It was a striking, if utterly ambiguous debut, and with talk of accompanying podcasts, books, comics and a web series also on the way to help build out this new world even further, it felt like developers Reflector Entertainment were really setting out to make a bold and ambitious first impression. But it’s now been four years since that trailer. The books, podcasts and comics have all come and gone, seemingly making little impression, and Awakening, the game aiming to pull this big, expanded universe together, has arguably slipped from both time and memory. Perhaps this will change with its newly-dated summer 2024 release window on the horizon, but having seen a small, hands-off slice of an early mission in the game at publisher Bandai Namco’s offices a couple of weeks ago, Awakening’s certainly got its work cut out for it.

Image credit:Bandai Namco Entertainment

While my demo handlers were careful to cut around any of the major story beats, focusing mostly on a mix of stealth and melee combat sequences, this is a game that looks like Tomb Raider , and plays like Assassin’s Creed with some Star Wars Force powers thrown in for good measure. Haroona is still the game’s protagonist, but she’s now a grown woman, portrayed by The Witcher’s Anya “Yennifer” Chalotra. I could chuck a lot of proper nouns at you to explain the game’s setup, but the long and short of it is this: there are two groups fighting to control an ancient source of knowledge that give the immortal Unknown 9 their specific power, and Haroona is out for revenge against the baddies who killed her friend and mentor.

In short, it’s Templars, Assassins and the Isu all over again, just in a slightly different wrapper, which perhaps isn’t a surprise when you consider Reflector was founded by former Assassin’s Creed developers, and whose office is a mere stone’s throw away from Ubisoft Montreal. But there is perhaps one saving grace that gives Unknown 9 its own sense of identity. Haroona isn’t just able to manipulate time now that’s she’s all grown up. She can also ‘step’ into the minds and bodies of her enemies, allowing her to briefly take control of them.

The first thing we’re shown is how this possession trick can let her use their guns, bayonets and battering ram-like charge attacks to help thin the crowds of an enemy jungle camp. A timer bar slowly counts down how long Haroona can stay in control of her quarry, but we’re told there won’t be any level barriers or other artificial gates to prevent who she can and can’t ‘step’ into. Snipers, foot soldiers and large bruisers are all fair game here, and eventually you’ll accrue enough ‘Step Tokens’ to chain up to three possessions together, jumping from one body to the next as long as they’re in your line of sight, and building your strength and attack power as you go. It’s a neat concept - though one whose impact has been dulled somewhat by the similarly puzzle-driven murder bullet chains of the just-announced Children Of The Sun .

Image credit:Bandai Namco Entertainment

Image credit:Bandai Namco Entertainment

Naturally, once guards start shooting each other, your foes will be on edge, their raised suspicions causing them to stray from their patrol paths to investigate the disturbance. Alas, they won’t start fighting among themselves, Reflector’s head of production Jean-Francois Deschamps tells me later over a video call, but Haroona has several tricks available to her to keep out of trouble. If she has another available Step Token, for example, she could simply jump into an enemy and walk them as far away from her as possible, clearing the way to scamper to the next patch of tall pampas grass. Yep, there’s going to be a lot of hiding in bushes and using her special ‘peeking’ power to highlight and tag nearby enemies and objects of interest in Awakening, though the next skill we’re shown is perhaps a bit more novel.

In addition to stepping, Haroona can also become invisible to make a quick getaway (and seemingly right in the middle of combat, too, without enemies becoming any the wiser or jolting you back into full view). This is one of many so-called ‘Umbric’ powers Haroona’s able to use, and they have their own specific magic bar to govern their use in combat. Another one is a Force-like push that can send guards cascading backwards into flaming lanterns and other obstacles, and yes, you do have the option to punt them over cliffs and ledges to their doom. There’s also the equivalent of a Force pull to yank them forwards, too, allowing you to close the gap on enemies to give them a swift punch to the jaw, interrupt their attack patterns, or bring them tumbling down off ledges and staircases so they can fight on your level. Melee attacks are important for replenishing your limited number of Step Tokens, though Deschamps stresses that every situation can technically be handled entirely through stealth, without having to resort to out and out violence.

Image credit:Bandai Namco Entertainment

Forbidden fruitIn asking Deschamps about why this idea of fighting to acquire hidden, ancient knowledge is so enduring within games and other media, he said it’s his personal view that, “as a species, we’re afraid of what we don’t know, so by default wanting to know more is a way to have more security on the decisions we take and the things we believe. But you also cannot know everything. It’s impossible.“There’s also that famous sentence that knowledge is power, which is kind of true, too. So if you add up all those things, in the history of our specices, knowledge is what you should seek, whatever it is, whatever level it is, knowledge is where it’s at. […] It’s a powerful idea. It’s an idea that’s really open, and an idea you can scale and express as you wish.“Image credit:Bandai Namco Entertainment

With our demo handlers playing on the easiest Story difficulty mode, it was, admittedly, a little hard to gauge just how challenging or satisfying these potential stealth puzzles would be in practice. Chaining Step combos to culminate in using a muscular tank lad’s AOE ground pound to take out multiple goons at once certainly has its appeal, as did yanking out people’s literal souls from their spines while performing a silent takedown. Enemies had the wherewithal to attack all at once, too, rather than circling politely and waiting their turn, but shunting them back into fiery torches looked quite flat and lacking in impact. Likewise, as an observer, firing enemy guns in third person also gave the impression that they had all the heft of a toy pellet gun.

What we were shown outside of combat didn’t raise the pulse much either. While Haroona’s glowing bracelets will alert her to special ‘scribing’ tears in the fabric of reality that can increase her health and magic powers, they aren’t visible to the naked eye, so she’ll need to hunt down through a combination of environmental cues and her peek ability. In our demo, this was simply a ‘follow the glowing energy lines’ kind of affair, requiring little thought or input from the player. I’d hope that later scribing areas are a bit more puzzle-driven to prevent them from turning into tedious hide and seek trails, though when asked if the game had many Tomb Raider or Uncharted-style puzzles further down the line, the answer we were given was merely “some” rather than lots.

Still, with the end of our demo culminating in a sequence with Haroona freeing a honking great zeppelin from the middle of a rainforest, I’m hopeful that we’ll at least get to see some interesting places along the way. We’re told this zeppelin will serve as our main hub between missions in Unknown 9, carrying us across the globe in linear setpieces as Haroona follows the trail of the big bad. There’s also mention that its story will delve into Ashoka mythology rather than the traditional western cannon, but there’s no denying that its 1912 setting does have an air of Indiana Jones about it, too.

Image credit:Bandai Namco Entertainment

Whether it will all be enough to make enough of an impact, though, remains to be seen. For a game that’s been in development since the studio’s founding in 2016, Unknown 9 verges on feeling too little too late in some respects, and not enough of its own thing to really set it apart from the bigger, flashier blockbusters it’s clearly taken much of its inspiration from. Yes, what we saw was taken from very early on in the game, and probably amounted to no more than 30 minutes. But even this no longer feels as striking as that initial teaser trailer did all those years ago.

To their credit, in talking to Deschamps about the challenges the game faces in today’s environment, he says one of their goals was to really think hard about “what does it mean to make a game with smaller teams?” He himself came from Ubisoft, and while “we do have our learnings, things we liked, [and] things we liked a bit less that we wanted to either adapt or change,” Reflector are fundamentally a much more modest outfit by comparison, even after being acquired by Bandai Namco shortly after the game was first shown four years ago. He also acknowledges that “what players want from a game is evolving even faster than making games themselves, so it’s always a challenge to be able to keep up to speed.” Ultimately, it’s a challenge that’s “really exciting” to try and meet as a studio, he tells us, though given everything that’s happened to the industry over the last 12 months, with studios big and small having to down-size or outright shut up shop after failing to make back their development costs, I do worry how long that excitement will last when Unknown 9 launches later this summer.

Unknown 9: Awakening

PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , 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.

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.