Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 review

Fin fantasy

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Sandfall Interactive

• Developer: Sandfall Interactive
• Publisher: Kepler Interactive
• Release: April 24th 2025
• On: Windows
• From: Steam / Epic Games Store / Game Pass
• Price: £38 /€45 /$45
• Reviewed on: Intel Core i5-12600K, 32GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti, Windows 10

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is Sandfall Interactive’s debut, which tells me two things about the French studio. Firstly, that they’re a bunch of utter show offs and, secondly, that they’re a bunch of utter show offs . You can’t do this, Sandfall. You can’t just come storming out the gate with a turn-based RPG possessed of all the flash and experimentation of Lost Odyssey or Legend Of Dragoon plus all the haunting playfulness and bizarre beauty of both Miyazakis having a thumb war while Yoko Taro rolls around on the floor beside them.

I don’t know how they do things in France , but where I’m from, pulling off such clarity of vision on your first attempt is illegal - as is this much earnest outpouring of feeling on any attempt. Indeed, I can see some of you finding Clair Obscur a little too cute, a little too eager to dazzle and move with its operatic spectacle and Lisa Simpson-ish virtuosity.

Me? I find it hard to even get lost in games I love these days. I’ll usually settle for anything that stops me checking my email for an hour. But if Clair Obscur’s brilliant combat had me hooked, the journey it offers had me enchanted. It would appear that they really do make ’em like this anymore.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Sandfall Interactive

“A bloodless guillotine,” is how leading man Gustave’s sister, Emma, describes the yearly expedition taken by the citizens of Lumiere: a voyage towards a distant horizon to defeat an entity known as the Paintress. Each year, she brushes a new number on her monolith, erasing everyone that age from existence in blooms of dust and petals. At the annual festival, those whose turn it is to die wear red and white garlands around their necks, saying goodbyes and piling their furniture in the street for those left behind.

No expedition has returned in 67 years, and the once-prestigious voyage has taken on an air of death and failure. For those who come after , they say, many morbidly resigned to carving out a slightly less treacherous path for next year’s gaggle of doomed bastards and bastresses. Not so Gustave, an inventor seemingly modeled at once after Robert Pattinson and Kieron Culkin, if the latter’s canny rat smirk was replaced by a touching if gormless determination. He’s convinced things are going to be different this time. As is Maelle, his adopted charge who’s opted to join the expedition of 32 year olds despite being half their age. The stakes are spelled out in the warped streets of Lumiere’s concrete carnival, and our wine-drunk expedition set forth in sombre good spirits.

They are immediately plunged into hell. The continent is Belle Époque Final Fantasy X by way of Henson’s Labyrinth in the throes of Annihilation; all shimmering oil spill chroma and constructs creaking through twilight forests; withered, coralised corpses and calamity-prone cloth mannequins stumbling through fairytale woods and islands where the stone itself takes the shape of titanous Melpo and Thalia masks. As a landscape, it evokes both verdant primordial promise and the closing act of time itself. As a world map, I’m 45 hours into a supposedly 30 hour game and I still haven’t unearthed all of its secrets.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Sandfall Interactive

‘Turn-based RPG but you can dodge and parry attacks’ sounds like a gimmick, and indeed could have been if Sandfall’s ambition had stopped at giving you something to do with your hands between turns. Instead, vivid animations lend each bestiary entry its own Soulsian timing peculiarities; lumbering, dancing, writhing personalities and presence you’ll want to learn intimately. Even at its most basic, combat here is animate and tactile enough to make even evident influence Atlus seem sleepy by comparison. Indeed, if you’re someone who likes the option to have a sandwich mid JRPG fight, you might find its constant demands for presence and reflexes a nag. Meet it where lives, though, and you’ll find an exhilarating challenge that’ll have you willingly seeking out every fight you can find.

Reflexes alone will only shore up your defence, though. To cut a path to the Paintress, you’ll need to seriously engage with layers of character ability, equipment and perk interfuckery to brew up the most busted combos you’ve laid eyes upon since the last busted combo you made. Indeed, there’s a healthy dose of deckbuilder tech lineage to experiment with, whether that’s building and cashing in stacks of status effects or penny pinching for action points and the rare repeat turn chance. I’m a decent bit into NG+ right now. I’m still regularly finding new ways to use old tricks in fresh, digusting combinations.

Each of the five playable characters feel distinct, whether that’s furry puppet Monoco’s severed leg Pokémon transformations or science witch Lune’s elemental bank ’n’ cash rotation. It’s maybe a bit too easy to become attached to the fruits of your latest fifteen minute menu sweat and refuse to dive back in to experiment until you’re booted out of smug complacency by a difficulty spike, but there’s always an easier mode if you’re in a hurry to see the next story beat.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Sandfall Interactive

Off the critical track - nestled at the end of tucked-away side paths in dungeons that can run intimidatingly labyrinthine - are the small details that elevate journey to adventure. Pale, oddly serene monsters with requests. A plaintive manor, unmoored from time and space, that you’ll return to a dozen times through a dozen secret doors. Goofy beach minigames where you play air hockey with exploding puppets or attempt infuriating parkour challenges with controls designed for anything but. An entire food chain of optional mega bosses both secret and brazen enough to loom over the map, daring you to come have a pop. It’s a world that feels wide enough to make must-come-back later notes so often I’m left perplexed by no in-game ability to do so.

Clair Obscur’s most profound moments often exist outside of a main plot I’m taking pains to be vague about, instead arising from the writers taking their central conceit - a dwindling, gradually younger city born with a timer on their lives - and asking questions. How much do you really owe to a society that won’t hesitate to sacrifice you when the time comes? How would it feel to come to terms with soon losing someone to the Gommage, only to lose them to some other tragedy? How early should parents begin to prepare their children for the inevitable, and how low does that number have to be before the entirety of Lumiere decide to stop bringing children into a doomed world altogether? Clair Obscur offers neither judgement nor easy answers, just a perpetually dying light and a group of deeply likeable humans you’ll want to witness rage against its throes.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Sandfall Interactive

Strong performances throughout, Jennifer English’s especially, more than make up for noticeable budget sacrifices in facial animations, I can see the game’s particular brand of whimsical goof being more divisive, even if I loved it. When Ben Starr’s reserved-if-not-gruff Verso is asked, following a tragic scene, if he’d like a hug by giant balloon idiot Esquie - and it’s Esquie’s third quickfire question, the first two met with terse single-word responses - Verso says that yes, he would like a hug. God. You get so used to pop culture’s tired rhythms of quippy standoffishness that it all it takes is a simple reversal to hit like a sack of billiard balls. No “you’ll be hugging the next person with one arm!”, no " No , I would not like a hug “. Verso just wants a hug from his old mate. Lovely.

The music sits somewhere between FFX and Nier: Automata - rousing, playful, sweet, sad, sometimes jazzy or electric or carnivalesque - and it compliments a palette and tone that, to slightly caveat my praise, I’m a complete mark for. Storybook without being twee. Thoughtful and rich without posturing importance, if perhaps a little profundity. Playful without falling into our era’s seemingly inescapable three-kids-in-a-suit urbane irony poisoning. Dark without ever being ugly. And, yes, it’s often enraptured by its own spectacle, but there’s a reason why we use the word ’empty’ to modify ‘spectacle’ when it deserves it. This is heart-full-to-bursting spectacle. Uninhibited and unembarrassed. Big kids playing make believe. Most of all, it feels personal. Full of the sort of odd brush strokes a more established studio might have scrubbed out.

Very occasionally, I’ll play an RPG that makes me feel ten again. Rebirth. Cris Tales . Revisiting Suikoden . Years come, the big number ticks down, and comfortable appreciation replaces the spellbound enchantment of being told a story, of being swept off to a new world. Of playing Final Fantasy 8 in that special edition shirt that Ben Starr likes to wear that I wish I’d kept because I bet it’s worth a bloody fortune now. You wait for a game to bring you back there, mostly certain you’ve moved passed the capacity to feel that way because you now have the sort of adult concerns that cause you ask how much a shirt might be worth on Ebay. I can’t say if Clair Obscur will work its magic on everyone the same way, but it certainly did for me. I’m still not ready to leave, honestly. What a special and rare thing this is: a story that feels like someone wanted to tell it so badly it hurt.

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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , 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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