Nine Sols review: A 2D Sekiro-like so good it converted me to an entire genre

Mouse trap

Image credit:RedCandleGames

• Developer: RedCandleGames
• Publisher: RedCandleGames
• Release: Out now
• On: Windows
• From: Steam
• Price: £25/€29/$30
• Reviewed on: Intel Core i5-8600K, 16GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 2070, Windows 10]

What to compare Nine Sols ’ flowing Sekiro -like 2D combat and layered metroidvania exploration to? The eternally sequel-less Hollow Knight ? The punishing roguelite trappings of Dead Cells ? 2D Souls-nuzzling Salt and Sacrifice ? I wouldn’t know, because I’ve always had such trouble with slashing, blocking, and jumping in two dimensions that not only have I barely played any of the above, I’ve missed out a swathe of important platformers in the belief I just didn’t have it in me to manage them. But Nine Sols is so generous, so creative, so lucid and upfront in its ruleset, even as it crushes you with sometimes absurd difficulty, that playing it has opened up an entire library of classics I might have otherwise missed out on. I don’t have the experience to tell you what this game does better than others of its ilk, but I can tell how it made me feel. And for a game that murdered me with such relentless frequency, Nine Sols made me feel invincible.

You’re Yi, a white-furred maybe-mouse, maybe-fox who I will refer to as a mox, should it come up again. Yi exhibits the winning combo of being a diminutive fluff streak that exhibits only stoicism, seriousness, and a shocking capacity for violence. Technically, you’re a Solarian, one that’s made home in the realm of New Kunlun. It’s a place that hides dark and painful secrets beneath its apparent beauty. Ornate East Asian architecture gives way to dystopic industrial runoff, and hellish cybernetic factories await underneath tranquil pagodas. There are nine rulers of this place - the titutar Sols - and Yi has decided that number is too high, possibly because he can’t count them all on his mox paws. Go kill them, won’t you?

Image credit:RedCandleGames

Yi’s moveset starts modest. Two light strikes with a third beefy thwack if you combo them, a jump that can be held for more air, a slide-dodge fortified with nutritious i-frames, and a swift parry that can be performed both grounded and aerially. Parry perfectly, and you’ll take no damage from an attack, but a slightly sloppy attempt still rewards you by dealing ‘internal’ rather than regular damage, which heals slowly. Either way, you’ll gain a point of Chi, which can be spent on slapping magic talismans on your foes then detonating them for chunky damage. Stay sharp, and combat becomes an invigorating dance of slashes, deflects, talisman slaps and rhythmic explosions. Each move feels painstakingly paced to flow into the next.

The game’s own Steam page describes the combat as ‘Sekiro-lite’, which pleases me, because a.) now no-one can shout at me for making FromSoft comparisons and b.) Sekiro is FromSoft’s best game, in case you still wanted to shout at me about something. Like that game, some foes slash out frantic cadences that have you respond in kind, temporarily turning Nine Sols into a rhythm game. This can be either incredibly engaging, like when you’re mastering the patterns of a rampaging robo-horse boss, or utterly overwhelming, like when you’re up against two speedy elites, and a bunch of stinger launching wasps, and the floor is falling out, and you’re having to phase through laser columns. For all its honest, masterable combat encounters, Nine Sols is not shy about dolling out sporadic draughts of overly frantic bumwater, so it’s a testament to its almost clairvoyant understanding of my exact tolerance that it never drowned me in such.

Luckily, you’ve got options for when the skies open up and the bumwater poureth. An air dash (that arguably takes too long to gain) rounds out Yi’s defensive and traversal options. A bow with limited shots that refill each time you visit a root node (bonfire) is your crowd control panic button. A heavy attack that’s slow to charge, but can be done so while evading, can immediately thwomp a shielded foe off the board with the right upgrades. Those upgrades, and the money you’ll spend on further augments, is doled out from the soulslike playbook, necessitating corpse runs or defeating your previous killer to regain them after death. When Yi takes too much damage, he can use his healing pipe, just like your usual souls tinnie. Except there’s a certain stylish abandon to scoring your mox an opening to honk his good-good for a quick heal, as if it’s just another link in the combo chain like a rushed gulp of estus never was.

Image credit:RedCandleGames

You’ll find upgrades to that pipe, alongside myriad other trinkets, as you explore. Nine Sols’ world branches out from a central hub, with interlocking metroidvania-layered zones, largely accessed through new abilities rather than keys. You might get stumped by a sentry robot that glows green just as it swings its weapon, only to come back later with the new air parry you need for this type of attack. Levels themselves are teeth-gnashing, incisively constructed gauntlets with plentiful checkpoints, force-feeding you microdoses of pain and triumph. One stage sees you leaving a giant mech only to avoid and bait pursuing crosshairs to help you clear a path to a boss. Like, say, The Resi 4 remake, Nine Sols has such a tight and developed combat loop it likely could have supported the whole journey, alongside the traversal platforming. Instead, like Resi 4, set pieces are plentiful, give each step of the journey memorable character outside just new tilesets and environmental hazards.

So, you don’t like 2D action games, Nic, but surely you’ve played your fair share of platformers? Nope. Again, I’ve always found them incredibly difficult, or else not rewarding enough to make up for how hard I find them. Give me Sekiro’s boss rush over Mario 1-1, or DMC 5’s Dante Must Die over the first bit of Spelunky , because I honestly find them much easier. But there’s such flow, tightness and variety to Nine Sols’ traversal that something about it just stuck, much like Yi can stick to vertical surfaces, chain a launch jump into an air dash, and then kick off of a chain of floating green platforms with Nine Sols’ traversal analogue of parrying - the Tai Chi kick. I love this kick dearly. It’s a wonderful miniature alchemy of sound, motion, and animation, and spying these platforms soon began to trigger a Pavlovian excitement in me.

It’s that realisation, that “maybe I do like platformers after all?”, that means I’ll be thinking about Nine Sols for a long time. Is this just a really good one? Have I been gameboozled ? It certainly feels hard to overstate its quality, whether it’s in its rock solid good-amount-of-frames or wonderfully expressive animations, painterly backdrops or splashes of cult graphic-novel depravity. You haven’t lived, I say, until you’ve seen an adorable mox splatter the meaty chunks of a torturously augmented human over the floors of lavish ornamental palace. You’ll leave your sanctuary after a conversation in which the small child you’ve adopted calls a rotund, Sanrio-ass bear “uncle chubby,” and go turn a floating slavery mouse into a gibbering, bleeding, mind-controlled mess. It’s both cloyingly charming and unbelievably dark.

Image credit:RedCandleGames

Here’s some issues, straight from the newbie’s mouth, in the knowledge that you’re still allowed to complain about your first time being punched in the solar plexus. While bosses are often huge enough for parry readability to come naturally, some of the smaller enemies exhibit fiendish micro-tells I had to learn through trial-and-error rather than instinct. Various hazards in levels do damage but then reset your position to right before you whiffed the jump, which is probably necessarily but still jarring, especially when they send you several jumps back. The first few hours of the game are quite story-heavy, which means few chances to get acclimated to the combat, which means many deaths. About half the conversations are twice as long as I’d have liked, especially since meeting a new, vibrantly-sketched character is always a treat in itself.

But these complaints are but drops of bumwater in an otherwise tranquil and deeply invigorating guzzle of videogame. Nine Sols simply would not stop delighting me every couple of screens with a new set piece, or some gorgeous background, or a brand new weirdo to chat with, or another revelation about its dark, enchanting world. Or, yes, a blisteringly difficult combat encounter that lets you feel every bit the skillful murder mox. ‘Taopunk’ is how the game describes itself. I’ve always loved such philosophy for how it never purports to have the answers, simply that it’s a toolset to find them yourself - to point the way to the moon without asking you to praise its pointing finger. Nine Sols pointed out the fun in a whole new genre for me, but I suspect I’ll still be thinking fondly of its weird mox paws for some time.

This review is based on a review build of the game provided by the developer.

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Nine Sols

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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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