The Crimson Diamond review: an enthralling retro-inspired EGA game with modern mystery style

READ REVIEW OF GAME

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Julia Minamata

• Developer: Julia Minamata
• Publisher: Julia Minamata
• Release: August 15th 2024
• On: Windows
• From: Steam
• Price: TBC
• Reviewed on: Steam Deck

The Crimson Diamond is a proper old-school style puzzle adventure. It’s 2D pixel art, with a limited colour palette as in EGA games, and you control it with a text parser, like King’s Quest or one of them other Sierra adventures old men like Graham remember. It’s important to mention this up front because it’s very possible that, despite The Crimson Diamond’s tale of betrayal, murder, and mineral rights in 1914 Canada, the text parser element will be a Rubicon you instantly can’t be arsed to cross. A not unreasonable stance - though I think the text parser in The Crimson Diamond is fantastic. Such beef that I have with this adventure game is down to the specificity required to solve some of the puzzles.

If you’re unfamiliar there’s a tutorial, but basically what a text parser means is that you don’t press buttons, you type stuff. Put in LOOK - although you don’t have to use caps, I’m just doing it so this review isn’t a nightmare to text parse itself - and press enter, and the game gives you a text box describing the room you’re in. This might be, say, ‘an old study with a large carved fireplace. To the right of the fireplace is a tapestry, and to the left of it is a display cabinet, and there’s a desk in the centre of the room.’

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Julia Minamata

And then you go up to the desk and type LOOK AT DESK, and the game will tell you the desk has two drawers, a pen and ink set, a green lamp and a blotter. EXAMINE BLOTTER and you’ll find out it’s green leather worn smooth from long years of use. As I said, this may immediately seem to tedious to you, but The Crimson Diamond has a really good list of shortcuts, like ‘a ab’ for ASK ABOUT when you’re talking to someone, or using SEARCH to go through a whole chest of drawers in one go rather than OPEN DRAWER on each drawer and LOOK IN DRAWER separately. Although you can do that if you’d like. The parser has accounted for loads of inputs as well (it accepts BIN for TRASH CAN, for example), and playing around with it is impressive.

Much as I am impressed, I will admit that there are times that the parser needs a peculiarly specific output, and the verb USE isn’t in play here, even when it might feel natural to, aha, use it. You can POUR KETTLE INTO SAUCEPAN but you can’t USE THE HAMMER ON THE CLIFF. There are also times when the answer is disarmingly simple. I was stuck for a bit because I kept trying to break off a small chunk of ice in the ice box, when I should have just TAKEN ICE. But still! I think the parser is great, and particularly enjoyed the distinction between LOOK and EXAMINE. There’s even a shortcut to leave a room by the nearest exit, and each character has a double letter code assigned to them for the parser.

There are eight characters in total, not including the player character Nancy Maple, a Canadian amateur geologist who wants to study it for real. Nancy’s goal of getting some field work under her belt takes her to Crimson, Ontario, where a giant diamond was found in the belly of a fish. Nancy finds herself stranded at Crimson Lodge, where the landowner Ethan (EE) and his new girlfriend Margot (MM) live with the cook and general helper Jack (JJ), with Native handyman Nathan (NN) whose family have ancestral claims to the land the lodge is on. But Nathan’s sister Nessa (SS) has turned up with her lawyer Corvus (CC) to contest Ethan’s claim to the lodge (and also imply that Margot is a floozy). Meanwhile, Kimi (KK) is there to check out a colony of rare cormorants, and Albert (AA) is an official geologist sent by the government to check if there are any diamonds in the Crimson river.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Julia Minamata

Several characters have an interest in diamonds being found, while others would prefer not. And when a character who is seemingly un-diamond-related is killed, Nancy becomes a reluctant detective. Although honestly, not that reluctant. She seems to take to it quickly, and begins eavesdropping on night one, when the only conceivable peril is that she and Kimi can’t get home via train and are invited to stay the night in the luxurious lodge. Nancy is a Canadian superhero whose power is LISTEN AT DOOR WITH GLASS.

In the early chapters of the game you find yourself doing a spot of more respectable geology, and must find the tools Nancy needs for a makeshift field kit - how to get the ice pick out of the frozen ice box? How to get Kimi away from the cliff face so you can take a sample of the rock? - and puzzles of that nature. Later on they become more complex, like a puzzle where you have to get a fingerprint sample from everyone, using methods as varied as combining hot wax with cookie dough, or just, you know, asking.

There are a few little turnabout bits after the murder where you can eavesdrop on people, but only if you approach from the right direction, or miss conversations entirely because you elected to follow someone else. Later still you’ll run into puzzles where you might not have the answer because, for example, you didn’t find a key and what it unlocked in earlier chapters. The puzzles are largely fun and well conceived, and The Crimson Diamond has some intricate trails to follow - sometimes literally - and thoughtful callbacks, as events in the lodge layer up.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Julia Minamata

The lodge itself is really well put together, with two floors of rooms that are all designed to be memorable, whether that be through wallpaper as patterned and gaudy as a William Morris x Liberace crossover, or through a mystery that nags at you (the will must surely be in the study!). In contrast, the outside grounds feel a bit more of a maze, with many an outhouse to stumble upon, but this makes it feel more unsafe. The EGA style art works beautifully both indoors and outdoors, though. And actually Nancy can fall into the river and insta-death drown in the great tradition of hydrophobic game characters everywhere, so beware the outdoors indeed.

So, I’m a fan, in general. But there are a couple of places where the puzzles trip you up with a simple solution that, nevertheless, feels a bit unfair. One instance that may haunt me until my death bed involved needing some clear adhesive. I a ab adhesive’d every character, wracked my brains, went down entirely the wrong path, and eventually just grid searched every piece of furniture in every room, at which point I found a roll of plasters in a bedside drawer. Nobody had said they had plasters! The plasters weren’t evident in the pixelated rendering of the room! Howmst was I to know where to look for plasters? I swear, the plasters took up at least an hour of my 6-ish playing the game.

I wouldn’t normally be so specific about a puzzle, but that moment was less a Crimson Diamond and more a White Whale that I would hate to see anyone else chasing. Otherwise I think The Crimson Diamond is a beautiful piece of work, combining a love letter to the past with a modern implementation, all wrapped up in a mystery that may not have huge, shocking twists, but remains a page turner throughout. And there are bonus geology facts, too! Consider PLAYING THE GAME.

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

The Crimson Diamond

PC , Mac

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.