Two days ago, before I’d finished it, when I was in the ragey part of my Blue Prince journey, I probably would have said, it sucks. Why are people rating it so high? But now that I have completed it and realized what the point of the game was? My opinion has definitely shifted.
In this article, we are going to be talking about the puzzle exploration game Blue Prince that has just released. And this game? There’s a lot to this game.
We were lucky enough to get gifted a month of free PC Game Pass thanks to Xbox, and we used to check out Blue Prince. But Blue Prince isn’t the only indie game on PC Game Pass. There’s actually a ton of incredible games on there, it’s very budget friendly, so definitely check it out if you’re looking for some indie games to play.
This game has pretty much consumed all of my free time over the past week. And It does not disappoint. I’m going to try and keep this article as spoiler free as possible, but there may be some that sneak through, so if you’d prefer to go in blind, save this article and come back and read it after you’ve played.
Blue Prince might be marketed as a puzzle game, but this one definitely has a ton of story wrapped up in that for you to find. You play as Simon, who is a 14 year old kid who has just inherited his uncle’s manor, The Mount Holly manor.
Now there is a catch because you aren’t actually able to claim your inheritance unless you are able to find the mysterious room 46. Now, the manor is a 45 room manor. So on paper, room 46 doesn’t actually exist, and it’ll be up to you to weave your way through the manor to figure out where this room is, and then access it as well.
This is one of those games where the story isn’t really obvious. For the most part, you will find that the story in this game is hidden in letters left on random tables, in books that you read in the library, in pictures on the wall. And it’s one of those games that has a really, really in-depth story. But it’s going to take you a while to figure out what that story is and put together all the different puzzle pieces to work out what happened.
There definitely is a big mystery theme in this game, and you will uncover some kind of conspiracies and maybe kidnappings and maybe robberies and burglaries and things like that. There is a whole lot of different themes and ongoings in this game, but it very much is interact at your own pace, and you can actually get through the game without experiencing pretty much any of the story, which is kind of wild.
I guess the other big aspect of this game is that it is completely non-linear. There isn’t a linear storyline that you really follow. It’s pretty much just like a puzzle. You pick up different pieces and they uncover different parts of the story, but it’s not linear. You can pick up some parts of the story and never touch any of the others, and it’s kind of a really interesting way to do storytelling.
There are a few cutscenes in the game for important moments, but otherwise you can pretty much interact as little or as much as you like with the story.
Moving on to the gameplay, and this is where the game both shines and becomes kind of frustrating at times. So the thing about this manor is that the rooms in it aren’t fixed, and so every day the slate is wiped clean and the manor becomes empty again. And it’s up to you to draft each room as you progress through the house.
So as you encounter a door and open a door, you’ll be given a choice of three different rooms to select from. And you then place that room, and then that room materializes and you enter into that room. So for example, when you enter through a door, you might draw the den, the kitchen and the commissary, and it will be up to you to choose or which one you want to materialize behind the door to say you choose the den, and then you enter through and the den will be there.
Each room has a different number of doors leading off, which is kind of key to being able to progress through the game, as once you run out of doors to make more rooms, that’s pretty much game over for that day.
There are five different room types you can draft:
- Hallways: These are straightforward corridors, typically offering multiple exits.
- Bedrooms: Primarily for rest, most bedrooms increase your step count.
- Red Rooms: These usually have negative consequences. The Gym, for example, is a red room that deducts steps upon entry.
- Blue Rooms: These are your special rooms – the Office, Study, Security Room, Den, and more. They often contain puzzles, mysteries, and important items. This is arguably the most significant category, as these rooms usually have a specific function to access.
- Green Rooms: Outdoor-themed areas like the Verandah, Courtyard, and Terraces. They often have an environmental feel and tend to have more dig sites.
There are some rooms that hold different items as well. So the main three items you’ll pick up are coins keys and gems, and these are all important in different ways.
The keys unlock doors. So often when you are progressing through the manor, the doors will be locked, and so you’ll need keys to be able to unlock those doors. Or there are times when you will find trunks throughout the house and they require keys to open as well.
Coins you can spend at certain rooms, so you can spend them at the kitchen, or the commissary, or the showroom. If you’re lucky enough to draw that card. These allowing you to purchase things like food or special items that have special abilities, or extra keys or extra gems.
Now, something to note that is kind of integral to how you play is that each day you have a limited number of steps. So your step count is shown up in the top corner of your game, and pretty much you start with 50 steps. And every time you enter a new room that uses up a step. So you’re only allowed to progress 50 steps through the manor. So through 50 different rooms, unless you eat certain foods or get other perks that allow you to have more steps. If you backtrack through rooms, that will use up steps too. So it’s literally every time you move through a room, it minuses off a step. And there are some rooms that actually will use up more steps. I think there’s one room that actually halves your steps if you draw that room. So steps are pretty important to being able to navigate through the manor because when you run out of steps, the day ends. And then you have to start from scratch completely the next day.
The other main item is gems, and these are used to draft certain rooms. So when you draw your three rooms, some of them have a gem requirement. You’ll need a gem to be able to draw that room, or two gems to be able to draw that room, and the rarer or the better the rooms, the more gems it will cost. So gems can actually be really important too because there will be times when you need a specific L-shaped room or something like that, but you don’t have the gems to draw it, and then it can end your whole game.
Now, you get gems, coins, and keys from exploring the manor. So sometimes they’ll just be left on tables or under tables or on side tables or in a vast majority of different places, and you’ll need to thoroughly explore each room to find those items. You can also find them in particular rooms. So, for example, the den holds a gem. So you always know that when you’re going to go into that room, you’ll get a gem.
There are also some puzzle rooms. So if you solve the puzzle, you’ll be able to earn gems or coins or keys. So those are kind of the main ways that you can get them.
In addition to all of that, there are also special items that you can either find or purchase at the commissary, and these are items that allow you to have special abilities. So, for example, you might get a shovel, which allows you to dig up certain spots that are throughout the house. You might find dirt piles that you can dig into, and these will reward you with items or food or other things, or sometimes nothing.
You can also get something like a metal detector, which will pop up when there are keys or coins in the room that you’re in, and so it’ll come up with like a little beeper to say, hey, there’s a key here or there’s a coin here or something for you to look for, which can be really handy.
There’s also things like a lock pick kit that you can get, which will allow you to attempt to pick locks. Not always successful, but can be very useful. Or something like a sledge hammer, which allows you to bust open any trunks without using keys.
When you start each day, there is an antechamber room on your map, and that’s pretty much where you’re trying to reach – that’s the main goal. Whether you reach it or not is is kind of up to how you play.
Now, it’s not just the antechamber and room 46 that you’re trying to reach in this game, there are actually a ton of other hidden secrets and stories and puzzles to solve throughout the manor, but it really depends on what rooms you draw.
There are actually seven hidden safes littered throughout the manor that you can find, but not only do you have to find the safes, but you also have to work out their codes, which can be quite challenging at times.
There are also different special keys you can get. You can get the key to the secret garden, which won’t always work, but sometimes you can actually spawn the secret garden. There are also keys like the Silver key, which will guarantee you a room with a lot of doors in your next draft if you use it.
There are also more rarer keys like the room eight key which will lead you to room eight, or the prism key, which will lead you to a room of a specific color. So there are a lot of hidden nuggets in this game, and there’s definitely a lot in there for anyone who really wants to explore every inch of this manor.
In terms of design, this game is absolutely stunning. It’s got this hybrid kind of cartoon realism design, so a lot of things look hand-drawn, but in more of a real world environment, which is kind of cool.
Each of the rooms is meticulously designed, like, quite literally – there are so many clues and different things hidden in each room, and each room has a very clear theme and a very clear style, which is really cool to see.
The music definitely sets the vibe for this whole game, and it really paints this kind of eerie, mysterious picture for you to uncover. At times it really does make you feel like someone’s watching over your shoulder every step you take, which is both good and bad, depending on how you like to play. It really creates this cool environment to explore that feels really time sensitive, and it feels mysterious and it really encourages you to dig deeper and deeper.
The further you progress through the house, the more intense the music becomes, which is really cool and it just adds so much atmosphere to this game. One of the best parts about this game is that it has this really intense, immersive atmosphere that sucks you right in, and you really feel like you’re in this manor.
I’m not gonna lie, this game really tested at times. While it might be a puzzle game, and there is a really heavy side of the game that is puzzle based, chance also plays a really big role in this game.
When you get to a certain stage, you pretty much will just need the right sequence of rooms to appear, and then that will lead you to a win – but often that doesn’t happen. It can get really frustrating when you constantly are drawing dead end rooms or just rooms that are going the wrong way, and it ends up being really frustrating at times.
I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I had a run end, because I didn’t have any keys and I just couldn’t unlock the door. There was even one time when I was literally one room away from being able to find room 46 – Finally, after like 28 runs – and I didn’t have a key so I couldn’t progress through.
It’s in those moments where this game becomes really rage worthy, and I did find myself, having to actually stand up and walk away and be like, okay, I’m done for now. I need a break from this game because it is getting too frustrating because of the chance aspect of the game.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of strategies you can use and there are multiple ways to solve most of the puzzles and multiple ways to actually access room 46 and access the antechamber. However, a lot of the ability for you to win is purely based off chance, and that can get can get really frustrating at times.
That being said, I did successfully make it to room 46, and I think that if the journey to get there and the different runs that I’d been through, the different frustrations that I’ve experienced throughout my gameplay didn’t happen, it would not have felt anywhere near as rewarding to finally get there after so long.
The game even hints at this in some of the dialogs and cutscenes – that it’s kind of the whole point of the game. It is supposed to be frustrating, and it is supposed to be hard, and it is supposed to just suck sometimes and you just get really bad draws of cards sometimes – it’s kind of the point.
This is a game that you need to stick out, even when it sucks to be able to finally get to that reward, and I know for myself, I was at the point where I didn’t want to continue playing when I finally won. It’s really a game that rewards that perseverance and you just sticking with it even when it sucks. It took me about 16 hours worth of gameplay to finally win the game, so it’s it’s a long ride but it is well worth it in the end when you finally get there.
The game also doesn’t end when you find room 46, you’re able to actually keep playing days, and there are different secrets and different things you can unlock after you find that room 46 and claim your inheritance. So it’s got a lot of longevity to the game, which I really like.
Overall, this is probably one of my favorite games of all time, and I wouldn’t have said that to you two days ago before I’d finished it, when I was in the ragey part of my Blue Prince journey. I probably would have said, “it sucks. Why are people rating it so high?” But now that I have completed it and realized what the point of the game was, I can definitely say that this is a top tier game and it’s one worth completing.
The design, the story, the atmosphere, everything works in this game. It builds a world that feels mysterious, a little bit magical and just has so much depth to it.
I still haven’t finished everything, I still haven’t uncovered all of the secrets. I don’t know if I ever will, but it’s the type of game that you can really play and play and play to just figure out everything. It’s definitely a game that will stick with me for quite a while.
Blue Prince is out now on Steam, Xbox and PlayStation. You can also play it via PC Game Pass too!
That is a wrap on this review, until next time, stay caffeinated
