Blue Prince
April 10, 2025 - Raw Fury / Dogubomb
Puzzle, Roguelike
PS5, Xbox Series Consoles, PC
After his great uncle passes away, Simon P. Jones receives control of the Mt. Holly Estate. To get his inheritance, he must find the mysterious room 46 in the ever-shifting mansion rooms, randomly generated by blueprints the player chooses.
Characters, World, and Presentation
The best part about Blue Prince is the setup, story, and lore you’ll find as you explore the estate. As you explore the mysterious mansion, you’ll find various letters and rooms that explain a lot of the lore behind your family, your great uncle, and the disappearance of author Marion Marigold. This is where Blue Prince feels like what I like to call a “Me” game. Outside of that, there’s not much of a story outside of collecting lore.
The art direction and presentation, as you explore the mansion, have a cozy feeling despite the pressure you may feel with some puzzles. The game’s presentation and graphics are cel-shaded, and it works. Some of the rooms look a bit cold in aesthetic for my liking, but then you’ll find more colorful and interesting rooms the more you play. Like I said earlier, it’s this weird mix of a puzzle game where you have to keep your mind fresh, but it still has that cozy game feel.
Gameplay, Design, and Sound
When playing, the player is given fifty steps, which count every room entered or passed through. After you use all your steps in a single day, you’re forced to start over, including losing items you’ve found. You can find permanent rooms and special areas to help you, but you must first locate them. Every time you go to enter a new room, you’ll be given three blueprint choices, which are drawn up at random. As you explore, not only will you see lore and letters, but you can find unique rooms like the car garage, which gives you the chance to open the car, IF you happen to find the car keys in another room. You can also find the solutions to puzzles in other rooms, so one thing you’ll quickly find yourself doing is taking notes on a piece of paper or a notepad. You’ll also find gems, which open special rooms, and keys, which open locked rooms. Other items, such as a magnifying glass and shovel, can be helpful when you find them. This is when the game is at its most fun, when you’re rocking and rolling and finding items and finding new rooms.
In terms of sound design, it’s pretty basic. The music in the background is more vibe-based, which isn’t a bad thing in this type of game. Sound effects fit the cozy feel, but, as I said, fairly simple.
Negatives
However, the more I played, the more I started to sour on the game. I have mixed to negative feelings about roguelikes. I don’t like how they take away your progress, whether that’s weapons or valuable items. Add to the luck you need when doing new rooms, and I started to get more and more frustrated as the hours ticked away. I would have a good run and find the car keys for the car garage, but then my steps would run out, and I had to hope I could bump into the keys again and then use them on the car in the garage, IF I could find it. I eventually did this, and it led to an interesting new area that is permanent. However, I was then forced to start all over and had to find a new goal. Another frustrating part was finding a water pumping station, which you could use to take water from the fountain. I guess I did it wrong, because the next day I went down to the empty fountain only to see that I needed to pump out more. But guess what? I couldn’t immediately do it because I had to hope to draw the station out in a plan. There are more instances similar to this, and as I played more and more, the comfy vibes turned into absolute frustration.
Ultimately, that’s how I started to sour on it. The concept is solid, and I’m all for discovering mysteries and putting my noggin to work, but the skills and intelligence go away when you’re just hoping to draw the right rooms before your steps stop. I like a good challenge, but once it just becomes luck over skill, you start to lose me. This isn’t Balatro, which can be luck-based, but you expand your Joker cards as you find them, and every run, you only get better and ultimately win. If Balatro showed me the good of roguelikes, Blue Prince showed the parts of the genre I don’t like.
essential - recommend - OKAY - don’t recommend
Blue Prince has a unique concept and gets the mystery solver out of you. The puzzles are unique, the vibes are solid, and the first hour-plus feels like you’re discovering so much. However, this is ultimately a roguelike, a genre I’m not crazy about. As I continued playing, I became increasingly frustrated, and after several days of sessions, I ultimately quit in frustration. However, I can’t deny that I did have some fun with it before the frustrations set in, and I acknowledge this isn’t my genre. If you like roguelikes, I would recommend this for you, but for me and the others who aren’t as crazy about it, I would say this game is okay at best. I wouldn’t say it’s a bad game; it just wasn’t ultimately for me, but it could be for you, depending on your gaming tastes.
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