Blue Prince Review: The Blueprints for Success
Blue Prince is an incredible exploration puzzle game that immediately captured my attention. With an ominous mystery full of shifting halls and a redacted past, the more I uncovered, the less I truly knew - and cherished every moment.
In Blue Prince, you play as Simon P. Jones, a curious young man who just inherited the manor and land near Mount Holly from his now deceased Grand Uncle, Herbert S. Sinclair. However, this gift is kept on the contingency that you’re able to find Room 46 in a 45-room estate (which is quite the conundrum).
As you gradually explore the estate, you begin to unearth a slew of mysteries that unfurl into bigger questions - where those questions blossom into more riddles, and the tapestry of story gets woven into a beautiful web that begs to be explored. The multitude of connections throughout the game at first gave me a bit of anxiety - a daunting task that seems insurmountable. But Blue Prince presents itself in an approachable and layered way where you’re able to process just enough information of which you’re capable of at the time (for various reasons) and still feel immensely satisfied. The reward in discovering all these interlocking moments within the manor adds new context for every aspect of the game, which immediately appealed to me. This, paired with the beautiful artstyle and atmospheric score, really combined into an evocative experience.
With this entire premise, the magic of Blue Prince lies within the gameplay. Since you’re the heir to this mysterious manor, you also learn that you gradually build this house each day. As you approach a door, you’re given several different room options. Whichever room you choose to draft, then becomes solidified in your blueprints and forms the room in front of you. Some room options are simple enough - Bedroom, Storeroom, Hallway, but some are a bit more eccentric like Chapel and Gymnasium (along with plenty of others). Rooms can also offer benefits and detriments that you need to mitigate. Chapel, for example, removes one coin from your inventory each time you enter the room. Since there are dozens of different rooms to choose from, it is paramount to plot and plan each room to maximize your layout and take full advantage of all the abilities within the game.
Even with careful attention to your layout, it’s still entirely possible to pin yourself in a corner. Movement is based on entering and exiting rooms, so I carefully explored each area as much as I could in hopes of discovering additional resources, clues, and puzzles. If you run out of movement, your character passes out from exhaustion and you are forced to end the day. You could also simply run out of options while you are creating your manor - either by creating dead ends or not having the specific resources to progress further. Once you’re forced to call it a day, you return to the manor again the next day and are charged with the same mission. In this instance, you are starting completely from scratch - no resources from the previous day, no rooms built, just the knowledge that you’ve gained and the tenacity to push forth once again. This is not meant to be punitive, but rather an essential part of the game. The pace is your own. The joys of finding potential clues, identifying a puzzle, solving said puzzle, and repeating the process was the absolute standout. I couldn’t believe how enthralled I became in this game, not only for the mystery, but the desire to uncover as much as I could.
Since Blue Prince resets your manor’s layout each day, I was encouraged to not only explore the nooks and crannies of each room, but also continuously draft new rooms. The rooms could have rare items, having interesting effects with one another, and some could even offer big clues towards the mystery of Mount Holly. I immediately started to jot all my observations into a real-world notebook, documenting as much as I could in hopes of finding connections that could advance my story. I found myself yelling out loud when I cracked a puzzle that I knew existed, but didn’t know how it existed. The payoff of a success, no matter how small, continued to push me towards discovering more.
Even in moments where I felt stuck or frustrated, I allowed myself to take a breather and explore a new room. I did not limit myself to only exploring a room to finish a puzzle, but make a note and see if I could discover its solution another time. Even while doing this, I had moments of clarity with other puzzles - further showing the beauty of Blue Prince and its incredible connections throughout the gameplay. If your goal is to reach Room 46, then you will have a fantastic time reaching that milestone. However, I’m 15 hours post-Room 46 and this seems to just be the beginning of what lies ahead.
Breakdown
Game: Blue Prince
Developer: Dogubomb
Publisher: Raw Fury
Availability: Steam Windows, PlayStation 5 (Day One on PlayStation Plus Extra), Xbox Series X|S (Day One on Game Pass)
Game Length: 15-25+ hours
Reviewed on PC via Steam Deck
Final Thoughts
Blue Prince is an incredible experience for anyone with the curiosity to explore an intimate environment and story. I am blown away by the attention to detail, multitude of puzzles, and ability to whisk me into a world that I need to know more about. Tonda Ros and Dogubomb have created something special with the secrets within Blue Prince and the mystery at Mount Holly. With this inaugural game under their belt, I’d bet that we have plenty to look forward to with this team in the future.
I can only hope that you start playing immediately so we can read through our notes and solve the big mystery together before we start to see red.
And who knows, there may be a clue hidden in our Final Thoughts…