Ok, both myself and Josh here at FULLSYNC have been on a bit of a Blue Prince expedition. Messages back and forth for almost a week of “did you know this?” and “use the Silver Key on the east side of the building”.
Tips, tricks, learnings. Blue Prince feels like it’s come out of nowhere, and as a pair of curious chaps, we wanted to see what the fuss is about!
I’ve seen reviewers and games media folk raving about it. With people calling it “one of the best games ever made”. Now, I’m not sure I’m there with Blue Prince, but……I have to say, the further I go down the rabbit hole, the more engaged I become.
But actually, what the hell is Blue Prince? What are people saying about it? Should you give it a go? Let’s see if we can help answer that!
What actually is Blue Prince?
I’ll be honest, when I first read descriptions, I wasn’t enthralled with the concept. A roguelite, first-person puzzle game.
On paper, described as such, I don’t think Blue Prince is appealing at all. But……..a few hours in, it’s all clicking.
The premise of Blue Prince is that you’re due to inherit a house. But to do so, you must enter the hidden 46th Room. Sounds simple enough. Explore a house and find a hidden room, right? Nope.
Every day, the house resets itself, and all the rooms need to be redrafted. You open a door and choose which room it will be. Essentially pulling 3 cards out of your deck (pool) and selecting one to enter.
Each room offers an opportunity to use items as you explore, and you need to plot your way through to the antechamber, so your rooms need adequate exits, facing the right way to make sure you can progress.
You can get stuck in Blue Prince if you’re not careful. Resources like keys and gems are critical as you’ll need them to keep going. Puzzles in rooms, mysteries and secrets. Lots to consider and revisit to learn and get prepared for your next run.
Run out of steps, and you’re tired and have to stop for the day.
It sounds crazy, it’s rich with opportunity, but as with all roguelites, you can make one bad decision and it’s all over. No keys to create a room, no steps left. You’ve planned your route and ended up with dead ends each way. That’s the juice. You want to go back and do better, you know you can!
Roguelite
Blue Prince isn’t all random, like all roguelites, you can eventually get permanent upgrades and perks as you gradually progress. Discover areas on the grounds of the house and gain extra steps each day or a new room to try and help boost your run.
On your run, you find items to help, but again, all randomly dropped. A shovel to dig the random patches of dirt you can find. A magnifying glass to inspect photos and objects further, or perhaps running shoes to help move quicker?
You can find items to boost your run, but then you can build rooms to hold an item to find on your next run.
Once the initial few runs are done, it all falls into place and you can easily liken it to Hades or Dead Cells. Even Balatro.
When the penny drops, you’re locked-in and you need to go and do a better run. This house will be mine!
What are the reviews saying?
Look, we haven’t finished it or played enough to fully review it, but here’s what the world is saying about Blue Prince:
Scores
- IGN: 9/10
- PC Gamer: 92/100
- Eurogamer: 5/5
- GameSpot: 9/10
- TheSixthAxis: 9/10
Synopsis
- IGN‘s reviewer, Tom Marks, states that Blue Prince‘s ever-shifting halls and rich web of mysteries easily secure its place as an all-time puzzle great.
- PC Gamer’s Christopher Livingston advises players to take their time, draft rooms, and count steps to slowly reveal one of the best puzzle games in years.
- Eurogamer’s Christian Donlan found the game to be an extraordinary experience, fulfilling a desire for more strange possibilities within game spaces.
- GameSpot’s Steve Watts describes it as a masterfully intricate roguelike puzzle game with increasingly elaborate details.
- TheSixthAxis’ Aran Suddi calls it an excellent and intriguing puzzle game that will have players thinking about solutions even when not playing.
Our review
I can confidently say that FULLSYNC and ninjarefinery.com will review it in the coming weeks.
How could there not be? Blue Prince is being cited as an all-timer. And we’re nosy at the very least. So we need to see and try to understand the fuss.
In truth, I think it’s a great game and a wonderful take/twist on the roguelite genre, for sure. But unless something really interesting and new comes into play (it very easily could, by the way!). I’m not sure it’s quite “the best game of all-time” material.
Clever, engaging, fun. Absolutely. But is it Tears of the Kingdom or Shenmue? No. It’s not hitting me in a way that making me thing “oh shit, this is something REALLY special”.
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