Blue Prince Review

Being the beneficiary of an inheritance can be life-changing in many ways: you may suddenly be the owner of a new house, a classic car, or a meticulously organised collection of Beanie Babies. However, sadly, the matter of inheritance often brings out the worst in people, resulting in arguments, hurt feelings, or even long-hidden secrets and tragedies. Developer Dogubomb explores these themes in its debut roguelite puzzle title, Blue Prince, which revolves around a most peculiar last will and testament and an even more mercurial manor.

We play as Simon P. Jones, who has inherited the manor and grounds owned by his great-uncle, the late Herbert S. Sinclair, at Mount Holly. Becoming the new lord of the land is not that easy, however, as Sinclair has left a few curious stipulations for his would-be heir: first off, to gain the title and lands, Simon must find and enter Room 46, which would be an easy task if the house itself didn’t have only 45 rooms. Secondly, Simon is not allowed to spend the night inside the manor, nor can he keep any tools, items, or other paraphernalia belonging to the estate.

Now, you may be thinking how, while annoying, the task of finding a room is easy enough given time and perseverance. Well, it would be, if the house stayed the same each day. As you end one day of exploration and investigation, on the next morning, you will find that all of the doors you opened are now closed and will lead somewhere completely different, which introduces us ot the roguelite aspects of the game.

The manor has a set blueprint laid out in a 9x5 grid, with the Entrance Hall at the start and the Antechamber on the opposite end. As you open doors, you will be presented with a set of three rooms you can place onto the area the opened portal would enter; each location has a number of doorways, possible resources, and other benefits or hindrances for you to weigh and pore over as you slowly make your way deeper into the building. In general, all of the chambers you draft and resources you gain are reset once the day is done, but there are a few exceptions we’ll get into in a bit. Before we go further, however, we need to discuss these resources.

The main asset in Blue Prince is steps, or steppies as my wife and I call them, which are represented by a number in the upper corner. Showing Simon’s stamina for exploration, this resource depletes every time he enters a room or space. Should your step counter reach zero, Simon will call it quits and drag himself back to his little tent outside, ending the day, so it’s important to keep an eye on those steppies!

In addition to footfalls, you also have three other resources to track: Keys, which can be used to open up locked doors and trunks; Gold, with which you can purchase goods and services; and Gems, which are used to draft rare or more powerful locations. These resources can be gained by drafting certain rooms, but can also be found hidden in the nooks and crannies of the manor, incentivising players to keep a sharp eye out. There are even chambers that have a Spread function, adding additional goodies to existing rooms.

In most cases, once a day is ended, all of the aforementioned resources will be lost and need to be collected anew on the next run; however, there are some spaces that can give you a head start for the next day. For example, the Sauna will add a plentiful 20 steps to your next endeavour, whereas the Morning Room will bless you with additional Gems! Finally, reaching certain milestones or solving puzzles may unlock permanent upgrades, such as a set amount of money as an allowance each day or adding a useful location to your daily pool of choices, which is a good way to keep any adventurer happy!

Finally, you will often find useful Items lying around the closets, on top of desks, or leaning on walls; these tools are used to gain additional resources, like a Shovel for digging up coins, or may help you bypass locks or other obstacles, like a Keycard for electric doors. As with everything else, you do need to turn them in at the end of the day, but their usefulness easily overshadows this limitation! Finding a Set of Lockpicks early on may encourage you to aim for rooms with locked doors, while a bit of Salt will make a snack worth the detour. Some items, such as the Magnifying Glass, can be crucial for solving the many puzzles and conundrums present.

Blue Prince’s style of roguelite is one of my favourites so far. The large pool of rooms, in addition to having the possibility to add or remove spaces, makes the experience seem pretty fair; if you know what you’re doing, it’s relatively easy to keep a run going as long as resources last. It also has a great sense of progression, as mastering a space and its quirks will help you prepare for future runs. I felt that there were no “useless” areas, as even the dead ends with no items or resources usually held some environmental storytelling or a hint for other puzzles.

The game manages difficulty quite well, making locked doors more prevalent as you go further in, but leaving the earlier rooms mostly open and free to explore. When your run does eventually end, or when you decide to call it a day, you are given an absolutely adorable summary of your explorations, complete with an appropriate title depending on the types of rooms you drew! I kept playing for as long as I did solely to see the different types of manors I could create.

As is the case for most roguelites, however, the experience does rely on the luck of the draw; some runs will be over before you know it, some will miraculously keep on going and going. While I was never fed up, I did find it frustrating to have multiple runs end simply because I could not find any Keys or did not see the Magnifying Glass day after day. I will note, these are common features of both the genre and my legendary bad luck, further helped by the game providing mechanics where you can increase the odds, but it is a niggle nonetheless.

Now, about those puzzles. To its credit, Blue Prince’s mysteries are all contained within the game; the only external resource you’ll need is a notebook and a pen! There are multiple different kinds of brain teasers on display, ranging from logic conundrums and code decryption to Simon Says and sequential switches. While some of the riddles are contained within the room they are found in, there are some meta puzzles that require clues from multiple locations before you can crack them. Luckily, once you figure out the solution, it will not change.

The clues strewn among the rooms of the manor are pretty genius, as they can make seemingly useless spaces worth the resources! They also incentivise exploration and checking out any new locations, even if they have little seeming value. This design, along with the random element that roguelites bring, can make solving a tough problem very satisfying, and it is fun to keep notes of perceived hints. I’m also impressed by how Blue Prince manages to keep things interesting and fresh, even though you may face the same puzzles constantly. I do wish the game had a built-in notebook for those of us who cannot make sense of their own handwriting, however.

Design-wise, the game has a delightful storybook style, which makes the visuals clear and distinct, also fitting the general theme and narrative. Any interactable objects are more or less clear, but you do have to keep a sharp eye out to pick out the Keys and Gems strewn across the house. The different locations have a clear colour scheme, marking out the types of rooms so they’re easily recognisable at a glance, while keeping up a solid look throughout. Blue Prince also does a good job at not having much in terms of fluff, having most, if not all, points of interest be related to a puzzle or the general mystery of your great-uncle’s family.

The audio is pretty sparse, with some mellow ambient playing throughout, but otherwise not being noteworthy. However, the game does have this weird habit of playing a very intense bit of background music that does not seem to fit; I’ll be prancing in the Boudoir while it sounds like there’s an undead clown behind me! Otherwise, no notes.

Blue Prince manages to take the roguelite formula and transform it into a fascinating combination of meta-narrative, resource management, and absolutely horrid architecture. Though each run can vary wildly in length and success, the constant permanent upgrades and feeling of progress will have you wishing for one more run… and then, suddenly, it’s midnight and your notebook looks like the ramblings of a blind prophet. If you like a good puzzler, enjoy a bit of subtle narrative, or fancy yourself an architect, I heartily recommend it.