This isn’t a review of Blue Prince, the indie game critics are raving so highly about. I wish it was. But I still not done seeing what all the game has to offer. This genre-bender blends roguelike with a puzzle adventure, and it’s a fine blend I’ll have to say that. But man, it has some sour notes as a result.
I’m 15 hours in, and I only have gotten one-seventh (or so I assume) into the mystery of this elaborate labyrinth in Mt. Holly. And I have a specific thing to blame on for this slow progress: roguelike’s RNG.
Roguelikes are a potent game loop. And this game loop makes it a great “session” game, or a run-based game. Perfect for pick-up and play, something folks with not much time per day to spend on gaming would love.
And it’s potency also comes from the randomness the genre is centred around. Every session/run (and in the case of Blue Prince, every in-game Day) can be an entirely different experience. Who knows what lurks beyond the fog of war, what will the door open to next? It’s a less resource-heavy way of implementing exploration and rewarding the curious players.
But that also means that there will be sessions/runs that are just complete dud. There’s nothing new to discover. You made a mistake and didn’t progress far. Or just plain unlucky. I argue beforehand that Blue Prince is more of a roguelike than it is a puzzle adventure game, and I stand by it 15 hours in. I don’t seem to spending most of my time figuring out puzzle solutions. Rather, the game I’m playing is to try and get the right RNG to trigger a specific set of events I need in order to solve a puzzle.
For instance, and there’s a door lock somewhere off the manor, and I happen to come across the Dark Room for the first time with the lights not turned off. It was an exciting moment to see so many clues that could be used to progress something, and lo and behold, there is one: a picture of said lock. I have a feeling that there’s a code somewhere in that picture, but first I need to get a magnifying glass. I happen to have one store in the Coat Check, which is handy—I don’t have to pray for the RNG to spawn that item somewhere.
But the thing is, to get the Dark Room lit requires a specific set of events and rooms to be available. And then I also needed the Coat Check to spawn as well. I know a solution to a “puzzle”, but in this game of jigsaw puzzle that is Blue Prince, there’s a chance the right puzzle piece just don’t appear in the box. And you have to get a new box, a reset, to see if you get all the puzzle pieces for you to put it all together.
And this is just one instance of a few more where I figured out a solution to a puzzle, but I just can’t execute them due to roguelike’s RNG.
And I now discovered that there’s a puzzle where I need to have six specific rooms to spawn. Oh goodness me.
The puzzle solving aspect of Blue Prince isn’t too complicated, though the game expects you have a good command in English, American English at that. There’s one optional puzzle where it tests your vocabulary (as well as how you can guess a picture that can mean different words) and as a non-native English speaker, one particular image irks me. I mistook “create” for “crater” and was all confused.
The real gameplay of Blue Prince really is taking advantage of the RNG. The more the game explains how the Draft Pool works, the more it reveals itself as secretly a roguelike deckbuilder. That’s two words that would leave many gamers especially indie game enjoyers frothing at the mouth.
Meanwhile, I’m here quietly cursing my terrible luck and terrible tolerance for luck-based progression.
But at least the little morsels of puzzle-solving I get to do, it is really fun to figure out. From manipulating a water reservoir to keeping track of the time and date. And the game really requires you to pull out a notebook and just scribble whatever you think is a clue, hint or a solution to something. In that aspect, Blue Prince holds up as a puzzler.
I just wish I have the patience to tolerate the RNG aspects as the many Blue Prince enjoyers have been. I wish this was foretold to me by the Great Alzara before heading in, that the roguelike elements will slow you down.
Note: At the time of writing the first draft of this, I haven’t finished Blue Prince. Upon publishing this, I have since reached the elusive Room 46. And my point of this feature, where the game really relies heavily on its roguelike mechanics and will require some RNG in order for puzzles to become solvable, stands.
Blue Prince is out now on PS5, PC and Xbox Series X|S. It’s available also available as part of Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass subscription and PS Plus Game Catalog for PS Plus subscribers.