ROOMS ROOMS ROOMS
Rooms rooms rooms puzzle rooms puzzle item puzzle rooms spiraling insanity.
I can’t describe the absolute madness this game embodies. I thought this was going to be an easier review. It’s a straight up first-person puzzle game not dissimilar to The Witness right? Wrong. This game is a rogue lite observational puzzle game with a gripping narrative, and I’ve still not finished it.
PLATFORMS: PC, PS5, XBOX SERIES
MSRP: $29.99
PRICE I’D PAY: $29.99
Why am I writing a review then?
Because it’s brilliant. I can pick up this game and do a single run or sit down for hours and start taking notes like a madman. It works because Dogubomb has clearly understood that players are both going to want to experiment as well as require some direction (something The Witness, by choice, lacks) so at times players are left to repeatedly try to reach the end or solve specific puzzles, but at other times will need a gentle nudge in the right direction.
The amount of “A-ha!” moments are staggering, as well as the amount of times I have seen how much deeper the puzzle goes and realized I was about to sink another hour into the game before going to bed. I’m close to 40 hours (I work a day job unfortunately and have other priorities as well) and I wanted to make it very clear, this is my favorite game I have played since last year’s Sand Land (which was a very different game). It’s probably the best a puzzle game has made me feel since I first played one of the Ace Attorney games. It’s definitely my favorite game of the year so far. At 40 hours I’m willing to absolutely sink 40 more into it because every solution and revelation seems to open up more mysteries.
And it should be noted I even like the math puzzles (yes there’s math puzzles in this).
In the release info I received along with the code for review was also a guide if I got stuck but I have chosen to not use that or any online guides that have been written post release because Blue Prince doesn’t feel like a beatdown when I fail to solve a puzzle. Maybe it was my luck, maybe I didn’t solve the puzzle because two rooms weren’t juxtaposed in a way for me to see the puzzle in the first place. It’s refreshingly tame with how complex some of the puzzles can be and I didn’t want to do this game a disservice by simply checking to see if I “got it” because that’s not the experience Blue Prince is providing. I don’t know how deep this guide went because I never opened because I want to keep this game fun for myself.
It’s on Game Pass and PS+ as of writing this. It’s worth $30. This is worth your time more than anything if you enjoy puzzles. Please please please don’t sit on Blue Prince (and bring a note pad, you’ll absolutely need it.)
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
