Blue is the colour for mystery, strategy, and puzzle solving
A review of Blue Prince, the Indie puzzle platformer being called a GoTY contender
Hyderabad: Imagine your grand uncle leaves you an estate with 45 rooms and tasks you with the challenge of finding its hidden 46th room and just when you begin your search journey, tells you that you cannot stay overnight in the mansion.
The other terms in his will include nothing new coming in or going out of the estate; you being able to walk only 50 paces a day, and the layout of the mansion changing daily. When I say changing, I don’t mean passages moving but the entire house’s rooms being laid out by you as you pick from three random possible room-types each time you open a connecting door.
‘Blue Prince’ is equal parts crazy and genre defying, and despite spending 20 hours trying to solve it, I am yet to fully comprehend its scope. In terms of rooms, connecting passages, and doors it almost feels like Tetris but then there are the actual rooms to engage with as well – their environments, equipment, the individual puzzles they hold, hidden keys to find, and so much more.
The more time I spent with the game, the more I realised its contradictions and loopholes. For example, the 50 steps you can take every day is not a set number – if rooms are drawn/laid out strategically you could almost take up to 80 steps. Secondly, with the right rooms like the mail room – you can even save key items for your next run.
One thing the game advises you is to make notes while playing. The game’s UI does offer you an interesting map of the mansion to look at each time you open up a connecting room, corridor, or hallway but then its memory is only limited to your current run/playthrough.
Secondly, throughout the game you will find notes, excerpts, and hidden nuggets of information and these need to be jotted down because the game expects you to consider all of them when you make decisions. I recommend not just recording your progress in a notebook but comparing your current progress with previous playthroughs.
In terms of similarity, Blue Prince is like The Witness (2016) and last year’s brilliant Switch exclusive Lorelei and the Laser Eyes. However, the demands here are more complex and I feel finding the hidden 46th room could only be scratching the surface.
The grounds and open areas around the mansion seem to hold many secrets and I have found large chess pieces in almost every room – rooks, pawns, etc. Surely, they all lead to something right?
This game is one where some of you might be lost for hours because of its wonderful blend of mystery, randomness, and 90s nostalgia. Make sure to also play it for its impeccable design, and if you adore the colour blue.
This is the Indie game to beat this year, and while we all eagerly await Hades 2, playing that won’t require maintaining a journal. So, as you can see, I am clearly biased.
Sneak Peek:
Title: Blue Prince
Developer& Publisher: Dogubomb for Raw Fury
Game Type: Strategy Puzzle Platformer with Open World elements
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S,and Microsoft Windows
Price: Rs 2,497 on PlayStation and Xbox store and Rs 1,170 on Steam
Verdict (all scores out of 10):
Innovative Gameplay: 8.5
Game Handling & Quality: 8
Value for Time: 9
Overall: 8.5
What Stands Out:
* The game blends the three genres of strategy, puzzle solving, and adventure with ease.
* The simple, effective design that constantly keeps you playing hides the developer’s attention to detailing every room in the house from its décor to the rooms’ setting and vibe.
Fails to impress:
The game comes with very few instructions and despite the sparse notes littered across rooms, it demands a lot of attention to detail from the player.
Despite the brilliant design and the wonderful game mechanics, the game’s sound track is unremarkable. Sometimes the right music can inspire you to conceive a harebrained strategy which is sorely missed here.
