Every room leads to new discoveries
By Paul Hunter
It snuck onto my radar after the February PlayStation State of Play, but Blue Prince is no hidden gem—it’s a full-on treasure. This intriguing, ever-changing estate adventure mixes roguelike unpredictability with rich puzzle-solving, delivering something genuinely fresh. Developed by Los Angeles-based studio Dogubomb, founded by visual artist Tonda Ros, and published the adventure masterminds behind Norco and Call of the Sea, this new title is easily one of the most imaginative games I’ve played in years.
You take on the role of Simon P. Jones, heir potential to a peculiar estate known as Mount Holly. Your goal? Find a hidden room—Room 46—that doesn’t exist on any blueprint. It sounds straightforward, but the house has other ideas. Every door you open reveals a new choice, and no two runs through the estate are quite the same. There’s no map for how this journey will unfold—and that’s exactly what makes it so irresistible.
For a game that seemed to appear out of nowhere, Blue Prince makes a strong impression. But what makes it stand out from other puzzle-heavy roguelikes? Let’s take a closer look.
Blue Prince doesn’t tell its story in a conventional way. The game begins with a light introduction saying our protagonist Simon has inherited his uncle's mansion, but his vast fortune will only be his if he can find the elusive Room 46. From there, it’s entirely up to you to piece together the estate’s history and your strange inheritance.
The story reveals itself through a barrage of environmental details. A faded photograph. A scrawled letter tucked inside a drawer. Odd symbols painted on the walls. Clues are scattered across the estate like half-remembered dreams, and you’ll only start to understand the bigger picture by paying close attention to what’s hiding in plain sight. That’s part of the charm—it’s all about discovery.
There are hints of family drama, going as far as blackmail or even worse, all buried beneath the surface. You slowly learn more about Herbert S. Sinclair, the eccentric relative who left you this sprawling, ever-shifting estate. His motivations remain murky, but the breadcrumbs suggest he wasn’t just testing your architectural instincts—there’s something a lot deeper at play. Themes of legacy, memory, and obsession linger in the background, never fully explained, but always present enough to make you wonder.
Still, this isn’t a story-driven game in the usual sense. The narrative sits quietly in the background, letting gameplay take the lead. If you’re the kind of gamer who enjoys diving into lore and connecting the dots, there’s a lot here to uncover. But if you’d rather focus on puzzles and exploration, the game never penalises you for leaving the story behind.
So, while the central objective never changes, the meaning behind it evolves the deeper you explore. And that’s where Blue Prince shines—through the quiet satisfaction of slowly connecting fragments into something meaningful, including some rather big twists.
At its core, Blue Prince is about charting a path through an unpredictable 45-room labyrinth—and that path changes with every single run. Each time you open a door, you choose from three randomly drawn rooms to slot into the next empty space on the estate’s blueprint. It’s part strategy, part improvisation, and surprisingly addictive once you find your rhythm.
Rooms come in categories, and knowing what each type offers is crucial. You’ve got lush greenhouses full of resources, yellow shops where you can spend coins on upgrades, cold, empty corridors meant to bridge gaps, and ominous red rooms that introduce all sorts of complications. Some rooms are dead ends. Others have exit doors facing the wrong direction, forcing you to loop around, backtrack or just accept your path has just hit a dead end. Every decision matters, especially when your movement is limited to 50 steps per in-game day, at least until you figure out how to upgrade your daily steps.
The way steps work is every room you enter subtracts one from your total. You might think 50 steps would be plenty, but it’s not, and far from it for most runs. Between detours, blocked paths, and red rooms that drain multiple steps, progress can be slow and punishing if you don’t plan ahead. Since the rooms you can draft are always randomized, quite frequently you won't get rooms you want where you want them—and sometimes key rooms don't even appear in the rotation. I once spent four in-game days trying to draft a single room I need to progress, only for it no show every time. That moment stuck with me, not out of frustration, but because it reminded me how Blue Prince quietly teaches patience and flexibility. You can't brute-force your way through this place, instead you have to do the best with what's given to you.
Despite the roguelike structure, the game is surprisingly relaxed. There’s no hard fail state, no looming deadline. You’re free to experiment, take risks, and even wander aimlessly if that’s what it takes to crack a puzzle or find a shortcut. There are hints sprinkled all over the manor, rewarding a keen eye for exploration, and nothing ever feels handed to you.
The real hook is how every room feels handcrafted—even when drawn at random. Each one has its own logic, layout, and secrets, so even a familiar-looking room might surprise you on a second or third visit with the new information you've learned. Even after failing to make progress in a run, the itch to start a fresh run and try again is nearly irresistable.
Blue Prince nails the art of doing a lot with a little. From the moment you step into the halls of Mt. Holly, the game leans into a painted style that feels timeless—muted tones, soft lighting, and brushstroke textures that give the estate an almost dreamlike quality. Rooms breathe with personality: a greenhouse might feel overgrown and humid, while a study bathed in moonlight might hum with tension. It’s all deliberately subtle.
What really stands out is the atmosphere. There’s a warm eeriness in the air—something that makes each space feel both welcoming and a little haunted. This balance of coziness and unease gives the estate its charm and makes even mundane hallways oddly memorable.
The audio design quietly steals the show. Ambient tracks shift depending on your location, with gentle piano loops, soft static, or distant creaks layering on top of each other. It’s not intrusive—just enough to draw you in. I caught myself stopping in certain rooms just to listen.
Technically, the game runs smooth as silk. Load times are basically non-existent, transitions between rooms are snappy, and even after several hours of continuous play, I didn’t run into a single crash or hitch. The interface is clean, with intuitive blueprint navigation and a room directory overview that make understanding each room feel natural. There’s a zoom tool that lets you inspect in-game documents and photos up close—a small touch, but it makes discoveries more tactile and personal.
Final Score: 9.5/10 - Amazing
Developer: Dogubomb
Publisher: Raw Fury
Genre: Puzzle, Adventure
Modes: Single-player
A key was provided by the publisher.
By Paul Hunter
It snuck onto my radar after the February PlayStation State of Play, but Blue Prince is no hidden gem—it’s a full-on treasure. This intriguing, ever-changing estate adventure mixes roguelike unpredictability with rich puzzle-solving, delivering something genuinely fresh. Developed by Los Angeles-based studio Dogubomb, founded by visual artist Tonda Ros, and published the adventure masterminds behind Norco and Call of the Sea, this new title is easily one of the most imaginative games I’ve played in years.
You take on the role of Simon P. Jones, heir potential to a peculiar estate known as Mount Holly. Your goal? Find a hidden room—Room 46—that doesn’t exist on any blueprint. It sounds straightforward, but the house has other ideas. Every door you open reveals a new choice, and no two runs through the estate are quite the same. There’s no map for how this journey will unfold—and that’s exactly what makes it so irresistible.
For a game that seemed to appear out of nowhere, Blue Prince makes a strong impression. But what makes it stand out from other puzzle-heavy roguelikes? Let’s take a closer look.
Blue Prince doesn’t tell its story in a conventional way. The game begins with a light introduction saying our protagonist Simon has inherited his uncle's mansion, but his vast fortune will only be his if he can find the elusive Room 46. From there, it’s entirely up to you to piece together the estate’s history and your strange inheritance.
The story reveals itself through a barrage of environmental details. A faded photograph. A scrawled letter tucked inside a drawer. Odd symbols painted on the walls. Clues are scattered across the estate like half-remembered dreams, and you’ll only start to understand the bigger picture by paying close attention to what’s hiding in plain sight. That’s part of the charm—it’s all about discovery.
There are hints of family drama, going as far as blackmail or even worse, all buried beneath the surface. You slowly learn more about Herbert S. Sinclair, the eccentric relative who left you this sprawling, ever-shifting estate. His motivations remain murky, but the breadcrumbs suggest he wasn’t just testing your architectural instincts—there’s something a lot deeper at play. Themes of legacy, memory, and obsession linger in the background, never fully explained, but always present enough to make you wonder.
Still, this isn’t a story-driven game in the usual sense. The narrative sits quietly in the background, letting gameplay take the lead. If you’re the kind of gamer who enjoys diving into lore and connecting the dots, there’s a lot here to uncover. But if you’d rather focus on puzzles and exploration, the game never penalises you for leaving the story behind.
So, while the central objective never changes, the meaning behind it evolves the deeper you explore. And that’s where Blue Prince shines—through the quiet satisfaction of slowly connecting fragments into something meaningful, including some rather big twists.
At its core, Blue Prince is about charting a path through an unpredictable 45-room labyrinth—and that path changes with every single run. Each time you open a door, you choose from three randomly drawn rooms to slot into the next empty space on the estate’s blueprint. It’s part strategy, part improvisation, and surprisingly addictive once you find your rhythm.
Rooms come in categories, and knowing what each type offers is crucial. You’ve got lush greenhouses full of resources, yellow shops where you can spend coins on upgrades, cold, empty corridors meant to bridge gaps, and ominous red rooms that introduce all sorts of complications. Some rooms are dead ends. Others have exit doors facing the wrong direction, forcing you to loop around, backtrack or just accept your path has just hit a dead end. Every decision matters, especially when your movement is limited to 50 steps per in-game day, at least until you figure out how to upgrade your daily steps.
The way steps work is every room you enter subtracts one from your total. You might think 50 steps would be plenty, but it’s not, and far from it for most runs. Between detours, blocked paths, and red rooms that drain multiple steps, progress can be slow and punishing if you don’t plan ahead. Since the rooms you can draft are always randomized, quite frequently you won't get rooms you want where you want them—and sometimes key rooms don't even appear in the rotation. I once spent four in-game days trying to draft a single room I need to progress, only for it no show every time. That moment stuck with me, not out of frustration, but because it reminded me how Blue Prince quietly teaches patience and flexibility. You can't brute-force your way through this place, instead you have to do the best with what's given to you.
Despite the roguelike structure, the game is surprisingly relaxed. There’s no hard fail state, no looming deadline. You’re free to experiment, take risks, and even wander aimlessly if that’s what it takes to crack a puzzle or find a shortcut. There are hints sprinkled all over the manor, rewarding a keen eye for exploration, and nothing ever feels handed to you.
The real hook is how every room feels handcrafted—even when drawn at random. Each one has its own logic, layout, and secrets, so even a familiar-looking room might surprise you on a second or third visit with the new information you've learned. Even after failing to make progress in a run, the itch to start a fresh run and try again is nearly irresistable.
Blue Prince nails the art of doing a lot with a little. From the moment you step into the halls of Mt. Holly, the game leans into a painted style that feels timeless—muted tones, soft lighting, and brushstroke textures that give the estate an almost dreamlike quality. Rooms breathe with personality: a greenhouse might feel overgrown and humid, while a study bathed in moonlight might hum with tension. It’s all deliberately subtle.
What really stands out is the atmosphere. There’s a warm eeriness in the air—something that makes each space feel both welcoming and a little haunted. This balance of coziness and unease gives the estate its charm and makes even mundane hallways oddly memorable.
The audio design quietly steals the show. Ambient tracks shift depending on your location, with gentle piano loops, soft static, or distant creaks layering on top of each other. It’s not intrusive—just enough to draw you in. I caught myself stopping in certain rooms just to listen.
Technically, the game runs smooth as silk. Load times are basically non-existent, transitions between rooms are snappy, and even after several hours of continuous play, I didn’t run into a single crash or hitch. The interface is clean, with intuitive blueprint navigation and a room directory overview that make understanding each room feel natural. There’s a zoom tool that lets you inspect in-game documents and photos up close—a small touch, but it makes discoveries more tactile and personal.
The Verdict
Blue Prince is a refreshing blend of roguelike mechanics and adventure game mystery, encouraging experimentation and strategic thinking without holding your hand. The game’s ever-changing mansion layout offers endless replayability, while the atmosphere and sound design create a subtle yet captivating experience. Even when randomness makes progress feel out of reach, the game’s generous design ensures you’re always moving forward. With its impressive puzzle design, intriguing lore, and relaxed pace, Blue Prince is a standout debut, easily standing shoulder-to-shoulder among the best adventure games of all time.Final Score: 9.5/10 - Amazing
Blue Prince details
Platform: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PCDeveloper: Dogubomb
Publisher: Raw Fury
Genre: Puzzle, Adventure
Modes: Single-player
A key was provided by the publisher.