Blue Prince. A riddle with infinite answers

Various puzzles, riddles, brain teasers and other types of brain teasers have accompanied humanity almost since the emergence of civilization. Therefore, it is not surprising that puzzles are found in many video games in one way or another, and this is also one of the most popular game genres in principle. However, making a good puzzle is not a simple task in itself. Therefore, games like Portal 2, The Witness or Riven, which can show something new, are always appreciated.

At the same time, puzzles are always built on trust between developers and players that the latter will follow clear rules to find the right solution. Space for imagination is rarely found in the genre, and even then, more so in physical puzzles. Because when something starts to go beyond the prescribed rules, the entire game can be destroyed.

However, Blue Prince's lead developer, Tonda Ross, decided to go a different route. His puzzles are a kind of set of seemingly independent elements that the player is free to combine in any order. It would seem that this directly contradicts the fundamental essence of puzzles. But the result is one of the main candidates for the game of the year 2025 and one of the most interesting gaming experiences in general.

The story of the game begins with the arrival of the boy Simon to the huge estate of his great-uncle Herbert S. Sinclair. The uncle died, and in his will he indicated that Simon should inherit his title of baron and the estate. There is one condition: the boy must find the secret Room 46 in the estate, which supposedly has only 45 rooms. If Simon does not have time to do this in one day, he must start over the next, because every night almost all the rooms disappear, and the building is completely rebuilt. In addition, Herbert S. Sinclair was a big fan of puzzles and riddles, so almost every room in his estate is a separate mystery.

At first, the gameplay may seem simple and straightforward. The entire estate is divided into 45 squares, 5 columns by 9 lines. There are only two fixed rooms: the initial one with three doors, which Simon will always start with, and the lobby on the other side of the estate, which he needs to get to in order to solve the mystery of Room 46. When Simon activates any door, he randomly receives three blueprints of other rooms to choose from. Each room has its own purpose and number of doors. The main task is to use the rooms to build a path to the lobby at the other end of the estate.

Of course, if it were limited to simply building a path, Blue Prince would not have received so many good reviews and Game of the Year nominations from players and critics. Tonda Ross worked on it mostly independently for eight years, and drew inspiration from real life, when he liked to go to some country houses with friends and arrange various intellectual games. He was also inspired by the book Maze: Solve the World's Most Challenging Puzzle, which is actually not a book at all, but a complex puzzle in printed format. Ross had a lot of time to think through all the nuances, so you can rack your brain over Blue Prince for weeks, even months.

An attentive and inquisitive player will immediately understand that everything is much more complicated than it seems. You can leave the estate to explore the surrounding areas and see a few more hints about the essence of things in Blue Prince and puzzles. Objects are scattered in different rooms that clearly do not belong to them and are definitely needed for something. There is nothing superfluous in the game, and even small details like a crack in the wall or the time on the clock will definitely find application.

Even if Blue Prince were a simple puzzle game without any additions, it would still surprise. The puzzles here are well thought out and varied, the game is not shy about constantly throwing something new. You will have to solve mathematical equations, choose the right rhymes, analyze songs, deal with runes and do many other interesting and unusual things. However, it is the roguelike elements and resource management that turn Blue Prince into a unique work of interactive art.

Because as is usually the case in puzzle games: you need to remember what is where and then simply draw parallels between different pieces of information. Therefore, the conditional key will always be in one fixed place, and the door - in another. In Blue Prince, the key can "wander" around the estate, and the necessary door will not be found at all. And then there will be nothing left but to start a new day from scratch.

Technically, Blue Prince can be completed in one run, but it is unlikely that you will succeed. There is too much to know, take into account and understand, and besides, no one has canceled the luck factor. Simon has only 50 "moves" - one move is considered to be a transition from one room to the next - if they run out, the day will automatically end. You also need to keep an eye on the main resources of the game: precious stones, with which you can build more valuable rooms, coins, which are spent on purchasing useful items, and keys, which, as you might guess, open locked doors.

Only closed doors left, but no keys? Start all over again. Not enough moves to reach the final? Start all over again. All the rooms are built in such a way that there are dead ends everywhere? I think you already understood what will happen next. It will take you about 10-20 runs to at least understand how to get to Room 46. But, again, it all depends on how lucky you are.

At the same time, the game almost perfectly combines puzzles and roguelike. Some rooms will appear more often than others, so in Blue Prince even corridors and bedrooms that have fallen out dozens of times can become more difficult or receive additional benefits. Some elements of the game are designed so that the current day-race will be unsuccessful, but you will start the next one with some advantage. And some rooms hide whole new mechanics and elements that can completely change the style of passing. You definitely won't have to get bored, and there are always several methods for solving each problem.

In this situation, the most problematic element of the game is its first hours, when the variety of rooms is not yet so great, there are also few interesting questions, and the general understanding of the situation is completely absent. The average player may get bored, especially if he accidentally downloaded Blue Prince with a PS Plus or Xbox Game Pass subscription. There is no need to rush with this game, it loves the curious, because every question in it leads to a reward.

Blue Prince is one of the few games in my memory that constantly throws up something fundamentally new and does not lose momentum until the very end. Moreover, after the credits, you will also be thrown even more questions and puzzles. In the game, your knowledge quickly becomes the main tool. I will deliberately not spoil your impression of solving another problem in the game. Unless you can find some hints in the screenshots. But remember that if you misunderstand a hint, it can slow down your progress.

However, Blue Prince is almost perfect at explaining everything on its own. In some notes and electronic notes you will find literal solutions to some puzzles. Or there will be hints so straightforward that it will only be a matter of mechanical execution. However, these hints still need to be found, let's not forget about roguelike mechanics. Over time, you will master the fundamental gameplay of Blue Prince so well that you will be able to put together a kind of "build" of rooms and puzzles, and also significantly "level up" Simon.

Yes, different rooms have their own synergies. Some need to be placed next to each other, others need to be connected by doors, and sometimes just having them in the estate is enough. It turns out the Balatro level of dependency, but with a fundamentally new motivation for the genre. The heart asks to drag room after room, run day after day, and the brain works tirelessly in parallel to combine dozens, even hundreds of elements. The sensations are unforgettable, you can't compare them with anything.

With all this, Blue Prince still manages to tell an interesting story. The plot is revealed in the spirit of Dark Souls, that is, with separate notes and riddles, and players have to put everything together into a single picture on their own. Such a narrative method is ideally suited to the essence of Blue Prince, although not everyone perceives it well. The story of the game is open to interpretations, there is even a place for political statements and many references to the classics of English literature. Interestingly, even the clues are competently and carefully woven into the overall narrative, so there is no gap between the story and the gameplay, and this is a considerable achievement.

It is clear that with such an unsurpassed development of the main elements of the game, something had to be sacrificed. This "something" was the graphics and especially the music. The visual part performs the main function - to clearly demonstrate new puzzles and riddles, but nothing more. But the variety of music is not enough. In addition, it is tied to specific rooms, so sometimes you have to wander around the empty estate in almost complete silence.

However, I don't want to criticize the game because of this. It constantly gives more and more, throws in new rooms and methods of interacting with the estate, questions what at first seemed to be the basis of a large amount of knowledge. There was even a place for the challenge mode, which makes an already complex game frankly hardcore. Literally one sentence can first turn the perception of the game upside down, and then give an additional clarification for a puzzle in a completely different room. Look at everything carefully and keep a notepad at hand so as not to deal with a huge archive of screenshots of everything "important". Don't repeat my mistakes.

For me, game of the year is always about new ideas and unique experiences, not big budgets and emotional pressure. Blue Prince gave me everything I wanted from a game of the year candidate, and much more. The game still doesn't plan to stop, so it would be at least a courtesy for me to recommend it to everyone.

Just don't rush. Because you'll never find quick answers to truly important and complex questions.