Blue Prince Isn't for Me, and I'm Mad About It
Blue Prince is a puzzle roguelike game that was released to critical acclaim on April 10th, 2025. This wasn’t a game on my radar, but for many critics it was this year’s first must-play game. It was also released on both Game Pass and PlayStation Plus, so I had no excuse not to check it out.
What I’ve found after about 3 hours and completed 6 days, or runs, in the game, is that this is probably a very good game. I also find it incredibly frustrating, and never really feel myself compelled to dive back in. In a lot of ways, I feel like I’m missing out. Everyone talks about this game as if it were magic, and I just can’t seem to see it.
Now, after hearing the pitch for the game, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t get into it. I largely bounce off games like this, Outer Wilds and Animal Well did little to hook me either. With those games though, I never felt like I was missing out. With Blue Prince, I had just enough small moments of triumph and story crumbs that I could feel my interest growing.
My main point of friction probably comes from the RNG nature of it and the roguelike elements. As an RPG fan, I like my progress to be fairly tangible and consistent. With Blue Prince, I only ever got a handful of permanent benefits or things to make my next run a little easier.
My success rate for what felt like a worthwhile run was only around 50%, which feels too low to really motivate me. Some runs allowed me to gain information, get ideas about puzzles to solve, or gave me things to look out for on future runs. Even if I didn’t get any permanent upgrades, it felt like progress.
On the other hand, several runs felt like I never had the option to see any new rooms, and I ran into run-ending situations I felt like I had no power over. As you progress through the mansion, you run into electronic doors. There are two ways to open them, both of which I have done, but both rely on RNG.
It feels incredibly frustrating to know what I’m supposed to do, but feel I have no agency in it actually happening. One analogy I saw for this issue is that it’s like trying to find both a lock and the key, except there’s no guarantee they both exist at the same time. When everything lines up, it feels great, but I’m not sure I’m willing to roll the dice over and over.
I’ve heard suggestions that you should keep a list of various goals, so rather than have a single objective, you’re working towards multiple things at once. I really like that idea, but I always struggled to form these goals. I never seem to know what it is that I’m solving for.
Each room that I’m in feels dense, with tiny clues scattered around, but I just have no clue what they mean. I see the paintings in each room, I’m sure they’ll be important, but first I need to find the “lock” they correspond to. And, because of the RNG, I just have to roll the dice and hope that lock materializes eventually.
The fact that this is a puzzle roguelike feels like it makes this game special and unique, but on the other hand it introduces a unique kind of frustration that’s never really been in the genre. Perhaps I just prefer more linear puzzles, or clearer incentives.
One of the last straws with Blue Prince was once I solved a puzzle, I was disappointed by the rewards. I used a guide for the puzzle, which I partly regret, but I had to use a guide for a previous puzzle, which I had basically solved, but was finding a little fiddly, so I was already in that headspace. Both the puzzle, and its reward just felt like nothing. It was then I knew I was done.
Ideally, this puzzle would encourage me to try other combinations, or further experiment. But since I was at my limit, I just looked things up. Nothing I could have done with that puzzle would have allowed me to progress, and so it all felt like a waste.
Often with games that I don’t personally like, I can still see why people would enjoy them, and I’m happy for them. This is a rare case in which I feel like I’ve gotten close to getting into this game, but I’ve been left more annoyed than if I just hadn’t played this game in the first place.
If I had more gaming friends in my life, and they were interested in this game, I’d be willing to give it a shot alongside them. If I had a new perspective on the game, or something else to motivate me, maybe I could push past my initial frustrations and really get into Blue Prince. But as it stands, I think I have to move on.
This is a bit of a new experience for me, I’m rarely bitter about not liking a game, especially since I didn’t buy this one. In some ways, I suppose I’m steeling myself for this game to come up in game of the year discussions, and I’ll feel the frustration come flooding back as I think back on this game.
I’m happy for everyone who found something special in Blue Prince. Frankly, I’m jealous even, but I have to accept the truth, Blue Prince just isn’t for me.
