It is very seldom that a new genre of videogame comes around. For that matter, it’s rare that a new genre in any medium comes about. Yet that is what I think the brand new video game, Blue Prince, has earned for its place in history. You could say that it’s some combination of deck building and Myst rolled into escape room puzzling… but in the end, I think this will be the sort of gaming experience that spawns dozens of attempts to mirror what it’s doing. And perhaps in the end, that’s how new genres are born?
Blue Prince has the player taking on the role of a relative visiting a recently deceased loved one’s estate to find clues and succeed in solving a mystery. That is the sort of story we’ve seen time and time again. But the genius of this game by Tonda Ros is that it takes the trope and spins it on its head fifteen times over. Or maybe I should say, forty-six times over? As you explore the estate, the mansion operates like a deck builder in which every door you open gives you three options for what the next room will be. Every room is littered with clues upon clues, many of which are not apparent the first dozen times you might look inside. Each room provides various different utilities and functions, often interacting with other rooms. Think of it like Hearthstone but you’re building a house instead.
Well I certainly didn’t think I’d be giving out our highest score possible this early on into the website’s history, but here we are. Blue Prince is a generational game, a must play if you’re at all interested in the puzzle genre.
Our review:https://t.co/eofyeoepNY pic.twitter.com/hwHWb7T7dS
— Quest Break (@QuestBreak) April 20, 2025
The key concept to all this that makes it work so well? The player only has so many rooms they can explore in a day before they become exhausted. And just like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, when they wake up, it’s back at it again… with nearly everything reset. Getting to the mysterious room at the end of the mansion is the name of the game, but doing so is so clever and so filled with genius-level planning by the sole developer that it boggles the mind how creative this adventure is!
Blue Prince is not your typical first-person battle royale. It isn’t a 2D platformer with a happy-go-lucky mascot. In fact, I would say it’s nothing like anything you’ve ever played before. The fact that it is so conceptually different and yet so new is like stumbling upon Tetris for the first time and wondering why it hasn’t existed forever.
I’m really into Blue Prince. It grabs you instantly…the music, the story, the whole vibe.
Such a cool experience. pic.twitter.com/ShlOpbfMic
— X1TheGamer (@xonebros) April 19, 2025
That said, the game is not going to be for everyone. This is a thinking person’s fun time. If you just want Michael Bay explosions and non-stop kinetic frenzy, you’ll walk away bored out of your mind and wondering why anyone would play this. If, on the other hand, you find escape rooms the least bit amusing, or if you long of the day of LucasArts point-and-click puzzle titles, you may just be in for one of the most joyful experiences you’ve had in years… or decades.
If you’re tired of platitudes and little in the way of specifics, just know that it’s because so much of this game is oozing with new and spoiler-level fun. And frankly, I don’t want to ruin a single surprise for the reader. Blue Prince is available on PlayStation and Xbox currently for free (at the time of publication), and is about $30USD on Steam. I recommend it as much as I can. I honestly think it’s deserving of Game of the Year contention. It’s simply that good.
So grab your keys, gems and keys. I’ll see you in a red room real soon.
I would have liked to try it, or even buy it, but the problem is that in “non-English speaking” countries, the game has not been translated, nothing, not a line of text! It is 100% English and even if I understand English very well, I hope that this success of the game will contribute to a future update with translations.
I have heard many good things about the game, so I need to try it for myself.
I think indie games are the future of gaming and AAA will mostly die out except for a few big players. Because most AAA studios are making business models or agendas instead of games and this finally seems to stop Player engagement. There’s a few AAA studios, that still produce products, that deliver value to the player and are actual games and not just Business models. Those will probably stick around. But every studio that doesn’t realise the best monetization concept will earn you no money, if you fail to make a game that appeals to the customers, will eventually die.
Meanwhile the main innovators in the gaming industry are indie devs. Because they have a passion for creating a product that is fun and delivers value for the player instead of creating just Business models.