Precursor
I do have to mention that I have not played the game until completion. That has been a monstrous feat for me that will be discussed at the end. I have only completed to what I believe to be 85-90% of the game before dropping it. I believe I have played enough of the game to experience all the highlights and drawbacks presented. This review represents my experience wholly, and due to the random nature of this game - I was not able to thoroughly enjoy a large portion of it.
Introduction
Blue Prince is a roguelite puzzle game where you try to uncover the mysteries of the manor bequeathed to you by your relative. You play as Simon and your main objective is to reach Room 46 in a 45-room house. You do this by drafting and creating a room before you enter a doorway. From drafting each room, you pave your way down the ranks of the manor to find a way to reach the fabled Room 46.
Story
The story is established quite well for a game that is structured as a roguelite. The worldbuilding is fleshed out decently as well; a lot of the characters presented appear to serve some purpose in the overall story. Motives behind the characters are prominent and justifiably driven. I will have to say that the story is what you’re able to discover and what you’re actually willing to take in. It is very much possible to reach Room 46 without having much of an idea of everything that’s happening.
The lore is presented to you in many forms in the game - mainly memos and letters, but it is ultimately up to the player if they choose to take it in and make sense of it, or to disregard it. Knowing the story is not required to reach Room 46. I understand that the charm of the game is learning via exploration and experimentation, however I do believe there is a lot to be desired when a game embeds its story in this way. I myself did take in the lore of the story through what was presented to me, however I did not actively seek to “find the answers” and “fill in the missing pieces” because honestly, there was no actual real need to, and I had a feeling that everything gets summed up and explained in the end anyway.
The story in my experience ended up being something that happened alongside playing the game, rather than what drives the game itself - which for a roguelite is perfectly understandable and acceptable.
Gameplay
The mechanics of the game are easy to understand and something that can be mastered very quickly. However I do believe that much of the game is burdened and limited by luck. As with most roguelites, you are not expected to reach the end on your first few runs. The experience and failures of each run is learned and adapted to make your next run slightly easier. There are components of the game that do allow you to feel in control of how you want to play and serves as a way to enhance each run. There are several ways to go about reaching Room 46. There is no easier or harder method: it all depends on a variety of factors that impact your gameplay.
That being said, because the goal of Room 46 is relatively static, the difficulty to get there over time ends up having to rely on luck. This makes post-game content a headache-and-a-half to complete. If something requires you to draft a specific room - you have no control over whether or not the room will even appear in your run. You can do multiple runs in a row and not be able to draft the room you require - and there’s nothing you can do about it. This key point highlights just how much time can be potentially wasted by playing this game and trying to complete specific objectives.
I find the puzzles in this game to be too loose-ended and open for my liking. There are a handful of problems in this game where rather than feeling satisfaction from solving, I felt either relief or annoyance: relief because my answer was correct and not some weird, quirky answer; annoyance because the answer was weird and quirky, and I ask myself “really?”. A prime example of this is in Room 7. Out of everybody I know who has played the game, not one of them was happy with that particular room.
The overall gameplay itself is actually developed pretty well and interesting. There are different rooms that serve different functions which may or may not help you progress through the ranks of the manor. Each run is different and interesting enough to not be overtly bland after a few runs. You can always expect something different or something new every time.
Conclusion
My experience with the game has been disappointing after reaching Room 46. The tasks and objectives got considerably difficult and time-consuming, having to rely too much on luck. I have needlessly played through at least 30 hours of post-game content trying to complete the one particular objective. Many times I have been very unlucky and unable to achieve what I need simply due an overlooked game mechanic. It is hard to recommend this game when you just feel helpless and out of control during some sessions of the game. There are several things that need to be addressed to make this game at the very least enjoyable and bearable after reaching Room 46. However I do believe this will be difficult to balance, due to the static and unmoving nature of reaching Room 46. Unless they do something to fix the progression and structuring of post-game content, then post-game content will forever be hindered by RNG and luck.