I assume this will need a containment thread for more spoiler adjacent discussions, so I’m starting one before we make the currently playing threads look like declassified documents
It’s Blue Prince! How are you liking it so far? How do you feel about the puzzle parts? How do you feel about its board gamey structure? Is it grabbing you? Are you bouncing off it? Are you stuck?
And please remember to use spoiler tags!
Firstly and most importantly: There currently exists a puzzle in the game that is entirely dependent on USA region system settings. It is broken and unsolvable otherwise.
I am massively disappointed in it currently.
I think the drafting mechanic is annoying, that makes every run feel like a failure for a long time. While you can start to get the hang of it to a degree, in practice this mostly means working out “well this run’s fucked” several steps in advance.
While I’d had a few pieces of carry-over knowledge pretty quickly, It took me a long time to feel like I’d had any permanent effect on the game. And about five hours to discover something that made an ended run not feel like a waste of time (and actually require taking notes). Most annoyingly I only discovered this by a random room draw, which literally spelled out the solution. Nearly Immediately after that I encountered the broken puzzle and decided I would spend all my time on Promise Mascot Agency instead.
Also usability and accessibility is quite poor. (Though not quite at the level of Lorelei and the Laser Eyes’ offensive use of the term.)
I’m flip flopping between being interested in it and thinking it won’t be my game. I want to like it. I kinda crave a puzzle mystery experience that requires taking notes. Void Stranger showed me how things could be and since then I’m wandering the desert thirsty for a similar experience. (I want to produce notes that are worthy of a conspiracy theory corkboard)
People (or marketing? I’m not sure) compare it to Outer Wilds which makes me very curious but I’m not sure I trust that claim yet.
I watched Northernlion play an hour of it on YT and I’m not particularly interested in the random room drafting mechanic. Though, from what I’ve gathered one hour isn’t nearly enough to get a good glimpse at the game behind the game.
I’m afraid it might lack the initial pull required for me to get to that “good part”.
Oof, that’s a big oversight. Kind of hilarious but it doesn’t instill confidence, sadly.
Edit: It took me longer than I’d like to admit to get the Blue Prince/Blueprints wordplay in the title.
I’ll say in this game’s defense that there are so many threads to pull and mysteries to simultaneously work on that unless you laser in on one or two in particular RNG should be more or less immaterial. There have been more than a few runs where I’ve totally thrown away one goal after drawing a card I forgot I needed for another and getting excited. I think the puzzles and the story work here are pretty top notch. There’s certainly no shortage of things to do each run if you look for them no matter how unlucky you are. The Study and The Rumpus Room will help nudge (ok, push) you in the right directions if you feel aimless.
That being said…
I think the deckbuilder mechanics are a frustrating at best and I wish they weren’t in the game. I’m sure there’s someone they’re scratching an itch for, but it ain’t me and it’s no other human being I’ve talked to about this game, even the ones who love it even more than I do. More than that however, I wish this game wasn’t first person. There is so much turning back and forth through tight corridors that every run leaves me a bit motion sick, which is frustrating when I feel much or all of this game would work with a kinda hidden object mobile game perspective. I know I’m less fond of and less used to 3d exploration than the average person, but god I shouldn’t feel so nauseous playing a game like this.
I have just rolled credits and am excited to start finally playing the game lol
At least so far, I’m not really understanding all of the complaints about RNG/deckbuilding. I’ve played thirteen days and in every single one I feel like I made “progress”, either in unlocking something or understanding something, or even just finding a bunch of interesting new rooms and filling out the directory.
I haven’t come particularly close to “winning” a run (assuming that is a thing that can happen?) but at least for now I have no expectations to. Just checking things out and having a good time.
Also this is maybe in spoiler territory, but I’ve heard from friends who have played 20+ hours that there’s actually much less RNG than you’d think. I haven’t read any of the in-game books explaining the draft pool mechanics, but there’s a fairly defined system of room adjacency so you’re highly likely to draw X room while standing in Y, etc. I got the impression that once you figure out what you’re supposed to do to win, a smart player will be able to do that in every run.
This is all mostly true. RNG is basically irrelevant once you start to have some idea of what you’re doing. Both in that there are ways around it, and in that once you start taking notes you’ll have enough to do no matter what rooms you draw. It’s just as a mechanic it feels real dissonant with how well the puzzles are set up. I really wish that this had gone a bit more Stanley Parable with how it shifts the house around rather than having this tedious little resource manager minigame you have to keep in the back of your head at all times. Being a step or two short from being able to reap a reward you set up perfectly feels terrible, even if you accomplished 10 other things that day. I’ve seen enough of the game that I have no shortage of things I’m following up on, but the deckbuilding parts feel as bad to me as when I started.
after you recommended myhouse.wad and void stranger, i guess i don’t have a choice but to try this.
Yeah definitely want to make clear that despite my complaints with the game’s structure, I think the puzzle stuff in this is pretty incredible.
This is up for “free” on PS+ if you have that service.
I can’t remember a game with a reception that has been split this way before:
Picked this up alongside some other puzzlers, somewhat sight unseen by way of a recommendation. I’m along for the ride so far. Cooled on “deckbuilding” in general but this isn’t yet fully pressing on that fatigue. Still pretty early on and thinking about story possibilities more so than statistical probabilities.
Also wondering if the creator ever played “Betrayal at House on the Hill”!
TIL the creator of this game runs the mythic spoiler magic the gathering website and i think that’s neat!
finished 3 days so far. enjoying the puzzles! some redacted notes:
got to rank 9
unlocked gemstone cavern
accessed the network
used an upgrade floppy
found notes on antechamber levers, etc
curious about the stained glass numbers in the chapel
definitely enjoying the puzzles!
the puzzles i’ve run into don’t have any dependency on region settings if this is the puzzle i think it is – something in the bunker?
also wow the way this game keeps growing and growing is wild. i keep thinking i understand the main loop of what i’m doing and where i’m going, at day 45 or so, and the game just keeps on showing me little hints of more as if to say “nahhh you’re only just beginning to grasp what’s ahead”
Yup. For some reason the code underneath that relies on system clock stuff, and can bug if you’re not on 12 hour US time, even though real world time is irrelevant to the puzzle.
