3.5/5 ★ – truewalrus's review of Blue Prince.

This is a tough one for me as I don't think I really enjoyed about half of my play time on Blue Prince. What I did enjoy was talking about Blue Prince with other people who were playing. I was fortunate enough to start playing at the same time as a bunch of other friends, and piecing through the puzzles vocally and as abstractly as possible was not only entertaining, but interesting. Watching people get to the same results at wildly differing times through wildly differing methods does credit to the foundation of Blue Prince's design. In the beginning of the game, this was enough. Reveals come fast and frequent enough that you're always looking out for the next puzzle or unlock. Comparing notes with other players makes you feel smart, sure to have discovered something they haven't, or in a different, more convoluted way. A deciphering eye and a keen mind could keep riding out those breadcrumbs not only to the end, but through the end, into the postgame, and beyond it, pouring hours into puzzling through the impressive arsenal of story tidbits, new gameplay mechanics, and styled runs. I, however, could not. What started out as fun little puzzles became time-wasting slogs, doing the same thing repetitively hoping for the RNG just to bounce some way. I got most of the unlocks, I knew all the important rooms, I even opened many of the safes. But I didn't win. I know I have unfinished puzzles. I know there's story beats that I didn't find. I know I'm missing huge portions of the game. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to experience them on my own. I didn't want to stare at unfinished puzzles for hours only to realize I have no idea what I am looking at. I wanted to win the game. But I can't. I did around 20 runs where I learned no new information, did not advance in any way, and finally, made the executive decision to call it a day. I'm either the unluckiest player in the world - let's just go ahead and call that unlikely - or it is a game that is too smart for me, no matter how much I wish it wasn't. Just kidding, I obviously just brute forced the ending by doing 20 more runs.