This is not my beautiful house! - Talking about The Blue Prince

[ShakeWell]

I can't believe there isn't already a thread for this, but I feel like TT needs a dedicated thread to this. It's what @MCBanjoMike calls "a detect-'em-up," you're trying to find all the rooms of a house, but when you go back each day, the layout has completely changed. You use rooms like roguelike cards, playing one room of three choices when you open each door. There's a lot going on, I already have a bunch of notes a screenshots and stuff, and this is so fuckin' good.

 

[Nodal]

I'm really loving this. I rolled credits the other day and I keep going back and solving more stuff. The other day I was like ok this puzzle should give me this which will be nice and then the actual reward was revealed and I was like ahahha what.

 

[Mogri]

I'm loving this game as well. I entered the Antechamber in the demo, a feat I haven't come close to at day 14 in the full game, but I've found three permanent upgrades and am chasing one of the game's larger puzzles at the moment.

 

[MrBlarney]

I've been up and down on my feelings towards this game. Early game, lots of interest in exploring new rooms, jotting down observations, and understanding the mechanisms and connections between the rooms and their mysteries. Later on, frustration at the random number generator not giving me the tools to solve the riddles that would get me to the Room 46 win state, and also not giving me much new stuff to learn about in the meantime. But most recently, after completing a successful credit roll upon access of Room 46, feeling more positively about the game after getting more threads to pull at for additional mysteries to solve and understanding more about how to build successful runs into the higher ranks of the estate. I really do wish that there were more permanent upgrades to help mitigate bad luck or to nudge the randomizer in ways that I want to. (Maybe I haven't seen them yet, despite 'beating' the game!)

 

[Violentvixen]

We're trying this since it's on Gamepass and I'm not sure how to feel yet. We built up to the antechamber but then it was just a white wall so ???. Curious.

 

[Mogri]

Meanwhile, I made my way into the Antechamber a day or two later. It is not the end, but it does answer one question I had.

 

[Paul le Fou]

Started this game (And immediately got the pun in the title, clever). Not sure what I'm supposed to be looking for or learning or collecting yet; I've only done 4 days but it seems like a lot of random luck (mostly bad) and not a lot of opportunities to actually improve or build up.

 

[Nodal]

For anyone who is has no idea what they should be doing, or what the goal is, I have a couple little tips.

Spoiler: Mostly spoiler-free tips

1. Keep a list of things you think might be puzzle related. Eventually you will get a feeling what you need to draw in order to solve something. To keep it from feeling like you need to draw one exact thing or the run is a waste, keep a bunch of possible objectives in mind.
2. If you haven't been into a room before, and one of the other two options isn't the definitive solution to another puzzle, take that room. Puzzle clues and hints abound in rooms and they're the most valuable reward. You aren't getting into room 46 without solving a bunch of puzzles, so they are your real goal.

 

[ShakeWell]

Rolled credits on Friday. This game rules so hard.

 

[R.R. Bigman]

I am playing this, and it is neat. I’ve only done one day of housing, but I think I get what this game is. I do have one question, followed by a declaration.

Does information, such as lore, instructions and codes, carry over?

I permanently opened up the western gate. This seems like a good thing.

 

[jpfriction]

Does information, such as lore, instructions and codes, carry over?

You’ll figure this out quickly but Yes, yes it does.


I was tinkering in the lab and triggered a bit of an information dump in the form of letters delivered to the mailroom. Mildly annoyed that some of them just tell you the answer to puzzles, but I had figured them out already.

 

[jpfriction]

Credits rolled but plenty left to see. Very cool game!

 

[Mogri]

Credits on Day 22. What a game! Many mysteries still to solve. I've only opened two combination locks...

 

[lincolnic]

My girlfriend and I started playing this yesterday and we've already clocked an irresponsible number of hours. I think our next run will be day 14? So many mysteries!

 

[Violentvixen]

Oh no wait are Lumber and I dumb?!

We just had a run where we drafted the garage and got power to it, so opened the door and wandered around outside. Eventually we realized we could walk back around to the front of the manor and go back in. The next day we turned around and walked outside. Have we been able to do this from day one? For some reason I thought we tried and it didn't work but when we first started playing I was in my wrist brace and may have struggled to turn around or just decided not to do that.

To not give things away, the question has to do with something that I assume can only occur on the edge of the map.

 

[Nodal]

Yes

Spoiler

that's how I spent much of my day one.

 

[lincolnic]

Have we been able to do this from day one?

Yes, but you wouldn't have been able to do anything productive aside from setting up a few more threads to pull. The gate between the house and the Western Path is locked from the Entrance Hall side until you open it via the garage exit. But hey, now you can access the Outer Room!

If it makes you feel any better, we also didn't realize you could go outside until we found a note somewhere that mentioned areas on the house grounds a couple of runs in. And it's not like you'd have any inclination to do so at the start of the game, given that the whole premise is "explore house". Personally I thought it was a neat way of expanding its scope. We've only found one other Permanent Upgrade so far, but it's been extremely worth it, so I highly recommend you chase these things down next time you have a chance.

 

[R.R. Bigman]

Okay, this is a big ask, but I am a bit stuck regarding what my main goal is.

Spoiler: Big Question

How do I go about opening the doors to the Antechamber? A note in the Security Room mentions levers in the east and west, only I haven’t either one everywhere I’ve looked.

 

[jpfriction]

You’ll figure it out, just keep on exploring. Best advice I can give (which is also given in game) is if you get the chance to draft a room you’ve never seen before, take it, especially if you aren’t actively working towards doing something.

 

[R.R. Bigman]

Okay, I’ll keep putting feelers out. The last few tries have had a lot of pretty harsh Red Rooms. Somedays seem to be downright unlucky!

 

[Violentvixen]

Yes

Yes

*headdesk*

Fun though.

 

[lincolnic]

We had a run today that started out super rocky but ended up giving us some some really big new knowledge, both in terms of gameplay and lore (mostly lore). This game is something else.

 

[ozacrot]

Okay, this is a big ask, but I am a bit stuck regarding what my main goal is.

There's a lot to figure out and the order in which you'll get the info/tools necessary will be randomized - that said, I have a few tips that mostly hint at things to look toward:

Spoiler

• Lots of items and the like will move from room to room across playthroughs. The levers to open antechamber doors will not. Once you find a lever, take note - that room will help you open the same door on every run.
• There's more to the house than it seems, and you won't be able to unlock everything using only the tools you find. The Workshop is worth picking when you find it - it will seemingly always have a useful tool in it, and you can combine your inventory to create new tools. In particular, there's a tool requiring the sledgehammer that might open up some new possibilities...
• Like the western gate, there are other permanent upgrades you can get that will improve your future runs. The V.A.C. indicators in the Utility Closet had my favorite reward, so that's my first recommendation.
• Along with the Workshop, the Library is a great pick to make, for a couple reasons: First, the connecting room will have a higher rarity, which is a good way to see new rooms for the first time. Second, the book-borrowing system is a great way to, over the course of days, suss out the house and grounds mysteries one at a time.

We rolled credits on the game last night, but there are still at least 3 major mysteries we're still putting together the pieces on. This is such a great game for couch co-op!

 

[Adam]

It's kind of funny how many rooms have had a note or something that spells out the answer to a puzzle I've been banging my head against.

 

[lincolnic]

Had a really great session tonight. We rolled credits in our first or second run of the night! It was Day 18 if anyone's keeping score. Something we did very early on when we started playing turned out to be what led us to victory (gigantic endgame spoilers if you haven't made it to the Antechamber yet): on our first day of playing, in maybe our second or third run, we found the Broken Lever. In that same run, we found the Coat Check, and I said "let's just leave this here until we know what to do with it." A couple of days ago we found the Greenhouse and it immediately clicked. Today, we agreed that if we found the Greenhouse again, we'd make a point to take the Coat Check if we saw it and lo and behold it showed up not long after. I love that this one thing we did in our first play session -- strictly because we didn't know what we were doing yet -- is what ended up winning the run for us.

In our next run after that, we found a bunch of other things and solved one of the biggest mysteries I've been keeping track of since day one. And there's still so much more left to do! We haven't even seen all of the safes yet...

 

[Violentvixen]

Had a really great session tonight. We rolled credits in our first or second run of the night! It was Day 18 if anyone's keeping score. Something we did very early on when we started playing turned out to be what led us to victory (gigantic endgame spoilers if you haven't made it to the Antechamber yet):

We've had a broken lever in the coat check since Day 10 and are now on 20-something but have never had both the coat check and the greenhouse show up again. We've pulled the lever in the Great Hall on a bunch of runs but never made it up to the top once that's done. It's frustrating.

It's a game I've been recommending to people because it's interesting, but I still don't know if I like it? Enjoying playing it though. Our Gamepass subscription ends Sunday so I really want to beat this (or at least feel like I got something major) by then. We did get all four flames lit outside and immediately figured out how the chess puzzle works so that's an accomplishment. Didn't have the layout for it so ??? if we'll ever actually solve it but neat.

We drafted the room with the timed safe in the outside room and set it for a specific day and saw the note about hours. How on earth can you guarantee that? It seems impossible to me for the randomness of drafting to align with what you pick unless there's something I'm misunderstanding.

 

[jpfriction]

Regarding your last point:

It only needs to be an hour ahead of where you currently are and there are clocks everywhere so you just need to figure out the in game date for “today”

I made it a point to be there right on time and was chagrined to see that it just pops open and stays that way for the rest of the day. womp womp

I had a run of several days in a row doing postgame stuff where I accomplished jack squat. Was about to start Clair Obscur which I know will be a death knell for me getting anything else done here but figured I’d try one more run last night and finally got the rooms in place to drain the reservoir properly. So much lore. I’ll keep plugging away I guess, I bet I can get in the habit of knocking out one day before booting something else up.

 

[Violentvixen]

It only needs to be an hour ahead of where you currently are and there are clocks everywhere so you just need to figure out the in game date for “today”

Oh, I guess it's more how do you guarantee you'll get it again when you need it? Just hoping it's in the set of three for the day you picked? I feel like that one could be a frustrating loop of missing it, selecting something new then missing it again.

 

[jpfriction]

More explicit instructions: If you get the shelter, figure out what date you are on and pick that day just an hour in the future, time passes while you are playing so you just need to check back before you call it a day. Note the clock in the entryway, you start your day at 8 am and it ticks forward at about a minute per 10 seconds

 

[R.R. Bigman]

I’ve done a fair bit of stuff, yet most of it hasn’t added up to anything.

The big things I’ve done…

Spoiler: These are the things

Open the West gate from the Garage
Open the Mine using the Circuit Breaker
Get power to the Laboratory and open the weird computer room
Solve the angel puzzle in the Tomb, found the Underground
Got the elevator working in the Foundation
Obtained a Broken Lever and stored it at the Coat Check
Turned on three blue flames

That feels like a good bit of progress. I am still no closer to entering the Antechamber.