No, I’ll never shut up about the Slow Game Club. I’m passionate about the community we’re slowly building, and I encourage anyone who wants to play great indie games and join a fun, peaceful community to come along! That being said, the SGC gang told me about a Steam demo for an upcoming game I had to try: Blue Prince. Which, indeed, is a roguelike puzzle game — developed by Dogubomb and published by Raw Fury!
So, obviously, I mildly spoiled the general premise. But, I gotta give y’all something so you give the game a chance, too! We begin with narration from the deceased owner of the grand Mount Holly Estate: Herbert S. Sinclair. Sinclair is giving you, his grandnephew, the keys to the kingdom: the manor and its surrounding land! But, of course, there’s always a catch!
You have to find Sinclair’s 46th secret room among his 45-room estate. Basically, it’s wholesome Saw. To accomplish this, you must build out the manor room by room. As you enter another area of the sprawling estate, you choose from three randomly generated tiles — each with a different effect. A Bedroom tile gives you additional Steps, for example. “What are ‘Steps’?” Ah, right. Getting ahead of myself!
‘blue prince’ is a satisfying roguelike puzzle game that’ll make you feel like a genius
“Steps” keep you in the game. In the Steam demo, you start with 50 Steps. As you enter a new room, you spend one Step. If you get cold feet and decide to backtrack, the moment you cross that threshold into any room, that’s another Step gone. Are you beginning to see where the roguelike element comes into play?
It’s a one-person board game! You can ruin a run by using dead-end tiles that don’t allow you to progress toward the fabled 46th room. However, every room has a purpose — clues, puzzles, items that restore Steps, opportunities to “redraw” tiles, the whole roguelike nine yards! If you lose all your Steps in a day (or otherwise Call It A Day if you’ve blocked yourself from glory), you lose everything you’ve collected. Nothing carries over. Except, of course, your knowledge of what each room tile does and how to best use them to your advantage next time.
That’s all the explanation you’ll get from me. Go on, give Blue Prince a shot! It’s coming out this year, and if you dig the demo, wishlist the game on Steam (which helps give games needed visibility)! I only recommend the highest-quality titles, after all! Oh, and thank you, fellow Slow Game Club members! This is why an indie-tailored community is a wonderful concept! (Join the party.)
The post Encouraged by My Slow Game Club Pals, I Blindly Played What I Can Best Describe as a “Roguelike Puzzle Game” appeared first on VICE.
