Blue Prince can feel like a confusing game for some because it explains almost nothing about the numerous puzzles and secrets contained within the ever-changing rooms of the Mt. Holly Estate. This is especially true if you have never played similar games like Return of the Obra Dinn or Outer Wilds, which are fellow indie puzzle games that offer very little hand-holding.
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From taking notes in real life to recommendations on what you should be doing in-game in the first few runs, there are a lot of Blue Prince tips that can help you find your footing and start understanding the right way to interact with this brain-bending puzzle game. To learn how the game works and what to prioritize in your early runs, follow these eight best Blue Prince beginner tips.
There are no major spoilers in this guide to the best Blue Prince starter tips – except for the final recommendation, which hints at an important location to unlock first. This location can be discovered on your first run.
1 Take Diligent Notes
Use Pen & Paper or a Word Processor (for Screenshots)
The best thing you can do to learn how to play Blue Prince better is to take notes on everything. This is even recommended by a note you can find in the Nook room. Keep separate pages for similar topics or discoveries you make – such as a page for Memos, a page for secrets and details you notice, and an extended section to note down what you find each day.
If you have a dual monitor or don't mind alt-tabbing out of the game, using a word processor platform of your choice can be very helpful. You will be able to reorganize and add onto your notes, and you can attach screenshots to specific notes, which will let you reference puzzles, messages, and other secrets without having to re-draft its associated room.
2 Reference Your Layout When Drafting
Avoid Doubling Back With The Blueprint Map
Whenever you are in the drafting screen, you should open the Blueprint Map with the Tab button (PC), R2 (PlayStation), or RT (Xbox). This will open a grid that displays the current layout of the manor that shows the map and direction of each room you have drafted so far.
With the Blueprint Map open, when you hover over one of your three Room options, you will see a preview of its orientation when connected to your current room. Use this to plan out your route and see if you will be interrupting any other doorways from adjacent rooms.
You should aim to keep as many doors unblocked as possible to ensure you have options to return to in case you are forced into a dead end.
3 Spend Your Gold & Gems Wisely
Gold, Gems, And Other Collectibles Are Relatively Rare
In Blue Prince, Gold and Gems are used to purchase items from the shops and fund special Rooms when drafting, respectively. You will need a lot of Gold to purchase special items from shops – like the Magnifying Glass, Metal Detector, or Sledgehammer – and you will need a lot of Gems to be able to get some of the best high-rank rooms in Blue Prince.
While you are exploring the lower ranks of the manor, avoid spending Gems and Gold as much as you can. Instead, save your Gems for a Laboratory, Vault, or other special room with a unique function that requires Gems and can only be found in the higher ranks of the estate.
Wait to spend your Gold until you find something that requires one of the wares on sale. Don't buy a key if you don't need to unlock a door, a Sledgehammer if you don't have any Trunks to break, and so on.
4 Keep An Eye On Your Steps
If You Run Out Of Steps, You Will Be Forced To End The Day
By default, Simon starts out with 50 steps each day. Every time you enter a new room, or pass through a gate/threshold in an outdoor area, you will lose one step. As you get deeper into the manor, you may even encounter rooms that remove steps from your total, and if you go in really deep, the steps required to backtrack should you reach a dead end can be run-ending.
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If you run out of steps, the game will automatically end and open the Call It A Day menu. You can increase your steps by consuming foods, drafting specific rooms, like the Bedroom, or by getting certain items that reduce your step usage, like the Running Shoes.
The best way to conserve steps is to treat steps as a resource just like Gold, Gems, and Keys. Build outward to reduce backtracking, connect rooms together to save steps, consume foods and buy meals at the Kitchen when you see them, and avoid rooms that make you sacrifice steps.
The worst thing you can do is b-line toward the antechamber – should you wind up in a dead end, with a bunch of locked doors, you might be forced to waste steps to backtrack to a door you can open.
5 Look Closely At Notes & Images
Hidden Secrets Can Be Found With The Magnifying Glass
Once you have obtained the Magnifying Glass, you will be able to look closely at notes, images, and other documents you find throughout all rooms in Blue Prince. Often, there are secret messages that can only be seen with a Magnifying Glass, hidden hints within the backgrounds of pictures, or other details you would not be able to see without zooming in.
To get a Magnifying Glass, purchase one from the shop, hope to find one in a Closet or other special item room, and look on the desks throughout certain rooms, like the Study and Archive, for a chance to find one.
6 Look For Hidden Items
Hidden Notes & Random Gold, Keys, & Gems
Not everything is immediately apparent or as it seems in Blue Prince. On some desks, you might find a regular note in plain view, but if you look around the desk and under a pile of books, you might just find another note peeking out, ready to be discovered. One of the best beginner tips Blue Prince players can learn is to check every corner of every room for extra notes or other discoveries.
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In addition to messages hidden out of plain sight, you might find randomly spawning Gold, Keys, or Gems, too. Though there are some rooms that always give these items as a reward, you can also find Keys, Gold, and Gems randomly. The Spare Room has a chance to spawn a Gold, for example, while the Guest Bedroom sometimes has a Gem, though the in-game Room Directory does not list this.
7 Don't Head North Too Quickly
Build Out Before You Build North To Avoid Locked Doors
It may be tempting to try to go north and reach the antechamber as fast as possible in Blue Prince, but there are a few reasons this is actually a bad idea, at least at first. For one, the further you go into the manor, the higher the room rank will become. As you reach higher ranks of the manor, there is a higher chance for rooms to be locked or keycarded.
For another, the antechamber is sealed, and there is no way to enter it unless you have figured out how to reach the end of the game. If you get there in your first few runs, you will be hit with a dead end and a locked door that can't be unlocked.
Additionally, as you progress, you will find more rooms that require Gems to be drafted, and if you haven't spent the time to collect gems, you won't be able to select anything but the default option, which can be a detriment to your run.
In your first dozen or so runs, don't focus on getting to the antechamber. Instead, build outward, take advantage of the space as much as you can while drafting rooms, and slowly build your way to higher ranks as you explore more of the estate.
8 Unlock The Apple Orchard
Improve Your Starting Steps From 50 to 70
After you get your bearings and learn these Blue Prince starting tips, and after you have completed a few runs, you might want to start looking for a way to unlock the Apple Orchard. This special area is located to the east of the manor just southeast from Simon's campsite, but the gate into the orchard is locked with a 4-digit padlock code.
To get into the Apple Orchard, you will have to draft specific rooms, hold a specific item, investigate a specific object, and decipher the code from what you learn. Without spoiling too much, the method to unlock the Apple Orchard goes something like this:
- Draft the Dark Room
- Obtain a Magnifying Glass
- Turn the lights back on in the Dark Room
- Look for the code within a specific photo in the Dark Room
After you have unlocked this area, your starting step count will increase from 50 to 70 permanently. Permanent bonuses do not reset from day to day, so this one is worth picking up as soon as you possibly can. As long as you draft a Dark Room and a Breaker (or other sources of power) and can get a Magnifying Glass, you will be able to find the Apple Orchard code.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 90 /100 Critics Rec: 95%
- Released
- April 10, 2025
- ESRB
- Everyone 10+ / Alcohol Reference, Simulated Gambling
- Developer(s)
- Dogubomb
- Publisher(s)
- Raw Fury
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Puzzle, Adventure, Exploration, Strategy
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
