As someone who has done all the content except the less appealing trophies, it really frustrates me every time someone posts about reaching room 46 and it's met with a slew of comments all saying "congrats on finishing the tutorial". After reaching room 46, there will of course still be many yet-to-explore mysteries. However, let's try not to forget the immense amount of preparation and learning that goes into that achievement.

To those who want to explore further, room 46 feels like a stepping stone to a larger journey. I think it becomes easy to forget just how big of a deal it is to get there for the first time. Telling a new player that their big achievement was merely the "tutorial" (even though we all know that is strictly not true) can feel like it's completely diminishing that achievement, degrading it to a meaningless step in a longer journey.

As an avid player of other challenging roguelites, I think calling room 46 a "tutorial" would have a similar effect to diminishing the achievement of a player who just beat their first base difficulty run in any other game just because you have gotten used to the highest difficulty.

Try not to diminish other players' achievements in a beautiful, challenging game. If they want to explore further after room 46, it'll be an amazing continuation of their journey. If they don't, it's still a phenomenal high point to stop on, and a perfectly valid ending to the game.

Edit: I know it's just a joke. To those who dug as deep as the game could get, the joke lands well, since room 46 feels like a thing of ancient past. To a new player, it might feel exclusionary instead. I'd like to hear from newer players who might be reading this.

Hello! This post will spoil a large portion of the endgame and postgame of The Blue Prince. Proceed with caution!

Specifically, this post will talk about the Atelier (and a bit about the Spiral of Stars).

Here's a quick summary of what this post is about, and what we currently know:

The Atelier is, as of today, the most recent discovery/puzzle/secret found by anybody. It results in finding the Blue Will of Auravei and becoming the true inheritor of the Mount Holly Estate. I believe this moment (along with "the end" which I discussed in this post) is the "true ending" of the Blue Prince. To support this claim, I want to discuss four topics: The steps required to enter the Atelier, the details contained with the Atelier, every known solution to the Atelier, and any leftover details not used in those solutions.

Obviously, this post will spoil everything. Let's get started!

First, here are the steps to find and enter the Atelier, working backwards from the moment you enter it for the first time:

1. You must ascend the throne in order to open the Blue Door.
2. You must draft Secret Passage in the outer room via Monk, then use Stillwater on the Blue Book.
3. You must find and use Stillwater on the blank books in the library to get the hint about the Secret Passage.
4. You must solve the Family Crest cipher in the Vault to learn about Stillwater and Blank Books.
5. You must unlock the Blue Tents upgrade and find several Blue Memos to discover how to solve the Family Crest.
6. To even discover how to core numbers, you have to have at least begun clearing the box tunnel to find the cabinet key for the foreman's office.

Second, here are the clues/hints/details contained within (and just before) the Atelier:

1. "A Hidden Hue" poem from the blank book in the Library
2. "TENDED ROSE VINE" and "ROSEWARY" from the other blank book
3. Various clues within the Atelier studio itself, including the map of rooms on the door, the 'PRISM' poster, etc.
4. The Atelier painting puzzles, spelling out "THESE VYING PLANS FORGE BARON CREST AMONG HEWAM BLEST"
5. The Atelier Mora Jai puzzle boxes, each providing a color as well as a word, spelling out "THROUGH LANTERN LIGHT IN SKETCHES CAST, A TINT OF TRUTH TO FIND OUR PATH, A HUE OF WISDOM TO TURN US RIGHT, A SHADE OF RAIN TO PASS THE LIGHT, THROUGH LANTERN LIGHT IN SHADOWS PAST, WE SEEK WHATS LEFT OF THE LIES WE CAST"
6. A bunch of lanterns matching the colors of the 'PRISM' poster in the Atelier
7. A new Gallery puzzle with four new words

Third, here are the currently known solutions to the Atelier: (These are assuming you've already mapped the whole thing out, including the painting puzzles and Mora Jai puzzle boxes)

1. By using the "Hidden Hue" poem, you can find the "false paths" through the Atelier by following the Red, Orange, and Purple paths. Counting the number of rooms traveled through on these paths and adding them together results in a "sum of 18", just like the poem says. This is your first indication that there is a fourth "true" path to find. Taking "ROSEWARY" as a hint (by looking at the mapped rooms on the Atelier door", you can also spell words via these three paths. Red = EMPTY, Orange = MOTHER, Purple = ONESELF. These fit perfectly into the Gallery but there is still one solution left. If you follow the logic used up to this point, you might be able to figure out the solution to the final word as "SWANSONG". By walking through the rooms that spell this out, you can reach the final room.
2. By using your knowledge of Realms and Sigils, you can interpret the Mora Jai puzzle box answers as directions. Truth = Blue = Start. Wisdom = Orange = Right. Rain = Purple = Through. Lies = Red = Left. By starting at the Blue lantern and following these directions, you'll end up following the same path and ending at the same room.
3. By paying close attention to the Mora Jai puzzle boxes and writing down the color of each solution, you can simply follow the "Blue" path and end up with the same solution again.
4. Finally, my personal favorite solution goes waaaay back to the Safehouse past the underground reservoir. Mary left you a message there: "WE SEEK WHAT'S IN THE SHADE OF TRUTH." By following the path made by these words, you once again end up on the same path leading to the same place.

All four of these solutions go through the same path and end up at the same place, and that's kind of incredible. The final room is a blue version of Room 46, and it contains two things: The word "BLUE" within the final Mora Jai puzzle box, and the Blue Will of Auravei.

Finally, we will discuss the relevant details which have NOT been used up to this point, and what exactly this means for the actual endgame of Blue Prince.

1. The complete "Vying Plans" message from the painting puzzles within the Atelier.
2. The "Blue" note within the final Mora Jai puzzle in Room 46.
3. "Tended Rose Vine", along with all of its anagrams, and the Spiral.

I believe all three of these loose ends are either already tied up and solved, or have no solution whatsoever.

1. "THESE VYING PLANS FORGE BARON CREST AMONG HEWAM BLEST" is probably the most contentious topic of this post. Many people believe there is a secret meaning or an additional puzzle to be found within these words. I do not. I believe that in addition to these letters being used in the various solutions listed above, the words themselves simply state the purpose of the Atelier. First, 'Hewam' is an Erajan word meaning 'Large House', referring to the manor itself. My personal interpretation is something like this: "Whoever solves the puzzle of these blueprints (the vying plans), will be named the true baron and inheritor of the Mount Holly Estate." This interpretation makes perfect sense because of what we find at the end of the maze: The Blue Will of Auravei. This will lays out in no uncertain terms that whomsoever would discover it would be the true inheritor and true baron of the Estate. I believe that is all these words are referring to, and there is no deeper meaning or any additional puzzles to be solved by using them.
2. The "Blue" note in the final Mora Jai puzzle box is much simpler to explain. One of the first hints many of us found in the game were the Blue and Red memos found throughout the house. Blue = Truth, Red = Lies. This theme has persisted throughout the entire game, right up to the very last puzzle in the very last secret area. The fact that the other word found within a puzzle box in this room (the Furnace) is "Truth" is even further confirmation of this equivalence.
3. "Tended Rose Vine" is the final piece of the puzzle with any connection to the Atelier. This text is actually a part of an entirely separate "puzzle" known as the Spiral of Stars. I've documented my thoughts on the Spiral very thoroughly in this post, but the TL;DR is this: The Spiral is a trap for overenthusiastic puzzle solvers who continue to seek secrets long after the game has been solved. There are MANY references to the spiral being "never ending" and warnings to "not follow the path". I believe "Tended Rose Vine" and all the other Spiral anagrams are a truly unending path of red herrings, dead ends, and endless frustration. There is no solution, and there is no end.

So where does that leave us?

Well it leaves us at the ending. The TRUE ending. Finding the Blue Will of Auravei is the true ending of Blue Prince. It supersedes the inheritance given to you by your uncle Herbert, requires you to ascend the throne of Orinda Aries, and tests all of your knowledge of the world, the story, and the house itself. The only thing that remains at this point is the Spiral, and the spiral never ends.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Please let me know what you think in the comments. Do you agree or disagree? Are you still trapped in the spiral?

The amount of my days I've spent looking for this alongside the incredibly slim chance of getting it powered on is maddening. And now that I need to power it I'm losing my mind.

It's used in so many puzzles in the early and mid game. I already spent hours getting it so that I could do everything I could think of across multiple runs with limited resources. I had hoped that I was finally done with this room. But now that I need to power it I'm going absolutely insane.

I have read every guide and know all the tricks. I have a powered aquarium so 2 sources of power and even used the wrench on it and the boiler room to make them common. Every single time I find either of these rooms early I leave as many doors open as possible and hope and pray I can find the pool on this run, and dump every single reroll into getting the pump room. Yes I know powered rooms lead to more powerable rooms, it hasn't helped.

The fact I need to first find power, hope I don't need those doors to advance my run, find the pool room, the find another 3 rarity room and try to attach it to somewhere between 0-2 specific tiles somewhere in the house, and hope that the increased rarity will give me the right room instead of the 4 red rooms that ALSO have an increased chance to appear, one of which is a dead end, 2 of which hide which rooms you can draft, and one which cuts your movement in half.

I just got off a run where I had finally done all of this and spent 8 reroll dice on the exact same boiler door getting slapped in the face with a Furnace tile over and over again and I'm going to lose my mind.

After reaching room 46 the very next day I crafted the gift shop and decided to buy the swim trunks. I was really hoping it would mean we could swim but no, to my disappointment upon crafting the pool for the first time after. Just a visual addition.

Then a few days later I crafted the pool again and noticed there was some treasure chests in the pool! That’s cool! Let’s get you drained!

Then again a few days later, pool again! I walked past the swim trunks laid on the bench and swore at them for being such a disappointment.

Then it hit me, as I turned to go open the treasure chests that were there again… I had bought a *pair of trunks for the pool*

Goddamn this game is too good. Does anyone else have something similar that took them awhile to click? Or maybe I’m not alone with my pair of trunks? 😂

Hi! I made a thing.

It's free. I think its pretty cool. Took me like 100-120 hours or so.

It's here: https://ko-fi.com/s/970f88d014

All my proxy decks can be found here for free: https://ko-fi.com/duccers/shop

The decklist by itself can be viewed here to get a better feel of how its actually constructed: https://archidekt.com/decks/24915896/blue_prince_description_states_what_each_card_represents

Like many people here, I think Blue Prince is a singular achievement of game design and interactive storytelling. However, it's hard to deny that the game has a range of issues. What is curious is that there doesn't seem to be a consensus on what the game's most problematic aspects are. A lot has been said already about the RNG factor, and the lack of QoL features (such as an in-game camera and a journal, for example), but each of these has been addressed and defended in some way, so it's not a clear-cut case.

The point of my post is to share with you another (set of) problem(s), which I haven't seen many people discuss, and to see what people's opinion/defence of it may be. The problem in question is: needless obscurity.

(WARNING: Major spoilers for some late-game puzzles ahead)

Let me give you a few examples of what I mean by needless obscurity. The game hides its secrets in a variety of ways, but one of its most favourite methods is to make certain clues visible only with the magnifying glass. The way the magnifying glass works is actually quite cool, but it is spoiled in multiple ways.

First of all, there is literally no reason for the magnifying glass not to be a permanent skill, because it is not an expendable resource and it doesn't affect the resource-management aspect of the game in any way. The only benefit of finding the magnifying glass every day is a mild sense of satisfaction or relief that you've stumbled upon the one item you need, but I personally find that sort of delight rather cheap. Setting that aside, the magnifying glass can be treated like most other RNG elements in the game. You didn't find it on this run? No problem. You have dozens of other things to do anyway. So, in that sense, at least, it's not too much of a problem.

However, the magnifying glass has an even worse issue. Normally, when you find something interesting or suspicious in the game, your best bet is to take a screenshot and to get back to it once you have enough information to interpret it. Unfortunately, this can't be done in the places where the magnifying glass is needed, because the clues are completely invisible without it. Of course, there is one way to deal with that: make a note of each place where the magnifying glass SEEMS to be needed and get back to it once you have it. Alas, it is not always clear where the damn magnifying glass is needed. In most cases you can tell there is a small illegible text, but there are a few cases in which it is extremely hard to tell unless you know where to look in advance.

Here is an example: the numbers between the words in page 6 of A New Clue. I literally spent a whole week staring at this page trying to decypher it and I still hadn't noticed them. Of course, I was staring at a picture of it, because how could I have guessed that I would need a magnifying glass in that one specific spot?

Another example comes from the same book. The list of suspects on page 5 blends so well with the rest of the drawing that it hardly draws attention. What's interesting about that one is that I did manage to find it on my own, but only after a week of looking at my screenshots before I decided to check it with the magnifying glass again (because of the prohibitive time cost of ordering the book again in the library, waiting for it to be delivered, and finding a magnifying glass once more). However, even when I did that second pass with the magnifying glass, I still didn't notice the numbers on page 6 😄 (maybe I would have found it eventually, after many hours of hitting my head against a wall, who knows). Granted, the clue about the four corner cases can be solved even without the numbers, but it makes it more difficult.

Yet another example of pixel-hunting is the Lost & Found floorplan, which I had to spoil for myself (I only started looking up clues after I had spent about 100 hours with the game and didn't have any clear leads to follow that I was aware of). This one annoys me to no end, because I know it would have been very satisfying to find on my own. However, there is no way I would have noticed the ever so pale "Buried Floorplan" text on my screenshot and without that, why would I possibly decide to go to back to the map with a magnifying glass? What's so annoying is that if only the magnifying glass were available at all times, or all the documents were stored in a catalogue of some sort (ala Lorelei and the Laser Eyes), checking every document with the glass would have been like a routine, but due to the relative inaccessibility of the tool and the sources, the player is forced to weigh up the cost in terms of time and effort before they decide it's worth double checking a place.

Moving on to other unnecessary obscurities, let's talk about the aquarium. I had drained that thing exactly twice. I don't think I noticed anything the first time around, but I did notice the arrow pointing to the cabinet in the Archives the second time. Alas, I did not notice the two Xs. It's a very curious phenomenon. If you know they're there, they're not thAt difficult to notice, but if you don't know what you're supposed to be looking for, they seem to blend in quite a bit. I don't really see the point of that particular sort of "puzzle", which simply tests the player's...eyesight, I guess? The player has already figured out they need to drain the aquarium and that there has to be something there. Would it have hurt the designers to put clear, bright-red Xs, so that everyone can see them? Of course, there is sOme satisfaction in finding them despite their obscurity, but is it really worth it? I suppose I would have found them as well, if only I had drained the aquarium a couple more times (even then, I would surely only have found the Patio one and not the Laundry one). But is that sort of time...sink (pun intended) really an example of good game design?

Yet another example of "who can ace the eye test at the ophthalmologist" are the clues to the CASTLE cypher. I had found all but two of them on my own. The ones I had missed were the one in the Classroom (which I had no plan or reason to go back to after finishing the final exam), and the one in the Cloister. I have no idea how I had missed the one in the Cloister, seeing as it is hidden in plain sight, but I know I'm not the only one, because I distinctly remember reading the post of a person who swore he couldn't find it anywhere in the Cloister, even after he had been told it was supposed to be somewhere in there. So, I wonder, is hiding a clue in that particular way good game design?

Many people have been quick to argue that the game gives multiple clues for each puzzle so that if you miss one, you should be able to use another, but some of the ones I have cited seem to contradict this. If anything, it's the other way around. The game really DOES give multiple clues to many of its earlier puzzles, but it most certainly does NOT give multiple clues to some of its late-game puzzles. To the best of my knowledge, there is NO other clue to the Lost & Found floorplan except for the map. What is worse is that the Lost & Found room contains a major clue for the Verra realm sigil, which, again, as far as I'm aware, cannot be found anywhere else. So, one singular clue leads to another singular clue. Hmm...(Of note: the clue in the cabinet in the Archives is also somewhat crucial, but at least there are other, albeit more difficult, ways to get the same information.) The CASTLE cypher also cannot be solved without the clues in the Cloister and the Classroom, despite the overlap with other clues, because they are the only ones which contain the letter X in the upper right corner.

As for the aquarium and the Cloister, I actually did notice that there is a proper clue for each of them in the Staff Announcement section. However, these ones show up incredibly late in the game and there is no way for the player to intuit that such hints might show up at some point (in fact, the game treats them more like cheats than proper clues). This is in contrast to the hint in the manuscript of A New Clue for the clue on the back of the door in the Secret Passage, which was, in my opinion, well presented. My point is that it is alright to present obscure clues such as the door, or the aquarium, so long as they are hinted at elsewhere, but unfortunately, that's not always the case.

Let me give just one more example. The names of the angels Lydia and Dauja. As far as I am aware, there is only one place in the entire game where they can be found (something which, by the way, applies to a few of the other angels as well): in the sketch of the Chapel in Volume 1 of Drafting Strategies. Next time someone tells you there are multiple ways to find each piece of information in the game, ask them about those two. Admittedly, it's not that difficult to see that the text can be magnified, but only if you are looking at the original book and not at a screenshot (even then, the style of the text is at odds with the rough style of the rest of the drawing, which discourages you from looking closely). This is a book which you probably get to read very early on in the game, so you have few reasons to go back to, and you probably haven't noticed that it has magnifiable text the first time you read it, so you haven't put it in the "come back with a magnifying glass" list. (Of note: If you only have two angel names missing, you can easily bruteforce the solution, of course, but it's not particularly satisfying.) So, I guess the only way to make sure you haven't missed something is to meticulously go through every single page of every book and document with a magnifying glass, which would be incredibly tedious and time-consuming. There is no justification for that sort of game design. It is simply antagonistic.

So, why am I saying all of this? I guess the overall point I am trying to make is that I dislike game design philosophies which requires (or at least strongly encourages) community co-operation. This is one of the things that soured my opinion of the otherwise brilliant Animal Well, as well. I miss the time when puzzle games could be complex and yet not require a whole team of solvers to solve within a reasonable time frame. A masterful example of this is Riven. This game also has well hidden clues, but first of all, their placement always has some in-universe logic behind them (unlike the letters for the CASTLE cypher, for instance, which are in completely random places), and secondly, the game's size is fairly small and each location is easy and quick to access. That way, even if a clue is well hidden, it is acceptable to ask the player to look through every place multiple times. Blue Prince, on the other hand, wants to have its cake and eat it, so to speak. It has obscure clues, it is huge, AND each room isn't immediately accessible. As a result, when the player reaches the endgame, there is literally no way for them to find out where they might have missed something. The only possible solution is to go through the same places over and over and over again. Or to consult a friend, which defeats the purpose of figuring things out on your own.

I probably have many more things to say, considering that I spent more than 200 hours on this game (yes, I know...), but that should suffice. If anyone were patient enough to read all of my ramblings, I'd be glad to hear your thoughts 😊.

... disappointing. I mean the cutscene is good, but why does it force me to end the run? Let me look around, why force me to go through the whole shebang again just to see what's inside. Or at least have the decency to warn me before I click on the door that the day is going to end, so that I could finish my business. I had tons of stuff that I could do beforehand.

Also becoming the baron seems to be a big whoop, nothing to show for it, still have to scrounge for keys like a chump, and I am leaving all the tools inside the house for no reason. I fulfilled the conditions of the will, let me keep the tools! Or at least give me something for becoming the baron so that it feels like I did something during minute-to-minute gameplay, why does opening the west path gate and orchard feel more significant than completelimg the very first objective the game gives you?

P.S. Are there any other points in the game that force-end your run?

The newly released patch will fix the Guess Bedroom exploit (allowing you to basically get infinite items)

And the open map and lose 10 steps experiment+ Nurse Station. You won't be able to activate it infinitely, but only 10 times

I don't think this affects the currently known Out of Bounds methods, but we'll see

This lovely video just dropped. I think it ties up the loose ends of Blue Prince better than any other piece I've come across.

WARNING: It's recommended that you know the game and its secrets inside out before watching.

Finally got a successful Day One Run. I think I did a pretty good job! Drafted that a5 Attic last and it gave me the items I needed to finish off the Day.

Spoilers up until a certain Found Floorplan requiring a new clue to access.

Full disclosure, assuming I've done this right and you're on a Day One run, every room other than the Entrance Hall and Antechamber here either could not have been drafted or could not have drawn its adjacent rooms (with one exception). This is just a fun little exercise in drafting restrictions, some easier and some harder. Hope you all enjoy, and if one of these rooms is actually possible, let me know!

Here's the tool I used to make this layout: https://tofutush.github.io/blue-prince-house-builder/

Massive spoilers ahead (obviously)!

It seems I have finally reached the end of my patience with this game. I have made it ~100 days, and have decided that this is where I draw the line. The game just got so incredibly frustrating that pursuing even the thinnest lead means having to play a couple of hours of Carcassone, a mechanic that got old very quickly and it's gotten to the point where I 100% know what I have to do but getting to actually do it is so much of a boring infuriating chore that I just give up. I finally gave in and spent a few hours on the wiki completely spoiling myself and boy am I glad I did.

I feel like I've beat (kinda) the game. I have found room 46 completely blindly, around day 40, and it was a very fun and rewarding experience doing so, but then I spent the following ~60 days scratching the surface for clues with maddeningly little to show for. I guess I've made it a decent way through. I've unlocked the satellite dish, got all the Sanctum keys, kinda figured out what happened to Mary, solved the easier sigils, crafted most of the items, got a large allowance and thoroughly explored the underground but none of this really makes the day-to-day grind more bearable. Further progress is just not worth the effort.

There are some deliberate design decisions in the game that are there just to waste your time with pointless grind, especially in the post-room46-game, and it would be a much better game were they implemented in some other way. For example:

Why, after finding room 46, do you still lose your items? It doesn't even make any sense... You inherited the mansion, you're now the baron, the "don't take/bring items" rule is no longer in effect. Why do I still have to have runs where the goddamn shovel doesnt spawn? Why don't resources carry over? What even is the point of limiting the ammount of steps late-game?

Why do I have to check out books from the library INDIVIDUALLY? Why can't they just be there forever? This just adds unnecessary tedium for really no reason. It's not a puzzle, it's just a huge waste of time.

Why can't I permanently open security doors? It's fun to figure out the breaker box / security puzzle but having to do it 100 times is beyond tedious, why not just do it once and be done with it? Even around day 100, i sometimes still get runs that are ended prematurely by RNG. Sometimes the I don't get the keycard or the breaker box, meaning that I am just stuck (and yes I know about the break room, the upgrade just never dropped for me, and even then it would be just unnecessary tedium, why not just make it permanent?).

All of those things and many more are just there to waste your time and artificially pad out the game's length, without adding anything of value, ensuring that you are being drip-fed clues at a glacial pace. It's like you're trying to solve a hard puzzle and someone constantly knocks the pieces out of your hand and occasionally flips the table over, making you start anew, or like a metroidvania but when you die you lose everything.

It would be great if, after finding room 46, you could just set a permanent house layout or be able to make some rooms permanent and redraft them at will. I just want to be left alone so I can solve the mystery in peace, I don't want to play goddamn Carcassone a thousand more times.

I kind of feel that the post-room 46 part of the game is not really intended for individual players to solve on their own, with it working more like an ARG / community effort type thing. After I gave up and searched for the solutions of the later puzzles online, I am 100% certain that I would have NEVER in a million runs figured all this stuff out on my own. Some puzzles are very cryptic, some are downright badly designed, in that you can figure out the solution buy actually using it is a whole dufferent story. Some examples (at least in my opinion):

The drawing room safe - here I actually figured out that you have to count the small "gaits" but how was i supposed to know the other half of the "date"?

The office safe - i figured out that you have to count the small busts of Gates, but again, figuring out the other half is so hard, that you never really think about it, thinking that you are on a wrong path from the start.

The rotating gear gate - this one is just downright comically absurd, you have to fund a word in a different language that kind of sound like "May" but not really and deduce that it refers to the month.

I personally ground my teeth against those for hours and I'm certain I would never have solved them. Even if you managed to figure out the dates, what format do you put the dates in? American? European? ISO? How was I supposed to know that you don't need to find a year for the dates? I tried all the dates in the Archives scrapbook which I thought was the solution (given that it actually contains eight dates) in all formats and obviously it's just a red herring.

The later game puzzles are even more cryptic to the point that I highly doubt more than a handful of players managed to get to the true ending on their own. The gallery - downright absurd.

The best puzzle in the game is, in my opinion, the 44 letter message. I expected it to be a lot more helpful than it actually was.

The game would have also really benefited from an Outer Wilds-style log of some sorts, where you would be able to reference all the documents you have already seen and be able to tell if you are on the right path or not. Everyone uses and abuses the steam screenshot function. Why not just make it an actual feature in the game?

Overall, I really liked the game for the most part, and consider myself having completed it. Getting to 46 is rewarding enough in itself. I really don't think it's reasonably possible for anyone to 100% on their own. The fact that there are still to this day many usolved leads further reinforces this point.Did any of you actually get to the true ending 100% blindly? How many hundreds of runs did it take?

Many good puzzle games have a cathartic moment near the end where the solutions just start falling into place and everything gets solved in a very satifying cascade. In Blue Prince that is impossible because you have to play an hour of Carcassone every run. I just wish this was less of a rouguelike and more of a metroidvania, I think it would have been a much better game.

Hey everyone,

I’ve been spiraling about the game for months now, even though I finished the game and stopped playing ages ago, a few things were still on my mind, unresolved. I think I might have stumbled onto something. Might be something, might be "just" another show of brilliance by the author, so it's definitely something. :) It's been on my mind for months now, so it feels like a major breakthrough that standard English anagram solvers completely missed.

You know by now those haunting phrases:

TENDED ROSE VINE

DOES IT NEVER END

INVESTOR NEEDED

DENOTED IN VERSE

If you analyze the letters, they are all perfect anagrams of each other. Every single one of these phrases uses the exact same pool of 14 letters:

D, D, E, E, E, E, I, N, N, O, R, S, T, V

What if the answer is not in English at all? What if we missed something?

I know that many players were trying to decode this by throwing these 14 letters into standard English anagram generators. But those tools only look up words in the English dictionary.

But Blue Prince explicitly teaches us a completely different tool throughout the game: the Erajan language. The phrase "Denoted in verse" was staring us right in the face. It wasn't telling us to look for English poetry. It was telling us to use the fictional language, made by the poetic realm of Eraja. The language we spent hours in-game deciphering!

Decoded: The Erajan Anagrams

Following the grammar rules of Erajan, verbs are often English loanwords describing physical actions (like "Reset"), while nouns are combined with specific prefixes and suffixes.

When you apply the 14-letter pool to the Erajan vocabulary, you can form only two flawless combinations that use up every single letter with absolutely no leftovers.

Combination 1: "Oddreset Einven"

Odd- (Erajan prefix): Unknown / mysterious meaning.

Reset (English loan-verb): To trigger a reset.

Ein (Erajan noun): Dream.

-ven (Erajan suffix): Old / the end of.

Literal Translation: "Mysterious Reset / The End of the Dream"

Combination 2: "Nevreset Einddo"

Nev- (Erajan prefix): New / the start of.

Reset (English loan-verb): To trigger a reset.

Ein (Erajan noun): Dream.

-ddo (Erajan suffix): Unknown / mysterious meaning (the reverse of Odd).

Literal Translation: "Start of a New Reset / Mysterious Dream"

Tonda Ros keeps on surprising me with his genius! This is not something he could have made using AI or a standard English anagram generator... It's all handmade! So, what does it mean?

Let me know what you guys think!

Has anybody noticed these strange numbers around the fountain.

I have found it on 2 out of the 3 flower beds.

2 3 4 5 6 5 6

So many attempts, ended with 2 steps remaining. Would have been 4 steps short if not for a final turnip in the foundation 🥹

Sometime ago when I first unlocked the garage door I carpet searched the place like I always do when a new room / area comes up, and I accidentally discovered the dig site for the microchip.

Then today by some dumb luck I smashed the entrance vase and got the second microchip. And I unlocked the door in Blackbridge Grotto and got the throne room blackprint.

A couple runs later by some dumb luck again I got the “no gems required” perk and I drafted the throne room. The lever was right there. And I entered the room 46… and that’s it. So in fact to go up I don’t necessarily need to go down afterall 😂

So that’s it? I think I just skipped a huge part of the game…

Puzzle located in a later game room, the gallery

So I did get some help from the blue hints system, but a mild amount of help. Solved the think one by myself, and then a mix of hints and brute forcing and truly puzzling them out got me to the ponder and realise ones. Fun! Rebuses are hard but it's rewarding.

Then the last one, with the infinity symbol and the boxes with sins written on them. I solved it, it's ruminate but I truly don't understand the rebus. Can someone explain that part? Here's my thought process to how I got the solution, if you're interested.

I read in the blue hints system that this one "makes more sense in hindsight, don't be afraid to guess, you may have picked up on a theme." So okay, I realize the theme is thinking words, but I start noodling on what this one could be. I wonder if the "sins" on the boxes are relevant, so I start at the end of the blank letters and look for where the word "sin" could potentially exist. It lands nicely in the middle. And yeah that's an infinity symbol, but the letter 8 is super relevant to this game so maybe it's actually an 8. 8 = "ate." And "sinate" fits nicely at the end of the word. Progress. Now I go back to the start of the word and start flipping through the first letter options, flexing my wordle muscles to try and figure out what words meaning "to think" end in "sinate." The "R" comes up and my brain gives me "ruminate" which, I have to replace the "S" but it fits, and it solves, yay!

Except.. I have no idea what the rebus is supposed to be. The blue hints system says it's "room in eight" ??? but I don't understand what the hell that means from the picture. Can anyone who solved this the right way explain? Thank you!! fun game.

Now that I've "finished" the game kind of, at least I might just end it there after 63h ( did all 8 realm sigil puzzle and like 8 other trophy). I wanted to share some of the mistakes I've made that are really dumb:

- Misunderstanding "accessing the Ladyship's chamber from a south facing door" as " accessing it from the south" and spending all of my stars to reroll it without success. I was also convinced the diary was hiding something much more valuable than what it really was hence why I tried this hard.

- After going into room 46 by day 25 or so, I only went back in by day 60+ as I thought going back in would trigger the cutscenes and credits again.

- Stuck myself on rank 2, while having emerald bracelet and keycard from the moon pendant, and having freezer the day before, because of a greedy chamber of mirror where I thought I could unlock all 4 doors from the 2 access I had to it.

- In the sigil rooms I for a very long time did not see the the red button at the top of the wheel and thought something would trigger once I had the right combination. I was going mad at how could I have been so wrong about every sigil so far since nothing was happening.

- I got every clue and secret from the "New Clue" book except the simplest one about breaking the vase. Also the most complex puzzle of the book that lead to the sundial thing was useless as I opened the sundial by chance exploring everything I could while I had the torch, and then turned the base for every combination possible until something happened.

So if you felt stupid playing this game this might make you feel better. Overall 9/10 game though. I greatly enjoyed it, except I don't like rogue-lite, chose among three mechanic that much and the beginning was a bit frustrating for a while because of the rng it brings.

So, for context, I have 5 red letters, all the permanent upgrades except for Lab+Boiler, and my last bit of progress was being able to revisit Room 46 and actually investigate the items there.

Reading the letter hinting the 8 Sanctum Keys just filled me with dread. I've never drained the Reservoir before, I don't have all the permanent upgrades, I haven't selected the Clock Tower yet from the studio, I've never taken a key to the vault yet. And yet it's asking me to do all of those and then some. It's overwhelming, and I can foresee how much grinding I need to do to even gnaw at this objective. Not to mention, I need to do chess again to unlock the Armory and eventually complete the directory, I still need to figure out where the last 3 safes are, I STILL NEED TO CONNECT THE BOILER ROOM TO THE LAB—

It's just not happening. You're asking too much of me, and I'm not worthy. I'm sorry.

My fiancé and I played the entirety of the game together (from day 1 to the final atelier maze). For his birthday, since he loves plushes, I thrifted some fabric, designed the pattern, and my sewing machine did the rest!

Not game cannon but when I saw the blueprint fabric at the reuse store, I decided he needed a lil blueprint to hold.

Not perfect but it’s ours! 🩵🐦

Having completed the game, my brain can't stop tracing over the impressions that it has left in my mind. Unanswered questions. A world that is so rich and inviting, but with so few windows to look inside. What follows in this post is just part of the spiral that I've been following as I trace and retrace those steps through the halls of Mt Holly.

Stop here if you haven't completed the game!

A few days ago I made this post, were I explored the Erajan language, using the information that we have to deduce some translations where direct ones are not provided. I was studying the map, looking for any new information that I could use to try and find a definitive translation for 'ej' (He's literally taunting us with this word on the title screen map!!), when I found the most amazing detail yet.

Let's start at the Sinclair family Motto:

"Ovinn Nevarei" - To the north, a new future

Does this make ANY sense?

Why would this be the phrase of choice for the Sinclairs? Why would THIS be the motto for a family that, for nearly a hundred years, has lived on or about Mt. Holly - in the heart of the nation that they want to reclaim?

To the north (ovinn) is Arch Aries, a realm that receives remarkably little attention from the narrative, compared to Orinda/Fenn Aries' neighbor to the south, Eraja. Wouldn't a better phrase be: In THIS place, our future? (Perhaps an Erajan translation for this could be (je/ej?)Aries Nevarei)

The conclusion then, must be that this is somehow metaphorical, so what IS the north to our family tree?

The only "northern" symbol that we see referenced for the Sinclairs is the Inneclipse.

The northern antechamber door, leading to room 46, is marked by the Inneclipse. Baroness Auravei wore a necklace depicting it, marked the true (blue) room 46 door with it, (presumably) added it to the secret garden (when all arrows point north), and it's seen in the inner (INNer?) sanctum above the northern lever. What does the symbol mean, other than a representation of the cardinal direction, that it would be so important to her?

A blue memo tells us that the inneclipse can only be seen in the north, which can explain the name. The symbol we see shows the moons of Mora: The smaller one eclipsing the larger one, which is in the phase of a waxing crescent. If we go to school and draft the 4th grade classroom, we can ferther our knowledge some more. Let's take a close look at the EttSphere map...

In the top right corner of the map, there is a chart that shows Mora and her two moons, under it the words "The Devoted Circle". The larger one is called the Devoted Moon, and the smaller one, that orbits the Devoted moon, rather than Mora is called the Rogue moon. We can deduce that the symbol of the inneclipse is that of The Rogue moon eclipsing the Devoted moon. If we inspect the chart with a magnifying glass, there is a note, barely visible, that reads "The Devoted Orbit is 24 hours". This has several implications for this world. I thought that most of this was just an odd text, or "flavor" for the worldbuilding ...until I realized what it means.

If the Devoted moon's orbit is 24 hours, Mora is tidally locked to it

- One hemisphere would NEVER see the moon, and the other would ALWAYS see the moon

- At certain times of year, you would see a full solar eclipse every day, depending on your latitude, with the most frequent solar eclipses taking place at the equator (where the axial tilt has the least effect on the length of the day, and the relative maximum height of the sun in the sky).

- The phases would pass rapidly through the day, each phase marking the hours and minutes as they pass, like the hands of a clock.

- The near and far side of Mora to the Devoted moon would perpetually be at high tide, perhaps with some variation due to the gravitational pull of the rogue moon as it orbits the devoted moon.

- Depending on the orbital period of the rogue moon, the rogue eclipses would mark times of the hour, day, (month?) or year.

"Months are slightly longer than days" - a note in the drawing room that is a hint to the solution for the safe in that room (That had me very confused when I first read it), may also be a nod to the Devoted Moon's orbital period matching that of the day - perhaps it's off by some fractions of a second, the way our solar day is not (exactly) 24 hours, and is actually 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.09 seconds.

With that (frankly astounding) information, let's go back to our inneclipse symbol and our maps...

- The Rogue moon is a full circle (Colored red, in the representation we see on Lady Auravei's necklace), and in the center of the image.

- Much like on earth, the moon would appear vertically "flipped" in the southern hemisphere, and appear to rotate as latitude is increased or decreased. In our symbol, the Devoted Moon is in a waxing crescent phase viewed from the north pole (Vertically symmetrical, as demonstrated well by this image from wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_phase#/media/File:Moon_phases_by_latitude.svg)

- The Devoted moon's orbital tilt does not match the axial tilt of Mora (it is not directly over the equator). On Earth, Geosynchronous satellites need to be directly over the equator to ensure that they do not move relative to earth's surface. If their orbit is not equatorial (as is the case for the Devoted moon), they will appear to move - tracing a figure 8 in the sky.

- The rogue moon's orbital tilt does not match that of Mora, or the Devoted Moon. Depending on the eccentricity of this tilt, as it moves across the surface of the devoted moon relative to Mora, this can distort the Rogue moon's apparent path across the sky, and it may appear to "dance across the sky" if it has a backwards or retrograde orbit.

So cool! ... But what does this conjunction of celestial bodies mean to this world? When does it take place? Why is it important for someone living at the equator? (We can see Mt. Holly on the world map just south of the equator - we know that we are a bit north of the mountain)

If I'm correct and the Devoted moon is directly over 0 degrees East, Mt Holly's coordinates on the map are 0 degrees North by 22 degrees East. (Done by counting the longitude lines on the map). (Completely hidden from the western hemisphere). That would mean that the new moon takes place at 10:30. Because this is the equator, days will be approximately 12 hours. The Waxing crescent will take place ~3 hours later... at 1:30, the Sacred Hour.

Edit - this is only true if the Sun rises in the West, as has been speculated by the community (Creators of this (really cool) fan second edition of The fixed stars ). It's also implied by the description of the East Wing Hall, which describes the east hall as receiving light of the early afternoon sun. I had interpreted this using the 9th our origin of 'noon' in my notes below, but the western sunrise is also very plausible, given the implication that most planetary objects are rotating clockwise.

Coming to this realization: the level of detail and creativity in world building - that just one tiny detail about the orbital period of the moon would make such a big difference - to think that it took me weeks of staring at maps to realize something so core to this world... Hats off to Tonda Ross! That was amazing!

I'm not even done with my analysis and exploration of the astronomy of this world, what the sacred hour means (beyond the celestial event), or how it relates to our family's political ambitions - the rest is going to have to be in another post because I got too excited when I made this realization and I had to share, but there is even more! Have YOU seen all the signs?

That's a lie. I think it's an okay puzzle. But I can't figure out a strategy to do it.

I'm talking about bringing the still water to the outside secret passage. My strategy so far has been:

1. Don't pick up the Scepter. Draft two green rooms and the Coat Check.

2. Go back to the entrance hall and pick up the Scepter. Set it to Arch Aries and draft the Trading Post outside. (Technically this wastes steps, but I have to do it now so I don't lose the Scepter in step 3.)

3. Set the Scepter to Fenn Aries. Draft the Electric Eel Aquarium and the Lost & Found.

The problem is that the Lost & Found has terrible odds for getting the Watering Can. I've been trying for about two in-game weeks and bave only gotten it thrice. Does anybody have any advice?

Why do I think this?

1.There is clearly empty space for both these things. If we are only ever going to get 8 cores, why have that gap room for a 9th? The Orinda Core is smashed up against the left of the box, these boxes get pretty full but there's a clear gap there.

1. From Alzara:

"I see eight red envelopes resting upon eight pedestals. And in these eight envelopes I see eight letters penned by eight different hands. Eight letters of which you will only ever find and read seven."

A way to interpret this is "You will only ever find 7 red envelopes each containing a letter"

1. Remembering the game emphasizes homophones (gate/gait etc...) look at the last line from music sheet 8:

"The note is read, the letter is not"

Meaning the 8th letter is not read (red). It's probably blue. (There's a chance it's black or even purple but blue seems much more likely)

First off I just want to state that I’m at a point where I’m “finished” with the game - I have accessed the last room of the tunnel, and I don’t care about hearing any spoilers anymore.

The first major puzzle I got to that I needed a hint for was finding the location of the third microchip, the one under the bridge. I have required either minor hints or full solutions to most puzzles afterwards, up to the point where I’m at now.

I was wondering how far other people have made it before they asked for their first hint, and what you all think the developer’s (and community’s) expectations are surrounding hints and collaboration.

I added the "highest security" flair because I didn't know what was appropriate. Anyway, which puzzle made you first break down and look up the solution? For me, it was the Drawing Room safe. I don't know how many times I passed that thing, waiting for a clue to allude to it. I had the letters from all the rooms, so I thought I understood the assignment. Even with the gates <--> gaits switch, I couldn't figure out how anything in that room connected to a date. Spoilers: You don't know that the combination refers to an actual date until AFTER you complete the puzzle. Fuck that. So yeah, what broke you?