Have you ever had that dream where you see another room in your house? Maybe there’s a little door next to the bathroom, a small hatch next to the stairs, or an attic that doesn’t exist. It’s a theme that my not-quite-nightmare dreams hook onto a lot: the dreams aren’t scary, but there’s a certain horror pallor sticking to them like sweat on bedsheets. Blue Prince is perhaps the game that’s ever come closest to reinvigorating those feelings within me as I play it.
In the roguelike puzzle game, you inherit a house from your great uncle. There's one catch – you need to find the hidden 46th room in this 45 room mansion. That in itself, is quite a creepy premise, with the game’s core loop involving opening a door and then drafting (picking from three blueprints) a room beyond it. You may one day turn left from the entrance hall into a closet, another day into a grand dining room, and another into a spare room, all half-dried paint and unfinished dreams.
