Blue Prince
Hacker ApprovedRanked 5 of 45 puzzle games by recommenders
People recommend it for layered puzzles, deduction and a house that rewards careful noticing. Critics most often cite crashes, bugs and a random, repetitive run structure.
People recommend it for layered puzzles, deduction and a house that rewards careful noticing. Critics most often cite crashes, bugs and a random, repetitive run structure.
36 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 30
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 30 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 10 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Layered, deep puzzles to solve
“it's a really compelling roguelite puzzler where you explore and understand the house and it's mechanics”
Comment from 6 Sep 2026 in “2026 Hugo Awards” “there is an entire _second game_ layered on top of it, which is largely about _noticing things_”
Comment from 5 Nov 2025 on Hacker News “after finishing the game, there are still hundreds of hours worth of optional puzzles left”
Comment from 6 Sep 2026 in “2026 Hugo Awards” - Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “10 years: Stephen's Sausage Roll still one of the most influential puzzle games”
- Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “No One Can Afford to Make Myst Games Anymore”
- Comment from 19 Mar 2026 in “Return of the Obra Dinn: spherical mapped dithering for a 1bpp first-person game”
- Comment from 6 Sep 2026 in “2026 Hugo Awards”
Excellent, well-regarded original game
“the final one is the worst thing in Blue Prince which overall is an excellent game”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles” “KCD2, Expedition 33, and Blue Prince were all incredible games.”
Comment from 15 Mar 2026 in “Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis” “But the game is amazing and that's what matters.”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles” - Comment from 5 Mar 2026 in “The L in "LLM" Stands for Lying”
- Comment from 29 Jan 2026 in “In a genre where spoilers are devastating, how do we talk about puzzle games?”
- Comment from 30 Aug 2026 in “Casey Muratori – The Root of the Root of All Evil – BSC 2026 [video]”
Recommended to Myst fans
“it's basically Myst + a spatial puzzle + modern drafting/resource management board game”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “10 years: Stephen's Sausage Roll still one of the most influential puzzle games” “Blue Prince has deep puzzle elements that would be at home to a Myst player”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “No One Can Afford to Make Myst Games Anymore” “If you prefer Myst then, besides Outer Wilds, I’d recommend Blue Prince.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “'500-hour' Order of the Sinking Star is as complex and exhausting as it sounds” - Comment from 29 Jan 2026 in “In a genre where spoilers are devastating, how do we talk about puzzle games?”
Lots of content and hours
“after finishing the game, there are still hundreds of hours worth of optional puzzles left”
Comment from 6 Sep 2026 in “2026 Hugo Awards” “I've poured tons of hours into Blue Prince, which is a great puzzle game.”
Comment from 1 Jul 2026 in “Nintendo has raised its employees base salary by 10%” “one of the lovely things about Blue Prince is that there's a lot of it”
Comment from 29 Jan 2026 in “In a genre where spoilers are devastating, how do we talk about puzzle games?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Crashes, bugs and glitches
“crashing was a regular occurrence, which made the lack of saves even more infuriating”
Comment from 29 Jan 2026 in “In a genre where spoilers are devastating, how do we talk about puzzle games?” “Falling off the world in Blue Prince due to collision bugs is annoying”
Comment from 20 Sep 2026 in “You can defeat the Dream Devourer from Chrono Trigger using an int overflow” “your example game would have been more enjoyable (especially for the mentioned Playstation users) if the code had been written a bit better”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles” - Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles”
- Comment from 29 Jan 2026 in “In a genre where spoilers are devastating, how do we talk about puzzle games?”
Random, repetitive run structure
“the RNG nature of the game stopped being exciting and started being a tedious obstacle”
Comment from 29 Jan 2026 in “In a genre where spoilers are devastating, how do we talk about puzzle games?” “lost patience with the repetitive nature of the game”
Comment from 29 Jan 2026 in “In a genre where spoilers are devastating, how do we talk about puzzle games?” No saving during runs
“crashing was a regular occurrence, which made the lack of saves even more infuriating”
Comment from 29 Jan 2026 in “In a genre where spoilers are devastating, how do we talk about puzzle games?” “My biggest gripe was the lack of in-run saving.”
Comment from 29 Jan 2026 in “In a genre where spoilers are devastating, how do we talk about puzzle games?”
Other puzzle games people recommend
The four most recommended other puzzle games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outer Wilds | 65 | 7 | 90% | 9 | — | Approved |
| enclose.horse | 64 | 10 | 86% | 4 | — | Approved |
| The Witness | 60 | 19 | 76% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Braid | 36 | 5 | 88% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Blue PrinceThis page | 30 | 6 | 83% | 10 | — | Approved |
What people said
40 of the 55 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“If you prefer Myst then, besides Outer Wilds, I’d recommend Blue Prince.”
“Falling off the world in Blue Prince due to collision bugs is annoying”
“it's a really compelling roguelite puzzler where you explore and understand the house and it's mechanics”
“after finishing the game, there are still hundreds of hours worth of optional puzzles left”
“I think that's a much better game relatively speaking”
“The act of writing and arranging your notes is actually quite immersive.”
“quite probably the best puzzle game I have ever played”
“a lot of the guts of Blue Prince are a trash fire, but the player will not ordinarily notice”
“which I enjoyed tremendously”
“Some videogames that really captured me from the plot perspective”
“Blue Prince immediately came to mind for me as relevant modern art”
“Blue Prince has deep puzzle elements that would be at home to a Myst player”
“I've poured tons of hours into Blue Prince, which is a great puzzle game.”
“that was very intense from the brain perspective”
“The puzzle game that reaped all the rewards this year is Blue Prince”
“it's basically Myst + a spatial puzzle + modern drafting/resource management board game”
“hits some of the same satisfying puzzle-solving/deduction notes”
“KCD2, Expedition 33, and Blue Prince were all incredible games.”
“well respected new games like Blue Prince”
“Original, phenomenal games covering damm near every genre”
“Blue Prince was a much nicer experience for discouraging that”
“I think this part of BP's nature is critical to its ludonarrative symmetry”
“lost patience with the repetitive nature of the game”
“crashing was a regular occurrence, which made the lack of saves even more infuriating”
“The engineering in Blue Prince is terrible.”
“My biggest gripe was the lack of in-run saving.”
“one of the lovely things about Blue Prince is that there's a lot of it”
“the way in which that game gives you information later on which completely recontextualizes things you have encountered earlier”
“with Blue Prince getting a B+ from me”
“I never had this in Blue Prince and so I was much better able to enjoy both the game itself”
“While I enjoyed Blue Prince very much even though I played it alone”
“the RNG nature of the game stopped being exciting and started being a tedious obstacle”
“If you like Myst, try Blue Prince.”
“Rolling Credits ("Bequest%") in Blue Prince is a very different experience as a player, than as a viewer”
“A dozen handmade video games means a dozen chances for an entirely unprecedented new game.”
“the final one is the worst thing in Blue Prince which overall is an excellent game”
“would have been more enjoyable for those people who did see those bugs”
“your example game would have been more enjoyable (especially for the mentioned Playstation users) if the code had been written a bit better”
“But the game is amazing and that's what matters.”
“there is an entire _second game_ layered on top of it, which is largely about _noticing things_”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.