Recently, Dogubomb’s Blue Prince was released to the world after nine hard years of development. The title has taken the internet by storm as gamers have fallen in love with its roguelike elements which make the entire game one large puzzle to be solved. Once the major mystery and final room are solved, though, the game naturally leaves a hole in the hearts of gamers which many are seeking to fill.
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While there’s truly no other game out there like Blue Prince, various games have similar design elements, such as the puzzle design or the looping aspect. If you have recently beaten Blue Prince and are craving similar games, then perhaps one of the following titles will interest you.
9The Witness
A Mysterious Island
The Witness
If your favorite aspect of Blue Prince was how it just throws you into the mansion and expects you to solve the puzzles on your own with minimal direction, then perhaps 2016’s The Witness would be right up your alley. This game is all about throwing the player onto an island of puzzles and seeing if they can solve it on their own.
While The Witness and Blue Prince are both primarily without direction, both games do feature a goal that the player is working toward. In The Witness’ case, they’ll need to reach the inside of a mountain by slowly solving puzzles around regions of the map. While The Witness isn’t as good as latter games on this list, it may help scratch the itch that Blue Prince left you with.
8Escape Academy
Become an Escape Room Master
Escape Academy
At the core of its experience, Blue Prince can be considered one giant escape room, with the player needing to solve puzzles to progress as well as collect specific items to fully solve certain rooms. If you enjoyed Blue Prince and the concept of escape rooms, then perhaps Coin Crew Games’Escape Academyis right up your alley.
This title, as its name implies, is all about putting players through a series of puzzles as they strive to become an escape room master. Unlike most titles on this list, this game is alsomultiplayer, so you may work together with friends to figure out these puzzles together. If that sounds up your alley, then pick up this cute little title.
7The Forgotten City
History in the Making
The Forgotten City
One of the key elements which make Blue Prince addictive is the looping aspect, where the player must start from scratch each day and keep note of what they learned in previous loops. If you wish to play another game with this style of puzzle solving, then 2021’sForgotten Citywill provide you with an experience that will stick with you for decades.
This game is all about the player repeating the same day over and over, with the catch being that if anyone in the city commits a sin, everyone dies. This causes a hectic scenario where the player must run around each day attempting to solve everyone’s problems before the inevitable fall happens. If you love looping titles and time loops, then this title may be up your alley.
6Fate/Hollow Ataraxia
Avenger in the Night
Another great title that involves looping from the beginning of the story with information you’ve learned in previous loops is the 2005 Visual Novel: Fate/Hollow Ataraxia, a direct sequel toType-Moon’s culturally significanthit: Fate/Stay Night. Hollow Ataraxia may not be in English yet, but will be receiving a translated port on the Nintendo Switch in 2025.
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While the puzzle aspect of Fate/Hollow Ataraxia is far less pronounced than other games in this list due to its genre, it’s still satisfying to get past specific roadblocks in your path via knowing to bring Saber to the bridge at night or knowing which servant can counter Bazett. If you are curious about what a looping scenario would look like in Visual Novel form, then check out Fate/Hollow Ataraxia when it’s remastered.
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5Outer Wilds
One of Gaming’s Greatest
Outer Wilds
One other great title all about experiencing a loop and progressing via information you’ve learned previously is Mobius Digital’s Outer Wilds, a game all about experiencing the end of a universe and trying to learn why it is happening. The puzzle aspects of this title are much less pronounced than in Blue Prince, but it’s still has some similar DNA for those of you who like the repeating experience.
The Outer Wilds is commonly considered to be one of the best and most emotional gaming experiences in recent years. If you have yet to play through this title, then do yourself a favor and pick it up. Similar to Blue Prince, though, verify you don’t look up anything about it before diving in, as the experience is much better if you go in blind.
4Professor Layton
A Puzzle in Every Room
For those of you who enjoyed the rooms in Blue Prince where you needed to figure out which boxes were lying or solve a math puzzle on a dart board, there exists an entire franchise full of similar puzzles: theProfessor Laytongames. These titles will throw hundreds of logic puzzles at players as they solve various mysteries related to locations this top-hatted Professor visits.
The Professor Layton games are separated into two separate trilogies, one for the DS and one for the 3DS. While the DS Trilogy is considered the superior one, both are fantastic for gamers who want to solve puzzles like figuring out how much certain objects weigh on the moon.
3Return of the Obra Dinn
One Large Puzzle
Return of the Obra Dinn
Blue Prince wasn’t the original first-person indie puzzle game to take the internet by storm. In 2018, this merchant ship mystery game Return of the Obra Dinn took both niche communities and streaming sites by storm. This title, which features one of the most impressive and unique art styles of all time, has the player investigate an entire ship to discover the fate of all the crew and passengers.
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Similar to Blue Prince, the game is essentially one gigantic puzzle as the player strives to discover the fate of each of the ship’s passengers, slowly learning more and more as they progress around the ship. If you love this type of puzzle game, then get aboard the Obra Dinn and solve this case.
2Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Haunting and Beautiful
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
If you want a puzzle game that’s similar to Blue Prince which also has a setting inside of an old mansion, then the recentLorelei and the Laser Eyesby Simogo might satisfy you. The game focuses much more on the player solving puzzles than Blue Prince’s mansion, but there’s still a sense of exploration as the player can complete them in a non-linear order.
The visuals in this title are some of the best on this list, with any part of this game being instantly identifiable as Lorelei. While it would be tempting to put this title at the top of this list, the experience and aesthetics of this title are much more surreal and haunting than Blue Prince, so even though it’s likely a fan of one would enjoy the other, a much safer title will take the first place position.
1Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward
There is No Escape
Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward
Topping off this list is a mystery game series that was all the rage in the 2010s. If you loved Blue Prince for being a first-person game all about exploring rooms and solving the puzzles within, then there can be no better game to recommend to you than Spike Chunsoft’sZero Escapefranchise. These games are all about putting players in a series of Escape Room and challenging them to solve them.
Similar to Blue Prince, the Zero Escape games expect players to play them with a notepad at their side in order to write down any information they may learn for later down the line. While there’s no gaming experience truly like Blue Prince, solving the Zero Escape games may be the closest you can get to the feeling of satisfaction this title brings.
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