{"id":1170892,"date":"2026-02-12T20:04:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T20:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=555361"},"modified":"2026-02-12T20:04:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T20:04:07","slug":"note-taking-in-blue-prince-is-pure-bliss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/note-taking-in-blue-prince-is-pure-bliss\/","title":{"rendered":"Note taking in Blue Prince is pure bliss"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The moment I knew Blue Prince<\/a><\/em> was my kind of game was when I found a scrap of paper strongly encouraging me to take notes in a journal. You see, I\u2019m something of a note-taking game aficionado<\/a>. I want to jot down codes, diagram a puzzle, connect the dots<\/em>. And Blue Prince<\/em> might be one of the best note-taking games I\u2019ve ever played.<\/p>\n

First, when it comes to organizing my notes, Blue Prince<\/em> makes it very simple: I just add a new section for each room I uncover. While I enjoy the aesthetics of my incomprehensible Fez<\/em> and Animal Well <\/em>notes, they were a little hard to follow at times. It was hard enough figuring out what I should be taking notes on in those games, which can be part of the challenge, but also makes it hard to keep things orderly.<\/p>\n

My notes in\u00a0Blue Prince<\/em>\u00a0still have a little bit of the conspiracy cork board look to them, but by simply organizing them by room it\u2019s much easier to page through and find what I\u2019m looking for. If I find a new clue in one room and have a eureka moment, I know exactly<\/em> which room I need to draft to complete the puzzle. It even reinforced what I think is the simplest bit of advice I can give players who get hung up on a certain puzzle: just draft some new rooms. The pleasure of adding a new room to my notes finally got me to try some dead end rooms I didn\u2019t realize could be so important.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s exactly why I think taking notes works so well with the game\u2019s roguelite structure. Many roguelikes and roguelites give you a taste of progress on each run, and Blue Prince<\/em> is no different: Without revealing too much, there are \u201cupgrades\u201d you can find that will make your future runs more successful. But sometimes what you gain on a run is simply something new to jot down in your notebook. Will it matter for a future puzzle or the story? Maybe<\/em>, but either way I have always felt like I\u2019ve made progress on nearly every run (I don\u2019t think I needed to draw a picture of the billiard table, but it does make my notes look cooler).<\/p>\n

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Of course, the game encourages taking notes because it makes solving many of the game’s puzzles much easier. Deciphering what is worth taking a note of is part of roleplaying as a detective: Finding the answers you need means knowing what questions to ask. Solving a puzzle is always a high point of note-taking games, but I\u2019m often more thrilled when I figure out how<\/em> to solve a puzzle. Cracking that nut is what notes, especially physical notes, really help you accomplish because you can lay out the information you have, rearrange it, and find new connections.<\/p>\n

I realize that not everyone enjoys taking notes while playing a game or prefer to take digital notes instead of physical ones. Some games, like Return of the Obra Dinn<\/em> and The Roottrees Are Dead<\/em> have exceptional in-game note-taking that made it easy enough to set aside my journal. One of my favorite games of all time, Outer Wilds<\/em>, has an ingenious in-game chart for visually connecting your clues.\u00a0 But Blue Prince<\/em> reminded me how good it feels to hold the pen and pad in my hands again.<\/p>\n

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