Skip to main content
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+
US EditionUS CA EditionCanada UK EditionUK AU EditionAustralia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Games
    • Game Insights
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • Big in 2026
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
    • Genres
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
    • Franchises
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Big Screen Spotlight
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • Insights
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
    • Computing
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
    • Accessories & Tech
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Quizzes
    • About Us
    • How to pitch to us
    • How we score
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Total Film
  • home
  • Games
    • View Games
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • Big in 2026
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • View Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • View Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • View TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • View Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Big Screen Spotlight
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • View Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • View Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • View Hardware
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • View Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • View Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Quizzes
    • About Us
    • How to pitch to us
    • How we score
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Total Film
Trending
  • Pokemon Winds and Waves
  • New Games for 2026
  • GamesRadar+ Replay
  • Mario Day deals
Don't miss these
Upcoming PS5 games for 2026 showing Lucia from GTA 6, Wolverine from Marvel's Wolverine, Arjun from Saros, and Grace from Resident Evil Requiem
Adventure Games Upcoming PS5 games: New PS5 games for 2026 and beyond
Sol Cesto
Roguelike Games Move over, Slay the Spire 2 and Mewgenics – the self-proclaimed "best roguelike in 2026" launches into 1.0 in April
Ghost of Yotei gameplay showing Atsu sitting on her horse between bright pink cherry blossoms, looking at a distant fortification built against a mountain
Open World Games Best open world games to play in 2026 and completely forget real life exists
Best PC games: Screenshots of Baldur's Gate 3, Helldivers 2, Split Fiction and the Resident Evil 4 Remake
PC Gaming The 25 best PC games to play in 2026
A screenshot of Gustave in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, one of the best RPGs you can play in 2026
RPGs The 25 best RPGs worth playing in 2026
Best Ps5 games
Games Best PS5 games: The 25 greatest PlayStation 5 games in 2026, ranked
Mass Effect 2 - Garrus
Adventure Games The 25 best video game stories of all-time
PS3 photo taken by Future Studios
Games The 25 best PS3 games of all time
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Action Games The 25 best Metroidvania games you can play in 2026
Wonderer heads to the Spire in a screenshot from Slay the Spire 2's animated reveal trailer
Roguelike Games "Slay the Spire but better": Slay the Spire 2 continues Steam domination with 6,000 Overwhelmingly Positive reviews
Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2
Adventure Games 25 best adventure games in 2026 to get swept up in
Upcoming PC games for 2026 showing Leon Kennedy in Resident Evil Requiem, marines in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4, Coen in The Blood of Dawnwalker, and a woman's face in Control Resonant
PC Gaming Upcoming PC games: New PC games for 2026 and beyond
Best single player games: Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2.
Games The 25 best single-player games to play in 2026
Four pictures of games from our selection of the best Switch 2 games list, showing Donkey Kong, Cloud from Final Fantasy, Mario and Luigi, and three starter Pokemon.
Games The 20 best Switch 2 games to play in 2026
best Xbox One games
Games The best Xbox One games of all time
  1. Games
  2. Roguelike Games

This puzzle roguelike has become the best game of the year so far, beating Split Fiction, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

News
By Issy van der Velde published 7 April 2025

Blue Prince is an unexpected game of the year contender

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Taking a closer look at a photo in Blue Prince in a dark room, and using a magnifying glass to read some handwriting on it
(Image credit: Raw Fury)
  • Facebook
  • X
  • Pinterest
  • Flipboard
  • Email
Share this article
0
Join the conversation
Follow us
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Get the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more


By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

You are now subscribed

Your newsletter sign-up was successful


Want to add more newsletters?

GamesRadar+

Every Friday

GamesRadar+

Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.

GTA 6 O'clock

Every Thursday

GTA 6 O'clock

Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.

Knowledge

Every Friday

Knowledge

From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.

The Setup

Every Thursday

The Setup

Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.

Switch 2 Spotlight

Every Wednesday

Switch 2 Spotlight

Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.

The Watchlist

Every Saturday

The Watchlist

Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.

SFX

Once a month

SFX

Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!


An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
Subscribe to our newsletter

2025 has already been a stacked year for great games, but Blue Prince has blown them all out of the water and become the highest-rated game of the year so far.

With heavy-hitters such as Split Fiction, Monster Hunter Wilds, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 dominating this year, I'm surprised a game I hadn't heard of until today has managed to bag the top spot. It's this year's highest-rated game on Metacritic so far, and it's easy to see why.

Blue Prince is a puzzle and exploration game that takes place in a house with shifting rooms. It's like Dishonored 2's Clockwork Mansion level but turned into a full game. It borrows heavily from the Betrayal at House on the Hill board game where you randomly add more rooms as you play. It also looks absolutely gorgeous with a cel-shaded style.

You may like
  • GamesRadar's best of 2025 series featuring Blue Prince Blue Prince is a "true hybrid" of video and boardgame genius, and its creator thought it'd be "niche of niche"
  • The key art for the Blue Prince showing a doorway on a blue wall, which is open to reveal several more rooms within its frame, a person deep within opening another door several layers deep to a bright white light Blue Prince creator couldn't "physically" make another game as "ambitious" as his 2025 puzzle hit
  • Henry Halfhead screenshot with GamesRadar+ Best of 2025 branding on upper right From creepy folklore to a human with half a head, the best hidden gems of 2025 are worth your attention
Blue Prince - Announce Trailer | PS5 Games - YouTube Blue Prince - Announce Trailer | PS5 Games - YouTube
Watch On

In our Blue Prince review, Oscar Taylor-Kent writes, "This exploration roguelike is like nothing else I've played and became a puzzle obsession I just couldn't shake." As you venture through the house, which changes its layout every in-game day, "each time you clutch a doorknob you get a selection of three possible rooms to etch onto your blueprint." I can understand why this mechanic has so many reviewers excited about it.

TheGamer's review states the objective of the game is to "find the estate's mysterious 46th room," but "this is harder than it sounds." It seems like Blue Prince is a game that's best approached with as little foreknowledge as possible, though, as both TheGamer's and PC Gamer's reviewers state they don't want to give anything away.

"I love Blue Prince so much I'm going to spend the next 1,500 words or so telling you as little about it as possible," reads PC Gamer.

If you're not a fan of roguelikes because you feel like your time isn't being respected when you lose quickly and have to start over, don't worry, because Vice writes: "Almost any strategy is valid, and it's worth poring over every room to gather as much information as possible."

Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Blue Prince is out April 10 on PS5, Xbox Series, and PC.

You should check out our list of all the video game release dates of 2025 so you know what else there is to look forward to.

CATEGORIES
PC Gaming PS5 Xbox Series X Platforms PlayStation Xbox
Issy van der Velde
Issy van der Velde
Social Links Navigation
Contributor

I'm Issy, a freelancer who you'll now occasionally see over here covering news on GamesRadar. I've always had a passion for playing games, but I learned how to write about them while doing my Film and TV degrees at the University of Warwick and contributing to the student paper, The Boar. After university I worked at TheGamer before heading up the news section at Dot Esports. Now you'll find me freelancing for Rolling Stone, NME, Inverse, and many more places. I love all things horror, narrative-driven, and indie, and I mainly play on my PS5. I'm currently clearing my backlog and loving Dishonored 2.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.

Read more
GamesRadar's best of 2025 series featuring Blue Prince
Blue Prince is a "true hybrid" of video and boardgame genius, and its creator thought it'd be "niche of niche"
 
 
The key art for the Blue Prince showing a doorway on a blue wall, which is open to reveal several more rooms within its frame, a person deep within opening another door several layers deep to a bright white light
Blue Prince creator couldn't "physically" make another game as "ambitious" as his 2025 puzzle hit
 
 
Henry Halfhead screenshot with GamesRadar+ Best of 2025 branding on upper right
From creepy folklore to a human with half a head, the best hidden gems of 2025 are worth your attention
 
 
Best Ps5 games
Best PS5 games: The 25 greatest PlayStation 5 games in 2026, ranked
 
 
Peak screenshot showing four climbers scaling a mountain. GamesRadar+'s best of 2025 logo can be seen in the top right-hand corner
From Dispatch to Spilled and Peak, covering indie games every week in 2025 has been packed full of welcome surprise
 
 
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater screenshot showing Big Boss pointing a gun and GamesRadar+'s best of 2025 logo is in the top right-hand corner
From Metal Gear Solid Delta to Silksong, the best action-adventure games of 2025 are a rollicking good time
 
 
Latest in Roguelike Games
Slay the Spire 2
Slay the Spire 2 early access review: "Instantly familiar, but already bursting with new ideas"
 
 
Slay the Spire 2
"Slay the Spire 2 has taken over his life":  Palworld CEO gets a telling off for playing too much of the deckbuilder
 
 
Slay the Spire 2
Slay the Spire 2 has a "very worrying" OP character, says a player with over 10,000 hours in the OG
 
 
In Hitman World of Assassination, Agent 47 sits at the departure gate in an airport during the loading screen
After weeks spent locked into Hitman's Freelancer mode, I realize there's one vital thing 007 First Light needs to learn
 
 
Slay the Spire 2
Slay the Spire 2 dev "totally blown away" as the roguelike hits 573,000 Steam players: "We'll getcha one day Silksong"
 
 
Slay the Spire 2 character in a skull mask looking shocked
Slay the Spire 2 devs are "microtransaction haters," even if some fans "threaten to buy all and any cosmetics"
 
 
Latest in News
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead Gustave faces a gommage
Clair Obscur Expedition 33 took inspiration from a surprising anime - Soul Eater creator's Fire Force
 
 
A close-up of Grace talking with someone through glass in Resident Evil Requiem
Resident Evil Requiem leads let actors re-do "technically" perfect scenes if it made them happy, says Grace actor
 
 
Kratos approaches Aphrodite's bedchamber in God of War 3
"The God of War sex mini-games were designed by women," which is why Aphrodite's bed looks "like a labia"
 
 
Alan Ritchson in Reacher season 3
Reacher star Alan Ritchson says season 4 is coming this year: "It's by far the best season we've had yet"
 
 
Spider-Noir aiming his webshooter
Spider-Noir is the "same character, different version": "It's not a continuation of Into The Spider-Verse"
 
 
Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 support agent says "there's no balance team" at Arrowhead because "it's all a team effort"
 
 
LATEST ARTICLES
  1. Mario riding Yoshi through space with Luigi and Peach flying along beside him
    1
    The Super Mario Galaxy Movie reveals Donald Glover as the voice of Yoshi and more new casting in a star-spanning trailer that sends the entire Mushroom Kingdom to another planet
  2. 2
    Reacher star Alan Ritchson says season 4 is coming this year: "It's by far the best season we've had yet"
  3. 3
    Clair Obscur Expedition 33 took inspiration from a surprising anime - Soul Eater creator's Fire Force: "Because it was a JRPG, we tried to find a mix"
  4. 4
    "The God of War sex mini-games were designed by women," former Sony Santa Monica writer says, which is why Aphrodite's bed looks "like a labia"
  5. 5
    Resident Evil Requiem leads let actors re-do "technically" perfect scenes if it made them happy, says Grace actor: "'If you didn't feel it, we need to do it again'"

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google
  • Terms and conditions
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Accessibility statement
  • Careers
  • About us
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...