Tips and Tricks to Make the RNG Less Fustrating

[Shadowgirl00]

One of the frequent complaints about Blue Prince is the RNG mechanic within the game. It seems to be frustrating a lot of people in terms of progressing in the game, because it feels so random and can be frustrating when you don’t get the room you’re looking for.

As someone who loves these types of games and boardgames, I suspect what might be happening, so here are a few tips and tricks to make the RNG mechanic less frustrating.


1. Having a journal/notebook is not a recommendation, it is a necessity, go get some paper.

Blue Prince is actually pretty old school in terms of point and click adventure games in that it doesn’t have a journal built into the game. This is because built in journals act like a hint system, which clearly the developers did not want.

While the game does not add pointless places for the player to click, meaning whatever you click is probably important to the game or the lore, it is up to the player to determine which pieces of information are important.


2. This means, every piece of information provided in the environment may contain information.

For example, if you’ve pulled the Security Room, and have the password to the terminal network you’ll find a glossary of terms. It may be tempting to just skip it as extra fluff, but checking through that glossary can impart important information. Like did you know that there are other ways to earn stars other than drawing the Observatory Room? I didn’t, until I read about “stars” in the glossary.


3. Which caused me to ask myself questions, and you should ask questions.

For example, the game is very clear from the bits of information left around that everyone who enters the manor will not know what room they will end up in until they try to open a door. The rules state that the three blueprints will be “drafted” from a “draft pool”.

And if you’re familiar with drafting boardgames, this brings up the question of… how many blueprints are in the draft pool, and can you affect the draft pool?

In fact, we know from the Directory there are more than 45 rooms that can be drafted. The red, green, orange and yellow rooms are their own rooms, and not counted towards the 46 “blueprint” rooms. So the 46th room, do we need to find a way to add it to the draft pool? Is it a permanent room like the Entrance Room? Or is there a requirement that has to be met before it can be drafted?


4. All of these are curious questions, and curiosity is the key. You need to be curious.

To anyone who has mentioned they’ve never pulled the “Orchard”; when you start in the Entrance Room, have you ever turned around, and asked yourself, can I step outside of this manor? If I can, how far can I go?

Ask questions, because those questions will help you when the RNG mechanic doesn’t give you what you want.


5. It will help you adapt to when your luck is not the greatest.

Like a boardgame you know you’re losing and you decide to at least try to not end up last, when the game doesn’t give you a room you want, you need to change your plans. For example, maybe the blueprints didn’t end up leading you nowhere near the antechamber, but if you have extra spots left to be able to place a room. Place them, and take that opportunity to place rooms you would have never tried otherwise.

Those rooms may have pieces of information that can be used on another run, or they may even be more useful than you think.


6. And let me be clear, this game was originally supposed to be a boardgame.

It shows in the way certain rooms combined can be very useful to each other but the game won’t necessarily tell you implicitly. Like did you know if you had the password to the terminals, and placed both the Utility Room and Security Room into the manor, you can mess with the terminals to increase the chances of getting an unlocked door?

Like the game doesn’t tell you this, but if you understand how those rooms work, you can do that! It does mean you have to backtrack, but that risk might be worth it to you.


7. Which brings me to my final point, take risks.

Backtrack if you think it may be worth picking up that item that you had to pass by earlier because you didn’t have a shovel or a sledgehammer. Put in that deadend room if there is a question you want answered or a puzzle to solve, even if it means you don’t know if everything else will fall into place.

Take risks, ask questions and be curious. That is where this game shines.

I hope this helps anyone who wants to give this game a go. In all honesty, while I do love this game, I do recognize Blue Prince is not friendly to beginners of this genre. And I truly hope you’ll find enjoyment in this game.