I remember this random game announcement that popped up a while back—something about a game called Blue Prince. Raw Fury, yeah, the Swedish indie publisher, they were behind it. Puzzle adventure, they said. But the weird part? It was mainly the brainchild of this guy, Tonda Ros. Spent eight years on it, no joke. Puzzle books like Christopher Manson’s Maze got him going. You know the type, right? And games like cards and tabletop stuff—same vibe. So, I had almost forgotten about it until, boom, the February 2025 State of Play rolls around, and there it was again. PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S… the whole shebang and PC, of course.
Fast forward to April 10, 2025, and Blue Prince finally drops. Everywhere—Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus, you name it. Everyone seemed kinda indifferent before it launched, which—honestly—didn’t really surprise me. But then, out of nowhere, it catapults up the sales charts. Critics fell in love. Got some crazy high scores too. OpenCritic had it at a solid 89/100, and Metacritic wasn’t far behind with a whopping 92/100. Seriously impressive for an indie game. It’s like the 2025 standout or something. People even mentioned it in the same breath as Balatro, last year’s indie darling.
Speaking of Balatro, remember that one? 2024 was a solid indie year because of games like it. LocalThunk, this other lone wolf developer, worked some magic. Balatro was a hit—simple premise but nailed it, culturally. Anyway—oh, yeah—its gameplay was deceptively simple.
So, Balatro gets you playing these dodgy poker hands, trying for high scores. Beats the blinds and all that. And, ironically, no combat or story, just cards. But it’s not just about understanding poker. It’s like a rabbit hole; once you get in, there’s all this depth. One of those easy to learn, hard to master sorta gigs, like Blue Prince. No cards here though, just a mansion with secret rooms. You wander around solving stuff, and it’s trickier than it sounds.
Both games managed to make these simple concepts explode into something bigger. That’s probably why they got popular—they’re complex, but anyone can jump in on the surface. Card games and puzzle adventures, not typically the crowd pullers, right? Yet here they are, breaking the mold or something. Kinda wild how simplicity can win people over, isn’t it?
