This week has seen the launch of the best game of the year so far, and it's one that you may not have heard about until recently.
We're talking about Blue Prince, a puzzle exploration game which has been in development for eight years at Dogubomb. It's a title that Digital Spy has been obsessed with over the last month, and it's not just us.
At the time of writing, the game has a Metacritic score of 93 – the highest-rated game of 2025 among critics, replacing Split Fiction at the top.
It's out now on Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, and if you have a PlayStation Plus Extra/Premium or Game Pass membership, then you're in luck – because you can download and play it for free with your subscription.
If you've not heard of it before, Blue Prince tasks you with reaching the mysterious 46th room in a manor that only has 45 rooms.
On each day, you draft rooms which are drawn at random and must manage resources such as steps, keys, and gems.
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The manor is reset after the day ends. There are layers upon layers of secrets to uncover, and the concept is executed in such a way that on each run, you will likely make some form of progress often from learning new information. Progression is largely gated by knowledge more than anything else.
In my colleague Joe Draper's review, he said: "It's so good that labelling this as one of the best puzzle games of all time feels like a disservice. Instead, it's possibly the most memorable experience I've ever had playing a game and I can't stop thinking about it."
He reached credits at around 20 hours, before going on to hit 200 hours of playtime.
I reached credits at around 15 hours. I'm at more than 110 hours of playtime.
We both agree that the main game and reaching the credits is by itself a satisfying experience, but looking at our final playtimes, it's clear that there is so much more beyond that point that captivated the both of us.
One thing that is impressive is how the randomised elements mean you'll make discoveries in a non-linear way. While the main objective is to reach the elusive 46th room, the idea isn't to focus on that one goal or to try to play 'optimally'. Instead, you need to have the curiosity to investigate the many mysteries embedded around the manor and to pull at suspicious-looking threads.
It's a game that compels you to track all of your leads and potential clues in a notebook and take hundreds of screenshots along the way – rewarding you for doing so, often in mind-blowing ways.
It's a game that you will need to meet on its own terms to get the most out of the experience.
And it's a game that's so absorbing and layered that we haven't been able to stop thinking about it, even when we're not playing.
We're still in April, but Blue Prince is the clear frontrunner for Digital Spy's game of the year, and it will take something truly special to beat it.
Blue Prince is out now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S and also available on PlayStation Plus Extra/Premium and Game Pass.
