So, you finish playing Blue Prince, and your mind is still somersaulting trying to wrap around the whole Mt. Holly mystery? Right? It does feel different. Here you are in that post-game void where nothing seems to provide quite the same satisfaction in that peculiar way. Well, fret not; we’ve got your back. So here’s a little treat: four additional indies to scramble that noggin of yours just the way it needs.
Starting with The Forgotten City: time loop begins here, and it does go south pretty fast! Being trapped in an ancient Roman city where one person’s sin results in everyone’s death is hardly a soothing affair. When we say death, we mean turning into a golden statue halfway through a sentence. The writing is sharp and slick; the twists: wow! The moral dilemmas? Chef’s kiss. It’s basically Blue Prince, supercharged with togas and a heftier metaphysical load.
Et voilà, our second strong contender: Return of the Obra Dinn. If you were up to some serious sleuthing in Blue Prince, then this next one will surely get you hooked. You are the insurance investigator from the 1800s trying to find out how an entire crew of a ship… ceased to be alive. The monochrome art style will give you nightmares, while the deduction gameplay makes you feel like Sherlock but with a nasty headache. The AHA! moments really hit deep.
Next comes an even weirder experience: Paradise Killer. Seriously, it doesn’t get any weirder than this: An island open-world murder mystery with vaporwave aesthetics, ruled by alien gods. The soundtrack slaps; the characters are delightfully bizarre; and the best: there’s something oddly liberating about casually accusing everyone (even when you’re wrong). Imagine Blue Prince and a David Lynch film’s neon love child.
This one is, of course, followed closely by The Case of the Golden Idol. This is the pixel art detective game in which you solve murders across periods of time by… just staring at the corpses and their belongings until something clicks? Pretty morbid, huh? But the eureka moments are chef’s kiss. It’s less chasing dialogues and more of, oh, that fella with the poisoned apple sure doesn’t look like he died of natural causes.
But if Blue Prince left you desperate for more mind-bending mysteries, here is a list of four compelling titles that would keep you busy while at times making you doubt your very version of reality. Don’t blame us when you start finding clues in your grocery shopping list! Goodluck is really all we can say on this one.
