The best ways to take notes for Blue Prince, according to Blue Prince fans
Here at Polygon, we aren’t strangers to the video game notebook. Handwritten notes can create a physical place that can serve as a guide and aid in our own game experiences. They can also enhance enjoyment of a game. Our staff has created assassination bullet journals and argued that taking notes can make games more fun. Now, Blue Prince — the hottest puzzle game of 2025 — has taken that inclination and set it on fire.In Blue Prince, you explore and construct a sprawling mansion estate room by room using a series of randomized blueprints. There’s a roguelike element, too: The house’s floor plan resets every day (or run). Gradually, you can piece together information and items from various rooms to solve puzzles. As you play, your notes become an indispensable tool for piecing together the many mysteries of the mansion. However, it’s not always clear what the best way to take notes is. We spoke to our own staff and dozens of Blue Prince players in order to solve the puzzle of how to take good notes while playing the game. As you read, don’t think of this as a “best” list, but allow these tips to spark ideas of what you think would work for you and the way you play.[Ed. note: Some of the images of notes below contain spoilers for puzzle solutions in Blue Prince. We hid some of them behind spoiler images, but click through the image galleries at your own risk.]How do I even know what I should write down?Image: Dogubomb/Raw Fury via PolygonIn Blue Prince, it can be tough to figure out what’s worth noting and what’s not. Here are some tips we found useful that helped guide our methodology for taking notes.The relevant information can change. What you need to note in a room might change depending on the particular puzzle you are trying to solve. Because of this, you don’t need to get caught up capturing every single detail of every room, but rather be open to visiting and revisiting. Don’t sweat getting everything you need on the first go!As you take notes, you can just ask yourself: What sticks out to me in this room right now? Look around and then jot down a couple of notes.If you can’t immediately discern what’s useful, you can start by writing down every number, name, town, and event you come across. If a person is tied to a particular event or role, note that information as well.Every time you hit some sort of block, like a machine you don’t know how to use or a weird room that seems like it has no use, write that down. It can also be helpful to write down each time you see a note or anything else in the house that references something you haven’t seen yet or that confuses you.How to take notes for Blue PrinceFor some people, writing something down can help them recall information more easily than if they type it. If you’re this kind of person — and you don’t mind writing as you play — here are some of our favorite tips for taking notes for Blue Prince.1/4Graphic: Julia Lee/Polygon | Source image: Dogubomb/Raw Fury via PolygonTo start, consider using a dedicated notebook for this game. As you play, you’ll add a lot to the notes, and it’ll likely grow beyond the confines of a few pages or so. You can use any old notebook you have lying around, but Polygon’s own Susana Polo advised using a dotted notebook, since you can use the grid structure to draw diagrams in addition to taking regular notes. This is definitely not a must, but I used a multicolored pen that can switch between black, blue, and red ink. I underlined names, dates, and story information in blue and marked puzzle information and room information in red. This helped me find certain kinds of information more easily. (I also loved this approach as well because it was in line with the overall red-and-blue visual themes of Blue Prince.) Once you get settled with a notebook and pen, you have a lot of options for how to organize your notes. However, there was a prevailing trend among commenters. Organize your notes by room and leave plenty of space whenever you start a new section for a room. Some people we spoke to allotted an entire page per room, although not every room will need that much space. Just make one section per room. From there, you might want to consider creating additional sections for characters you learn about, specific puzzles, and tools, and even keep a bit of space for general observations or ongoing questions. If this sounds like a lot, there is one way to handle it. You can split the work! Charles Harte told Polygon that he and his partner played together. Charles played as his partner took notes. Their notebook has a color-coded section for each room the two have found so far and contains a few pages in the front for miscellaneous clues.How to take notes digitally for Blue PrinceImage: Dogubomb/Raw Fury via PolygonYou might not get as much tactile satisfaction as you would writing something down, but there are a bunch of benefits to using digital notes while playing Blue Prince. You can organize and reorganize notes as you go along and you don’t need to allot notebook pages for an unknown amount of information. Also, you can include screenshots and search your documents with Ctrl+F.We heard from players who used every note-taking software under the sun — like the Notes app on iOS, Freeform, Obsidian, spreadsheets, and even Google Slides.The perk of playing on a computer is that you can just write up notes as you go along and include screenshots. If you’re playing on Windows PC or Steam Deck, now is as good a time as any to finally use Steam’s built-in notes app. Our own Cameron Faulkner has vouched for its functionality in the past, and at least one person told us they beat Blue Prince using it.RelatedOther people, like Bluesky user Serious Bichon, played the game using two monitors. One monitor showed the game, while the other monitor displayed OneNote, which Serious Bichon used to create a bunch of tables to track necessary information. (Similarly, CJ M on Bluesky used OneNote and organized everything alphabetically by room and added screenshots, tables, and notes.)Some people used programs like Freeform, Miro, and Notion to organize information and lend a corkboard-like feel to the notes. We were particularly impressed by the way Liz England used Miro to organize screenshots and notes. England told Polygon she organized them by color and combined text and screenshots. You can view her board below, but know there are late-game spoilers in it.If you don’t want to make a grand old digital Pepe Silvia-esque notes board or use fancy tables, you can also just keep a document. Polygon’s own Ryan Gilliam used Google Docs, as did a whole bunch of people we spoke to online. Bluesky user Jambatt described a simple and streamlined approach to organizing a Google Doc for notes. Jambatt made 46 lines for the room prior to starting the game and added notes and screenshots while playing. Additionally, they created a headline for each character name and filled it in as they discovered more information.1/3Graphic: Julia Lee/Polygon | Source image: Dogubomb/Raw Fury via PolygonScreenshots can be nice (especially if you’re playing on PC), but that’s not always ideal for console users. Several people I spoke to who took digital notes opted for taking photos of the game rather than screenshots. My colleague Matthew Reynolds told me he took photos of the game instead of screenshots because it was the easiest way to import images while playing the game across several platforms. At the end of the day, it’s about what works for you and what’s in line with the experience you want of the game. Whatever notes will allow you to enjoy and progress the game can serve as “good” notes. You don’t need to have everything perfectly organized all the time — so play around with methods until you find something that works for you.Diving into Blue Prince and looking for hints? See our Blue Prince beginner’s tips, or our guides on how to solve the darts puzzle, how to unlock all permanent additions, and a full walkthrough on how to reach Room 46.See More: Blue PrincePlaystationPlaystation logoWindowsWindows logoXboxXbox logoExplore The GameWhy it mattersThe goal of Blue Prince is as simple as it is paradoxical: Find the 46th room in a home with 45 rooms. Bring a notepad and a pen. Create a screen capture folder, because you’ll be spamming F12. And absolutely find a friend to play alongside you, so someone understands what you’re on about.— Chris Plante, Editor-in-chief
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