Permanent Progress and Unlocks
You will have a Blue Prince day where the plan is perfect in your notebook, then the mansion offers three rude little dead ends and watches you run out of steps. That is not a blank day. Permanent progress is how you turn that mess into leverage. In Blue Prince, the floor plan, most rooms you drafted, and the items or resources you carried reset at the end of the day. A permanent unlock is any change that stays after the house resets.
For a new player, use this rule: if it changes your starting power, adds a room to the draft pool, opens an estate addition, upgrades a floorplan, or leaves a door or room feature changed later, write it in your notebook under Permanent. Drafting means choosing which room appears behind a closed door. That Permanent list is your real detective board. Room 46 is the big mystery, sure, but these unlocks are how you bend the random mansion toward a plan instead of politely begging it for mercy.
Low-Spoiler Permanent Checklist
- New floorplans: A floorplan is a room card that can appear when you draft. Found Floorplans and rooms added through the Drafting Studio stay in the mansion's room pool for later days. Simply picking a normal room during a daily draft does not make it permanent.
- Upgrade Disks: Use a Room Upgrade Disk at a terminal. The game picks an eligible room and gives you three upgrade choices. The choice you make permanently changes that room's floorplan for later drafts.
- Estate additions: Permanent estate additions stay unlocked. These include places or upgrades such as the West Gate Path, Apple Orchard, Gemstone Cavern, Blackbridge Grotto, Satellite Dish, and Blue Tents.
- Starting bonuses: Some unlocks improve every future day, such as extra starting steps, gems, coins, or one offline terminal access.
- Room features: Some changes inside rooms can stick, even though the room itself must be drafted again before the change helps you.
- Basement Key doors: Doors opened with the Basement Key stay unlocked after the day ends. The key itself is not the permanent part. The opened door is the progress.
Best Early Permanent Targets
Apple Orchard: This is one of the cleanest early wins because it gives you 20 more steps each day. More steps means more failed theories can still become useful data. If your runs keep dying one hallway short of the Antechamber or Room 46 route, put this high on your list.
Gemstone Cavern: This gives you 2 gems at the start of each day. Gems matter because some floorplans cost gems to draft, and you cannot pick them if your pockets are empty. If your routes keep collapsing because the mansion offers a key room with a gem cost, this unlock fixes that pressure.
West Gate Path: This unlock lets you place outer rooms. You can only draft one outer room each day, but that one extra route can still change the whole board. When the house refuses to draft the rooms you want, outside access can keep a day alive.
Blackbridge Grotto: This gives daily access to one offline terminal from the network. Terminals are used for several useful systems, including Room Upgrade Disks, so this unlock turns tech rooms from lucky finds into a more planned tool.
How to Track What Actually Sticks
After each day, make a tiny after-action note. Do not write a novel unless you enjoy turning your notebook into evidence storage. Use four lines: new floorplan, estate unlock, room upgrade, weird permanent-looking change. If none of those changed, write the clue you learned instead. Knowledge is permanent too, even when the game does not stamp it with a neat label.
- If you found an Upgrade Disk: Your next goal is any usable terminal. Pick the best option the terminal offers for the blocker you are facing now. More steps, easier resources, better key flow, or stronger route rooms are usually better than a flashy option you cannot use yet.
- If you reached the Antechamber and got the Basement Key: Do not panic if steps are low. Use it on any Basement Key door you can reach, because that opened door will remain unlocked later.
- If you unlocked something outside: Check your estate map notes the next day. Confirm the change before chasing a second theory.
- If a room changed inside: Note the room name and what changed. The room may still need to be drafted again before the change matters.
Recovery When a Run Falls Apart
If your Room 46 route gets boxed in, switch the day from route mode to progress mode. Spend remaining steps on rooms that can reveal floorplans, clues, terminal access, or estate paths. A dead-end day with an Upgrade Disk used is a win. A failed Antechamber push that permanently opens a Basement Key door is a win. A messy run that proves one code, symbol, or room link is a win wearing a fake mustache.
The key is to stop judging Blue Prince runs only by whether you reached the target room. Some days are for the clean solution. Some days are for setting the board so the clean solution can happen later. When your notes start turning scattered room chatter into a short checklist, that is the mansion losing ground.