In spite ofBlue Prince’s Mount Holly manor seemingly being abandoned, it has quite a booming economy thanks to just how much Simon manages to spend in the various shops he can draft throughout the massive estate.
During the early-game of Blue Prince, it might feel like amassing a sizable amount of coins is more trouble than it’s worth, but the further you get, the more you’ll realize that shops have a massive impact on your odds of success. However, not all of the shops are as useful as each other, so which should you draft as soon as you can, and which should you avoid?
8Bookshop
Rare
The Bookshop is actually one of the most important shops you cancome across in Blue Prince. Not only do the books being sold hide clues and secrets that will help you solve some of the most troublesome puzzles in the game, but it’s also where plenty of lore is hiding as well.
In spite of that, it’s one of the more impractical rooms to draft in the game. It will only show up in the draft pool when drafting from the Library, and with the Library only having one exit, it means coming across this room naturally is incredibly rare. On top of that, being a corner-shaped room and costing a gem too, drafting this room could easily doom your run if this is the only way forward.
7Mount Holly Gift Shop
Even if you’ve been playing Blue Prince for hours upon hours, there’s a good chance that you will never find what fills that last empty space in the shop directory. That’s by design, since you’ll only be able to spawn the Mount Holly Gift Shop once you’ve claimed your inheritance.
It makes sense too, since the gift shop doesn’t sell much that will help you during a standard run. Instead, it sells some permanent upgrades and even a couple of new modes as well. Because of this, while it won’t help you much in the short term, it’s still worth drafting for the long-term benefits if you have space for it.
6Locksmith
Unusual
Unlike most of the shops in Blue Prince, the Locksmith is a dead end, meaning that you’ll likely want to avoid drafting it, especially if you don’t have the space to fit it in naturally. Despite this, it’s still worth pursuing if you have an abundance of coins, but not many keys.
The sole function of the Locksmith is to sell keys, and for some, this can be a godsend, since sometimes you’ll pull the short straw and run out of keys before you may unlock every door in the estate. However, these keys aren’t that cheap, and you’ll need to backtrack to this awkward dead end to buy more. Even so, it still has its uses.
5Kitchen
Commonplace
The Kitchen is a perfect room to draft if you’re lucky enough to have coins to spare, but are unlucky enough to have used up most of your steps. On the counter in the Kitchen, you’ll find a menu with threefood items to purchase, as well as a preview of what’s being served in the Dining Room.
There are a few food items that are unique to the Kitchen, so it’s worth drafting solely because of those, and its handy corner shape can be useful too. On top of this, if you’ve got a Watering Can, you can refill it to get more use out of it by using the sink tap.
4Commissary
Standard
Likely the shop that you’ll end up spawning the most often, the Commissary will often have exactly what you need to get your run started. Plenty of the items that you find here are found elsewhere in the game, but having them guaranteed here, and for a good price too, is well worth the effort.
On top of this, the Commissary sometimes sells resources like gems, and depending on how many coins you have, it can be well worth trading them in for a stack of gems for the freedom it will give you later in the run.
3Armory
Unlike most of the other shops, you’ll need to make an active effort to ensure that the Armory actually shows up in your draft pool. To unlock it, you’ll need to complete the hidden chess puzzle under the manor and then choose the Mantle of the Knight or the Ambition of the Pawn.
This will add the Armory to the draft pool, and when you create it, you’ll get access to a handful of weapons to buy each run. These weapons are unique items that you can’t find anywhere else, and can often be very useful for a run, even if their functionality is sometimes quite niche.
2Showroom
Even though you can spawn the Showroomduring theearly gameof Blue Prince, it’s a room that you likely won’t find useful until much later in the game, when you have a better chance at actually affording what is being sold there.
The room not only costs two gems to draft, but all the items being sold cost so many coins that you’ll need to dedicate some time to saving or get lucky in drafting a room like the Vault. However, these items are worth their cost, and can make or break your run if you know how to use them strategically.
1Laundry Room
Even if it’s a dead end, the Laundry Room can end up saving your run if you know how to use it. For a cost of five coins, you’re able to use this room to switch around any of your resources. For example, if you have 50 coins and 10 gems, you can switch them using the Laundry Room to have 10 coins and 50 gems.
If you have an excess of one resource that you don’t need, but you’re sorely lacking in another, then switching here can save your run from a premature end. It’s a shame that it costs five coins to activate each time, since this can be limiting, but it’s still one of the best shops because of its unique function.
