Even though you might have overlooked it initially, the Orchard serves as a crucial upgrade resource in Blue Prince. This new puzzle game has generated a lot of buzz due to its innovative take on the roguelike genre. In each room, you can uncover clues that contribute to solving various puzzles, but memorizing these hints becomes essential since rooms reset daily, and you may not have access to all the needed clues at the right moment.
The Orchard itself is one of these puzzles. To access the Orchard Gate, you’ll need to unlock and analyze the secrets of two specific rooms. While the ultimate answer might seem straightforward, mapping out these rooms and identifying what to search for in each requires patience and a bit of luck. If you’re feeling strategic or want to skip a few steps, this guide has everything you need to unlock the Orchard Gate in Blue Prince.
Location of the Orchard Gate
Where to Locate the Orchard Gate
To find the Orchard Gate, head east from the main mansion, near your campsite. Exit the mansion through the main door, then follow Private Drive to the left, veering right at the fork to avoid the wrought-iron gate. Turn right towards the campsite and continue left past your tent until you encounter a white picket fence surrounding dense clusters of apple trees. You’ve successfully located the Orchard.
Keep in mind that there’s a small gray padlock on the white picket fence, which is your only obstacle to access. This padlock requires a four-digit code, which you’ll need to figure out to get inside.
Unlocking the Orchard Gate
Drafting the Utility Closet
The first two rooms you’ll require to unlock the Orchard Gate are a Utility Closet and a Dark Room. You must draft both rooms on the same day to gather the necessary clues. Although this guide provides information gradually, feel free to jump ahead and read the Orchard Gate combination; however, Blue Prince is more enjoyable when you uncover the solutions yourself. So, I recommend carefully considering each clue before progressing.
Let’s discuss the Utility Closet. This is a dead-end room that can be drafted anywhere within the mansion. The Utility Closet features a single item: a fuse box used to direct power to various rooms. It interacts with multiple puzzles, including opening the West Gate, but for now, you just need to turn the Dark Room switch to “on.”
Locating a Magnifying Glass
Beyond the aforementioned rooms, you’ll also need a magnifying glass to examine some details of the Orchard puzzle. Unfortunately, there’s no guaranteed method to find one. Magnifying glasses frequently appear in the Archive, Nook, Observatory, and Security Room, but if luck is on your side, you might discover one elsewhere in the mansion. You can also purchase a magnifying glass from the Commissary or trade for one at the Trading Post.
If you come across a magnifying glass one day but can’t draft the required rooms to finish this puzzle, it’s possible to store it for the next day by placing it in a Coat Check. However, this option is also luck-dependent, as the Coat Check blueprint may not appear.
Turning on the Lights in the Dark Room and Finding the Combo
The Dark Room is typically challenging in Blue Prince because you can’t view your blueprint options when drafting connections to this room. However, the objective is to illuminate the Dark Room so you can inspect one of the photos inside and deduce the combination from its details.
By switching the fuse box in the Utility Closet to direct power to the Dark Room, the lights will activate, allowing you to see various photos, including one that holds a critical clue for the Orchard Gate puzzle. Take your time exploring, but be sure to focus on the photo of the Orchard located on the table to your left upon entering the Dark Room.
Now, pick up the photo and use your magnifying glass to examine it closely. Focus on the large tree in the foreground, to the left of the gate, where you will find the numbers “11-28“ carved into the trunk—perhaps a significant date? Regardless, you now have the combination. Go back to the Orchard Gate and input “1128” into the combination lock, and just like that, it will unlock.
Unlocking the Orchard grants you a permanent boost: an additional 20 steps at the start of each day, without any further effort required. This advantage is fantastic for accessing more rooms and progressing towards the Antechamber in Blue Prince, making it a top priority to unlock the Orchard early on.
