Keys

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A pair of keys with distinct appearances
The UI icon for keys
Keys are a common resource used to open up locked doors on the estate.
There are also Special Keys that can unlock special doors or rooms that only appear in specific locations in the house.
― Glossary of Terms

Keys are a resource in Blue Prince. They are most frequently used to unlock doors in order to draft into new rooms, though they may also be used to unlock other objects such as trunks. They are almost universally referred to in-game using the icon and are the associated resource of Hallways.

As a resource item, keys do not show a name card or description when picked up, nor are they added to the inventory. Instead, they float up to the top of the screen where they are added to the key count without interrupting play. This count is only visible once one or more keys have been obtained today, though it will still appear if the number of keys drops back down to 0 within the same day. The number of held keys is reset to 0 at the start of each new day.

How to obtain

Does it never end?

This list is incomplete. You can help by expanding it.

Keys have a chance to appear as items randomly in a large number of rooms.

Rooms which guarantee keys

Shops which offer keys

  • The Commissary may sell three keys at 10 each. Keys are generally only offered if some of its special items are unavailable, and are always offered if none of its special items are unavailable.
  • The Locksmith sells a limitless supply of keys at 5 each. It also sells limitless sets of 3 keys at 12 each, making this option strictly better when at least 3 keys are sought.
    • Spoilers for the Locksmith: Entering the Locksmith with a Powered Electromagnet will steal the keys from the walls. Although hundreds of keys appear to vanish from the walls, only 24 are granted. Doing this causes the Locksmith to stop selling keys and sets of keys for the day, though it will still sell its special key and Lock Pick Kit if they are available.
  • The Laundry Room can swap the quantity of all held keys with gems for a price of 5, or swap the quantity of all held keys with coins for a price of 10.
    • [Spoilers for the Laundry Room] With the Specialty Services, quantities of held keys and dice may also be swapped for 5.
  • The Trading Post may offer the trade of a held special item for keys.

Items which help find keys

  • The Metal Detector has a chance to spawn additional keys and coins each time a room is drafted, and can help locate those items.
  • The Shovel has a chance to dig up a key.
  • Workshop [Contraption Spoiler: Detector Shovel] The combination of the above two items, the Detector Shovel, frequently digs up keys significantly more often while retaining its Metal Detector properties.
  • Workshop [Contraption Spoiler: Jack Hammer] The Jack Hammer can also find significant amounts of keys in batches of up to three at a time, though not as often as the Detector Shovel.

Effects which provide keys directly

  • Several experimental effects can provide keys:
  • Activating Clavis, the Key provides 1.
  • [Major Constellation: Spiral of Stars] Activating the Spiral of Stars provides keys at various word counts. At 4-9 words added, it grants 1; at exactly 10 words, it grants 10; past that, it grants keys equal to the maximum rank reached today.
  • West Path [Outer Room: Shrine] If the Blessing of the Chef is active, spreading keys adds a unique dish to the Dining Room that provides 5 and 1, plus an additional 1 with a Locksmith in the house.
  • Studio Additions [Studio Addition: Clock Tower] The Clock Tower will start the player off tomorrow with +1 for every Tomorrow Room drafted today, including itself.
  • Upgrade Disk [Upgrade Spoiler: Bunk Room] Drafting the Bunk Room Hallways upgrade will double the number of currently held keys if there are exactly two Hallways in the estate.

Usage

Attempting to draft from a locked door

The primary use of keys is to open locked doors. Interacting with a locked door while holding one or more keys brings up a prompt that allows a key to be used. Using a key spends it and plays a brief animation of the key unlocking the door before immediately progressing to the drafting phase. Keys cannot be used to unlock security doors.

Additional uses for keys include:

Special keys

Main article: Special keys
Attempting to unlock a locked door with a Secret Garden Key; a Silver Key and Prism Key are also present

Certain special items that have a function similar to keys are known as special keys. While interacting with a locked door and holding one or more special keys, an additional menu appears that allows a special key to be selected. This menu can appear even when no basic keys are held.

Each special key has different rules about where and when it can be used. Using a special key correctly will unlock the door, and will usually progress to the drafting phase. Using a special key incorrectly will come up with a prompt saying that the key does not fit; in this case, there is no effect and the special key is not spent. Many special keys have unique effects upon being used, such as restricting the resulting draft pool to rooms of a particular type. Most effects which refer to keys do not also refer to special keys unless specified.

There are many items that can be considered to be special keys other than those that appear in the special keys menu. These items are typically used on non-standard doors or other locked objects instead of drafting doors. See Special keys#Other special keys for more information.

Other interactions

  • While the Lock Pick Kit does not interact with keys itself, it can be used to unlock doors without using a key, allowing an existing key supply to last longer.
  • For sixty seconds after collecting a Stopwatch, keys used to unlock doors are not consumed. At least one key is still required to select the option to unlock the door.
  • West Path [Outer Room: Shrine] Drafting any Hallway while cursed immediately deducts 1. Drafting any Red Room deducts 1, 1, 1 and 1.
  • Workshop [Contraption Spoiler: Powered Electromagnet] A Powered Electromagnet can be used to automatically collect all keys and coins in a room without needing to pick them up.
  • [Satellite Dish Spoiler] One experimental effect, added by raising the Satellite Dish and downloading the data packet, provides the player with a random item but removes all their keys.
  • [Major Constellation: Spiral of Stars] Once least 80 words have been added to the Spiral of Stars, activating it prevents any more keys from being gained for the rest of the day.
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