Subject: "Slay The Princess"
The cabin looms at the centre of the screen, atop a hill surrounded by dense forest. The narrator, ever so omnipresent, accompanies you throughout your journey. He encourages you to slay the princess, another being left to rot in the cabin's basement. You are given all the free will in the world, so much that it leaves you stranded with a cloying feeling in the pit of your stomach.
The are only 2 characters. The Narrator and the princess. It places you at the helm, forcing you take decisions that can appease either one of them. Both of these characters mirror each other in interesting ways. The narrator is someone who is persistent and highly manipulative. The princess is no different but at least she has a perceivable form.
There are also voices that try to sway your decision. They serve as internal monologues taking on various qualities based on the player's actions. Some can even take control of the character and force you into decisions that the player might not have approved. It is an interesting touch and often times, the situation devolves into arguments between the voices and the narrator.
One thing I noticed through the playthrough is that the Princess tends to mirror a lot of your own emotions and thoughts. If you are kind to her, she tends to reciprocate the same feelings back. It makes her character feel very dynamic and realistic. The voice acting of the princess is also top notch, conveying emotions through every syllable.
The narrator acts as an anchor, remaining unchanged and powerless despite being pitched as an authoritative figure. There are times when the narrator can change the story but they are few and far between. His real goals and motives are slowly revealed over the course of the game while his personality while his conniving personality remains unchanged from the start.
A handful of moments in game allowed you to wait forever within a void. Some even allowed you to make a compromise between the princess and the narrator. There are even moments where the fourth wall is broken to boot you out. Most games force you into a good or a bad bucket but Slay The Princess provides a unique middle ground. The game is highly critical of neutrality though, mocking you for not taking a stance.
Each route offers completely differing plot threads, giving you full freedom to control the narrative as you please. Personally, I gave this game 2 full playthroughs trying to piece together different parts of the narrative that I hadn't experienced before. I took polar opposite choices from my first playthrough and ended up going through completely different routes.
The tedium of going through the same dialogue again is still there but the game graciously gives you the option to skip them. Despite stopping with the second playthrough, I've really only scratched the surface with what the game offers. It felt like there was a real fear of missing out if I made the wrong choices, being almost burdened by it.
So many questions to ask, yet the game only gives you vague responses. It forces you into a position where you have a lack of knowledge till the end. There is a suspense behind each decision, not even a clue as to what could happen next. The beauty of it is that it expects you to piece together your own conclusion, based on the choices you made.
The game is highly replayable. I invested 8 hours of my life into this game and I would say it was worth it. The replays didn't build into a bigger overarching plot but I still appreciated the diverse set of perspectives it gave. It's a different take on choose your own adventure games and I quite enjoyed it. Definitely a game I would recommend.
Post Scriptum
I was actually playing through 007 First Light initially. I ran into a segment of the game that just ran too poorly on my laptop so I decided to wait for a performance patch to come out that can fix the broken DLSS scaling and what not. My friend asked me if I liked playing through visual novels and I said yes. He recommended me this game and I am happy that I played through it.
I drew a lot of parallels between Slay The Princess and Stanley Parable. Both games had a narrator that would follow you along but giving the player a sense of agency. It gave you the freedom to do things and so many different endings to the same game. It preyed on my curiosity too much but the writing quality is something that other games should follow.
The dialogues carried a certain weight to them that I can't quite put my finger on. Knowing beforehand that every choice would alter what ending I would get, there was always this nagging voice in the back of my head telling me to just pick the 'right' choice. That's the thing though, there is no right choice. The second playthrough often feels far less impactful compared to the first simply because of this realisation.
Personally, when I review games, I always value connection with the characters in-game. The game can have the best in-class graphics and worldbuilding but if the characters lack personality, it makes it feel I'm talking to a brick wall. The princess and her various forms were so diverse and interesting, it almost makes me pity her sometimes. Like she is under this spell of eternal transformation.
Moving away from the game now, life has been giving me far less time to spend on games. It's my last year of school and I'm trying my best to balance studies with recreation. I've found that there is far less time to play through long games. You know things are dire when you specifically have to look up their length before purchase.
I've been dipping my toes into some projects and don't want to sacrifice that. Programming and working with Linux is also a hobby of mine so it tends to eat up more of the gaming time. I have something interesting in the pipeline but I'm not ready to share it yet. I want to give it more time and development before I disclose it.
For now, I'm halfway through playing this game called Neva. I'll leave a review when I'm done. Any game review that might come after this is probably going to be shorter indie games. I also want to finish 007 First Light since I really enjoyed it. I might just press on and give it a try. Might be the last big game I can afford to play before the exam season starts...