What a peculiar game, isn't it? You go in. You hear some lines tossed at you by a rather posh-sounding narrator. You find a princess, stuck in the basement. You sink your knife in her - as ordered by the storyteller - and you are done! Game finished. Took a couple of minutes. Is it eligible for a refund, still, after I complete it? I jest, but it is very much a plausible outcome for many to 'finish' the game very quickly indeed, being greeted by a crudely drawn finale screen congratulating us on the half-assed effort. It's funny considering the depths you can truly sink in this marvelous collection of surreal, eldritch stories.
SLAY THE PRINCESS is unique. It's an experience that is hard to even compare to anything else, which gives it a lot of credit from the get-go. It's a visual novel in the psychological horror genre, but those labels do not explain the game much, if at all. They are too small and too narrow to give a sense of what you're going to be dealing with. So let me try to paint you a picture. There's a lonesome shack on a hill. In the basement, there's a princess. She is shackled to the wall, awaiting her end. And there's a voice - a narrator, which feeds you just enough information to lay before you your quest, your life goal - to slay the princess.
You might be a bit shaken by this sudden development, and the obvious questions come into play. Why? What is the reason behind her imprisonment? Why must she die? But those are the tip of the iceberg because very soon you'll start seeing broader questions invading the narrative. Like where are you? Or, more importantly... Who are you? And who stands behind the voice driving you into this act of seemingly pointless cruelty? The narrator, however, is a persistent force - unyielding and in a way, coldly logical. At first, at least. You might argue. But he'll always have an answer... of sorts, at least. Never enough info to paint the full picture. Hiding things from you. It would be so easy to ignore him and save the princess. And why not? She's pristine, with cold beauty, a faint smile and, it seems, as lost in this whole situation as you are.
But is she? You can question the motives of the Narrator, but you can be dubious about the princess. Why is she bound? What if the Narrator is correct, and the world will end if you don't do your dark deed? What if the princess is a facade, a well-played trap for your meek senses to prey upon, and let free something unspeakable? She doesn't have the answer either. And when you press her more and more, she turns as vague or even aloof as the voice in your mind, guiding you to her cell. If you want the truth, you won't get it out of them - at least, not in an easy way.
This is where the fun begins. Every decision you make. Every hesitation. Every question, every answer. All of it restructures the story. Changes it, shifts it, molds it. Some core components stay unchanging, but you'll be caught in a terrible loop of mutating timelines and flummoxing events. The shack shifts, from decrepit ruins to stone-made cells. The descent down the basement can be simple stairs, walking through the choking vines, or delving through the cold void. The Princess herself might not be the same - at all. No longer a shining beauty in a torn gown, but something... else. With claws and teeth, with blazing glare. With pain. With love. With revenge and craving hunger under her skin. And you are not secured from this mutable nature either. As you discover who she is, and who the narrator might be, your very form shifts with your actions.
It's a haunting trip down the moral quandaries. The story will ask you many times to make a judgment call with no clear-cut division into what's current and what's wrong. Trying to predict the outcome is, for the most part, futile. You must go with your gut - which, if you're a bit unlucky, might end up with a few inches of cold steel in it. Each revisitation gets more and more unnerving. The world seemingly unravels at its seems. Only to get put back together by unseen forces in some uncanny manner. You can test the patience of both of your co-actors in this play to see what kind of nonsense they can put up with - and what kind of response they will deal with in return. It's a series of experiments that peel this mystery, layer by layer until you get a full picture that will set you free. Perhaps, that is - there is no simple, singular ending to these branching meanders of fate.
And all that is beautifully wrapped in haunting soundscape, eerie music, and stellar voice acting that keeps you pinned down to your chair. My special applause goes to the voice of the Narrator, who has this cold, collected poshness to him at the beginning of this wild ride, but then as the story progresses in ways even the narrator could not predict, it cracks and changes to something a bit more distressed. The art style is a great fit for the dark, eerie atmosphere, with beautiful monochrome drawings and rough, scratchy animations making each scene more impactful and jarring, with great focus on the fine details, expressions, and vibe of the moment.
SLAY THE PRINCESS is a nouvelle experience that, for me, is unmatched in the visual novel space. I'll be first to admit that I don't have much experience in that genre, but a few other titles managed to catch my attention to the same degree and keep me invested for hours, delving into its depths. It deserves the most clickbaity line possible because it will be true for once - This game will surprise you. And I hope you'll let it.
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