Slay The Princess Review in Three Minutes — Wrapped Around Her Finger

This is a review of Slay the Princess in just three minutes

Slay the Princess, as the name implies, is a game all about slaying the princess. A visual novel with real bite, you never quite know what's going on as you play, and after finishing it, I still don't really know what's happening. I remember after my first playthrough immediately booting it up to see what changes. This is a sign something has truly gripped me.

I was initially a bit worried about making this video because showing clips of the game would be ruining part of what makes it so special. As a chronic ending guesser, I adored being so thoroughly out of my depth on every subsequent run.

Initially, you are greeted by a narrator giving you your goal and the voice of a hero in your head pointing to the obvious moral implications of killing a defenceless princess locked up in a basement on a hill. You are quickly sent hurtling face-first into the narrative as a knife twists its way into your weak, vulnerable gut, leaving you gasping for air on a floor that feels unfamiliar.

Split into three acts, the actions you make in the first act shape not only the way the princess is but the voices in your head for the preceding acts. The voice of the stubborn, the skeptic, and the smitten will all accompany the narrator and the hero throughout different playthroughs and these all build to something much bigger than initially first seen.

This is the first time I've felt really restricted by the medium I review on because I want to talk about Slay the Princess for half an hour but only ever want to show you five minutes of footage.

You can tell immediately just how much love is shoved into every minute of Slay the Princess. The art style is enchanting and dark, conjuring feelings of a sketchbook. Fittingly, nothing quite feels final. No death or escape really feels like the end.

This continues into the music, a majestic swell of strings, followed by light piano, only to all fall away as an anthemic choir blasts into your eardrums. Your cursor starts as a hand with a single claw, only to change into a bloody knife when you plunge it into the Princess's heart - indicative of the gravity of your decisions.

The narrative is about gravity in a sense. The crushing realization that your actions have on the world, the way that pain, anger, isolation - begets even more hatred. The voices you earn are a reflection of your decisions made in a playthrough and the Princess is shaped, broken, and decimated by those same decisions. When you are smitten, the world is lighter and bad actions are more forgivable. When you are opportunistic, your selfishness infects the princess's brain.

Developer Black Tabby Games also holds their cards close to their chest here, opting to philosophize about the nature of your decisions and the world, rather than centering directly on what it wants to say. It's thoughtful without unravelling the idea of thought. It is desperately dark with talk of self-harm, abuse, amputation and claustrophobia but it often genuinely charming and funny. There's a certain absurdist humor that the narrator tackles the weirdness of the world through and this leaves you feeling less isolated by a game that can be intentionally alienating.

It's a game that makes me want to ponder and be self indulgent when talking about it but doesn't feel necessary to fully enjoy it. It's a genuinely intriguing game that lies and manipulates you and, if you're anything like me, you'll be happy to let it.

A code was given for the purposes of critique