[h1]To linger on an ending is to rob it of its life.[/h1]
I was gifted [i]Slay the Princess[/i] I think two years ago by a very good friend of mine. I’m happy to tell her that I played it, and loved it so much that I haven’t really stopped thinking about it since. But having replayed it again now, and now that I am a much-grown person, it resonates even more with me. I’m a pretty easy person to make burst into tears, but this time around self-identification with the Princess was painfully easy, and thus the tears were [i]flowing[/i]. I do believe that the Princess is one of the best characters in video games, regardless of how she turns out. It’s a love story, I suppose, no matter what happens.
Anyway, all of this is to say: [i]Slay the Princess[/i] is probably the most important narrative game of the decade, in my opinion. Perhaps that's a bit too hyperbolic, but [i]Slay the Princess[/i], to me, is a genuinely affecting game with a human heart beating loudly right beneath the surface. That's apparent from the very first moments of the game, with the gorgeous art and lilting piano tones that usher you into a well-written, deeply thought-through narrative. The game is fully voice acted – and wonderfully, too – but the prose and art alone are enough to carry the game. [i]Slay the Princess[/i] is intoxicating, a work of horror that always twists and turns and becomes more than you think it ever had the capacity to be. It is one of my favourite video games of all time.
But with all that YES BUY THIS GAME yelling out of the way, I wanted to talk a little bit about how well the game is actually made, narratively.
Choice and consequence in video games is often overblown, simply due to scope. Every choice that is added forces the designer to either concede, [i]this can’t be tracked beyond a surface level[/i], or [i]this game is so horribly long that it will never be finished[/i]. [i]Slay the Princess[/i], miraculously, is so tightly wound and constructed that the entire time you’re left wanting more – which is the perfect note to hit. The length of the game and each little route within it is short but meaningfully branching, providing a different experience in subtle ways, even on a twentieth replay. There are so many funny little lines, or meaningful choices or endings that come out of what seem like throwaway dialogue prompts, that the game continues to surprise and delight many hours in.
And the horror – everything comes supplanted with genuine, creeping dread, the hope that is sparked by getting to know someone else also always suffused with the knowledge that things end, decay, or can be corrupted by just one poor choice. It is a game that feels like a proper miniature relationship simulator, but cosmically and murder inclined rather than a small slice-of-life.
There’s a lot more I could say about it, but I do think that initial statement of mine holds more true at the end of this little review than the start: [i]Slay the Princess[/i] is probably the most important narrative game of the decade, in my opinion. Essential playing for anyone who likes video game horror or branching narratives[spoiler], or who enjoys being beaten to death by a Princess.[/spoiler]
