Game Thoughts: Slay the Princess
Slay the Princess released last month and I finally got around to playing it. It was a treat!
I've been interested in minimalist game development recently, and visual novels are a big part of that domain -- games that are primarily dialogue and still images (and usually choices).
If you dig past the upper crust of VNs (mostly comprised of romancing anime harems) there's lots of indie developers doing really interesting stuff with the genre. Slay the Princess is a super fresh take on VNs, utilising the common mechanics to get weird.
The story plays with narrator(s) of questionable trustworthiness and is filled with interesting decisions to be made. Surprisingly the game was fully voice-acted, which added extra layers of immersion as the game progressed.
I played through to the credits once and was really happy with the experience. The pacing was great for the single playthrough, giving the player just enough time to figure out how things "work" before getting to the ending. The music and voice acting were also wonderful, and the entire concept was creative, unique, and executed perfectly.
Having beaten it once, however, I'm not sure I want to dive back in. It was a fantastic experience, and I'm admittedly curious to see some of the other routes I could have taken (some photos I've seen online hint to me missing out on some really interesting ones!), but knowing how the game works spoils a big part of what made it fun on the first playthrough.
It was short, but it's got my appetite up for more indie / unique visual novels!