Video Game Book Club - Slay the Princess

[Hinata]

Slay the Princess is such a fascinating game, especially once you delve a little deeper into the various routes.

Spoiler

Namely, the fact that every single change that happens to both you and the Princess are a byproduct of how you perceive each other. In your case, Yung, the Princess became The Beast because she jumped at the chance to kill you as soon as you came back with the Pristine Blade. Her refusal to listen to reason and the fact that she just jumped at you the second she had the opportunity caused you to see her as a predator. On the flipside, the fact that this WORKED caused the Princess to see you as prey, which is why the Voice of the Hunted shows up in your mind in this route.

In another example, The Damsel route comes around because you refuse to kill the Princess no matter what tries to force your hand, which means you see her as truly nothing more than a damsel in distress that must be rescued at all costs. In return, the Princess sees you as someone who would do her no harm and someone who must be a lovestruck fool to trust someone you just met so openly, which is why you get the Voice of the Smitten.

I love shit like this, personally, which is why Slay the Princess hits so hard for me.

 

[Yung]

Those are all extremely cool points

Spoiler

and they make the words She tells us, about how She and us are manifestations of perception, and how She wants to perceive as much as She can to become "complete" make a million times more sense, now that you lay it all out for me like that.

I did pick up that my past actions caused different Voices to accompany me in reincarnation in ways that reflected my previous experience, but thanks for pointing out to me that it was obviously the Princess creating these voices (consciously or not), which makes so much sense now that I reflect on things like The Broken manifesting after I intentionally let her stomach acid kill me in the Beast chapter.

 

[Orie]

Slay the Princess was great in the short, fractured times I was able to play it. Unfortunately it was indeed fractured and that severely inhibits how much I can say because mental health is a fucking bitch and a half.

I'll put my scrambled thoughts here:

Spoiler

The artstyle is excellent, making the initial basic setting stand out much more and does an amazing job of selling the weird, creepy vibes when the routes start peeling back on that aspect with seeing what the Princess evolves into and what you become based on your actions. The void place was especially striking.

I love the writing, although I can't comment on how I loved the depth of it I can say that I love how sharp it was and it's helped along by the great voice work, The Narrator in particular I loved to hate because the voice is exactly like that kind of slimy, annoying, nasally type of person that you really wish you could punt into the sun. The work on the various personalities you get was fantastic having to do so many different inflections and tones and the like, the same goes for the Princess too.

It was also very fun pressing the narrator for info, "Why must I slay the princess? Why is she even locked up? Is it true she can end the world?" and upon not getting any answers being able to just turn around and leave before moving on to the next part of the cycle. Yeah man, give me straight answers about this shit. I do appreciate that you also have "Hell yeah down with the monarchy!" type answers too. There's a lot of fun and love poured into every aspect of the game.

I'm bummed that stuff out of my control severely inhibited my experience but even despite that, what time I did get was extremely good and I'd argue is essential for people.

 

[Hinata]

Those are all extremely cool points

Spoiler

and they make the words She tells us, about how She and us are manifestations of perception, and how She wants to perceive as much as She can to become "complete" make a million times more sense, now that you lay it all out for me like that.

I did pick up that my past actions caused different Voices to accompany me in reincarnation in ways that reflected my previous experience, but thanks for pointing out to me that it was obviously the Princess creating these voices (consciously or not), which makes so much sense now that I reflect on things like The Broken manifesting after I intentionally let her stomach acid kill me in the Beast chapter.

Yeah it's all very neat, and a touch I love very much.

Spoiler

The whole "the Princess is based on how you perceive her" thing even extends to your very first real choice of the game. Namely, whether you choose to take the Pristine Blade with you to the basement or not. If you don't, the Princess is much more gentle and calm, because not taking a weapon means you are expecting to meet someone who is not a threat to you. If you DO take it, the Princess is immediately more rude and hostile to you, because you are now expecting to meet someone who IS a threat.

This carries over between routes, meaning that if you take the Blade with you on your first go round, the Princess will be more hostile to you throughout all the other routes, regardless of what choice you make with the Blade in subsequent loops.