Confetti’s Cozy Corner: To slay or not to slay in Slay The Princess
What would you do if you had the choice to save the world, but in order to do that you had to slay a princess? The hero of the story normally saves the princess, so how will killing her save the world? Slay the Princess – The Pristine Cut is a horror adventure narrative game that was initially released in 2023, with an expanded version and console ports released in 2024.
The story begins with an unnamed hero on a path in the woods. Confused and wondering where they are, suddenly the voice of the narrator surfaces in the hero’s head informing them that they are here to kill the princess in the basement of the cabin, and if you don’t it will be the end of the world. The Voice of the Hero will always be ruminating in the hero’s head along with some others, which will be touched on later.
The cabin is unsuspecting from the outside, and inside lies a single dagger and a door to the basement where the princess is imprisoned. When you see her, you see that she is strikingly beautiful, yet cold and distant. You can choose to slay her or talk to her and get to know her, or rather what she chooses to reveal to you.
In the beginning of the game, you are given a content warning and directed to Black Tabby Games website for a comprehensive non spoiler list of content players may find disturbing, as well as a health warning. After that, you are informed that at its core, Slay the Princess is a Love Story. This confused me because I thought “how can a horror game where the hero is guided to slay a princess… a love story?”. Well, let me tell you, the story did not disappoint!
Depending on your actions in Chapter 1, the game could end abruptly, or move you into different variants of Chapter 2. Which variant of Chapter 2 and also 3 depends on the choices made in the previous chapters. The hero will be in a loop, joined by other voices, separate from the Narrator and the Hero’s Voice, to add to the internal monologues and perspective to the choices being made. Every choice impacts the other, whether you choose to pick up the blade or not, talk to the princess or not, stay or leave; it all has an impact on the next Chapters and which Voice appears to guide the hero on this loop.
At first I found the loop frustrating, but after three-ish rounds, the reality of the story began to unfold and I realised how impossible the choice was to slay the princess or not. The feelings that were brought up at the conclusion of my journey(s) were bitter sweet. The choices felt truly impossible, and really made me reflect and think. I experienced this game on the Nintendo Switch, but on any platform you can have multiple save files, which came in handy to see all the perspectives of the story.
The art style, music and voice overs are excellent, and truly added so much depth to the incredible story Slay the Princess provides the player.
I learned at PAX West, where I initially got to experience Slay the Princess, that the main developers of this game are husband and wife. I would love to know who their favorite authors are and where they sought inspiration for such a beautiful story. The twists and turns are unexpected the deeper you are into the narrative, and as a lover of deep and layered stories, this game is truly a work of art. I understand the love story perspective and I also feel regardless of what happens in a player’s play through, you can feel the amount of love and labor that went into telling this story. That too is a love story all of itself!
Slay the Princess is available on PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Xbox. I truly cannot wait for the next game from Black Tabby Games.
Score: 5.0/5.0
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