Before I begin, I will note that (per the developers wishes) there are content warnings on their own website, viewable here. Out of a desire for a completely blind, spoiler-free experience, I obligated to not view them, but if you’re of the younger audience, or simply sensitive to controversial themes, perhaps skip over this review. Reader discretion advised. And, as a precaution, I will talk about major (and minor) spoilers, as I discuss my personal experiences in great detail with this game. And if you decide to see yourself out, whether it be of spoilers and the like, don’t worry. Because no matter what, I’ll always be waiting for you in our next review together. <3

After the developers, Black Tabby Games, called out Backloggd users on their Discord, I knew what I had to do. So I bought the game, and here we are.

Slay The Princess is one of the few games that have sold me on their visual presentation alone. Almost immediately after watching the trailer for it (thanks to Steam Discovery Queue), I wishlisted it, knowing that it would be something truly special. The hand drawn artwork captured my attention, as it is and will probably always be one of my favorite styles in the entire industry. The Princess’s striking, yet disconcerted eyes explain a character’s entire story like no other. The contrast between darkness of the background, and the bright, white foregrounds makes each character pop out. The subtle redness of it all, prominent with the Princess’s dialogue and the gore, instills uneasiness within the player. More prominent than the artstyle however, was how the trailer ended.

Slay The Princess kicks off with the main, unnamed hero, arriving in a dark path, with only a narrator to accommodate him. On said path is a cabin, which has the princess within. From the narrator’s own words, she is to bring the end of the world, unless the hero kills her. Arriving at the cabin, we see a knife and a door. The door within holds the Princess, locked up and sitting innocently. The game then asks you if you would want to slay the princess (ala the game’s title). This is where Slay The Princess really surprised me. There’s so many dialogue opportunities, and all of it from what I’ve experienced is fully voice acted. The Princess herself is highlighted in pink text, representing her initial innocence. The narrator proclaims that you mustn't listen to what the Princess asks of you, no matter what. The Princess herself is a deliberate manipulator, a troubled creature, who gives the player the deepest of stares, and really makes you question if she’s as bad as she seems. If the people who locked her up were convinced of her danger, wouldn’t they kill her outright? I opted to not kill her, out of curiosity, and also kindness. I then proceeded to cut off her hand, to which she blankly reacted, no tears nor crying. As we escape, the Narrator interjects with the desire to kill her, and forces the hero to swing at her. All player choice is neutered at this point, and the princess swiftly dodges your blade, before turning it on you. This is how the trailer ends, and my curiosity began.

After you die, you revive on the same path. Chapter 2 time. It feels like a roguelike, with all new paths and experiences opening up to you. After my initial death, I refused to even enter the cabin, and this time, the Voice of the Skeptical accompanied me.. After that, another cabin came about behind me. I refused, similarly. And, as the narrator stated, the world I had seen had faded into the Void before my very eyes. And then…

I respawned. I began taking notes for this review. I use a dual monitor, so typing notes whilst also writing was a very easy task, and as the game’s audio played in the background, I had taken a liking to the soundtrack playing in the bacground. It was a very soft, endearing piano tune. A very simple composition, but a nice one. This run, I decided to hesitate, and then run into the cabin, balls first. I also grabbed the blade as well, before noticing that it might be the key to my next fate. I made a mental note, before moving on. This time, I had charged straight on in to net the coup de grace, before recieving a blow to the face. “Holy shit that hurt!”, the game pronounced. I didn’t know The Princess practiced arm game in this cell! We engage in a duel, trading blows as the Princess bleeds out. I then give up, admonished for doing so, before getting… stepped on. Goddamn it, I had already played Bayonetta prior. Now I’M the Angel! But, once again, I took notice to her eyes. Something about them conveyed unadulurated anger, unlike her previous expressions. As her bloodied clothes dry. She shoves her knee into my windpipe, leaving me oxygen deprived. Before everything goes dark, I take one last look, before finally passing.

Loop 4, time. Am I doing something wrong? Ending 3 had already sent me back to Chapter 1. Now, I’m back on Chapter 2, where I had previously reset. Once again, inspired to use the knowledge I had previously, I was determined to NOT. TAKE. THE. DAMNED. BLADE. She can kill me through sheer will power alone, so there was no use fighting. Before entering the cabin, I was forewarned by the Narrator, and he once again warns me of her lies. And then, I had gained the Voice of the Broken, a new character. I had also noticed the corrupted music within the background during this time. Was I finally making progress? Only one way to find out.

The Cabin had completely altered this time, into a castle-like structure. Yes! I’m getting somewhere, finally! Right next to the basement door was a mirror. I clean it off, only to reveal nothing. Oh, well! Skipping the basement, I head straight into the basement. God, I could go for some Isaac Rebirth now. The Princess calls us once again, but her voice is… off now. I think we all know what that means, so with caution, I head down, without a blade. Is this what my kindness leads to? My own demise? The Princess appears far more intimidating than ever, growing far in size. Any attempt to fight her is futile at this point. And she KNOWS this. She KNOWS our pasts sins, as she states that she’s seen our previous killings. She is eternal. We attempt to kill her, she blindsighted and gruesomely kills us throughout each run. At this point, the only thing to do is kneel and beg for forgiveness. We come in for a… kiss or something idk, at least the Voice of the Broken knows what's up. I DON’T want to kill her. I don’t want her to know why I’m here. But she simply teases us, and I have no other options. She continues to tease us. She truly was destined to end the world, as she’s said. If you can’t beat em, join em… I free her from her chains, taunting us as we join her side for the rest of eternity. Is this truly our fate? Is there a way to save her? Because no matter what we do, saving her kills us, and killing her is suicide. And as we break her free, our narrator is practically killed, replaced with only the echoes of the cruel mistress herself. We attempt to take her hand, but right before our eyes, she disappears into the void. All we see now is a mirror, and much to the dismay of the hero, we approach it. We see… ourselves. And then we explore the void that now remains as a reminder of what we've done. There is no more cabin. Only the Princess remains, consumed by the hands, spewing evangelical-like nonsense. Out of desperation, I attempt to commit suicide, but it fails. I try to kill “her”, but it also fails. The world hasn't ended, but yet, this is the rest of eternity. Just me, the hands, and a shell of her former self; the princess. The Princess desires perspectives; the vessel she has now represents dominance. And she tasks us with forgetting everything that we’ve experienced thus far to continue the cycle. I refuse twice, not letting her reset my memories. She then promptly closes my game. Thanks! Now that we’re fully intertwined in the eternal cycle, there’s no way out of here, I guess. I forget everything, and reality shatters, which actually made me jump a little with the sound effect. PART 2, TIME!

I reload my save, out of curiosity. Rather disappointingly however, the same outcome happens. And I'm on Loop 1 once more. I've decided this time to be 100% peaceful.; no bullshit, no nothing. I charge in, no guns nor anything, straight to the Princess, completely unarmed. She's a lot more polite to me this time, but how do we get her out of the chains without a knife? She EATS her own hand off. Damn, how has this bitch been stuck in here since forever? She just ate her own hand off!!! Well, kind of, as we eventually just cut her hand off with a blade that mysteriously appears out of nowhere. The Narrator once again forces us to kill her, but something interesting happens this time. The Princess knows that some outside force is influencing us, and then she takes the blade, once again killing us, albeit with remorse this time. This singular line completely threw off how I perceived each run of Slay The Princess. Albeit subtly, the Princess already knows that what's happening isn't normal, not by a long shot.

RUN 2 PART 2: I directly accuse the Narrator of causing my death, and I gain a new voice; The Voice of the Smitten. He's the #2 Princess fan, so good luck stopping him! #1 being me. But once again, our cabin changes, and the Princess seemingly remembers us from before, leaving even the narrator shocked. The killing, the disarment, everything! However, once again, listening to her voice, something seems off. It's a lot less rude and demanding than previously. Maybe we fixed her? Let's rescue her, once again! Getting a closeup of her fac- wait a second. That IS a different Princess! But regardless, we slip her hands through the shackles that bind her, and she gives us a nice, warm hug. Awwww, she's so cute, disregarding her killing us in cold blood last time. But now we're left curious on what we do for the rest of our lives, but the music cuts abruptly, putting me on edge. But the GODDAMN DOOR CLOSES AGAIN. However, the power of love triumphs all, and by uniting our hands, we unlock the door, with only the wonders of the world between u- get fucked with the void lmao. Once again, it's reset time! That was… fairly short, but okay. PART 3!

I turn around, this time, then enter the cabin. I come in, say Hi, and the Princess is not as kind as before, but not necessarily hostile either. I decide to leave her downstairs on her own, but her eyes tell me all that I need to know. I will regret this. So, balls to the walls, I leave her. But even the Narrator warns me about the decision I've made. The Princess aggressively demands her own freedom, threatening to even free herself, but I keep on walking. Barricading the door, I run like it's no tomorrow. Watching eerily, I fall asleep next to the door, with the Princess calling me, begging me to open the door as she violently bangs on it. We nod off, but as we awake, the door was lock picked. The Princess has escaped, and her ass is chasing you now. Seeing what she can do, you probably know how this ends.

Run 2! Voice of the Paranoid, this time. Cabin changes, knife, mirror, same thing. We're met with a path, with the Princess out to kill us for what we just did. I don't act. She finds us, and paralyzes us from the waste down. At this point, I'm on the edge of my seat. The sound design of Slay The Princess is sublime, highlighted by this scene alone. Each effect leaves me anxious as all hell, and the only thing I can do is keep clicking. And the scene of black and white… it was just too much to take. We die as always, but we live on.

Run… 3? Starts in the night… skies. Everything is clear. We find ourselves with every single voice in the game. The cabin is a weird objecymt which shifts as we watch. Did I… fuck up? The mirror is once again fake, leaving only the blade, and we have no choice now. But as we grab it, it sifts through the earth, into the unknown depths below. And what are in those unknown Depths? THE GODDAMN PRINCESS OF COURSE! With no other options as she’s taken away our will power, we let her be free, and she thanks us, before becoming a part of the Void. Once again, we reset the universe, and now we’re back to square one. This was easily my favorite chapter of Slay The Princess thus far.

I enthusiastically head into the cabin this time, destined on cold murder as the narrator wishes us to, no lies or anything. This time, she’s a lot more hostile towards us, ala Part 1. But I charge straight in, stab her chest, and it looks like it did a lot of damage. But the Princess gets up and says “nahhhhhh i can tech this shit”, ending up dying anyways. After a job well done, we leave and see... The Void again. We can’t leave, but we end up staying in the Void for... eternity. Happy? After all of that, hell if I know. But hey, I got a good ending at least!!!! Welp, time to commit suicide and start the cycle all over again.

Voice of the Cold, we enter the cabin, it’s cold, grab knife. The Princess remains dead, as she was before. But that can’t be, right? The world was reset! Well, not entirely, as her spirit lives on, seeping through the bottom floor, heading straight at us. Rather than thinking with our fists, I hesitate. She’s dead anyways, what’s the harm? Apologizing for my past actions, the Princess seems apathetic to it. Out of the debt of our hearts, I ask her what I can do to repay her. The ghost wishes to return home, no battles, no nonsense. She just wants to live a real life. Desperate and out of options, I let her possess me, in an attempt to let her see the world. After briefly passing out, we wake up, with The Princess forever intertwined in our thoughts. We have the option of killing her, but I refuse to oblige, and we thus leave the Basement. As we open the door leading us outside, we suddenly pass out, and the Void faces us once more. As we’ve seen before, The Princess disappears into the hands of The Void, and the mirror once again appears. The evangelical being that was the Ghost states that we need one more vessel to bring her to singularity. As I near the end of the game, I wonder, which Princess to bring into this realm? Which girl to end the game on? Which one will be my final send-off to this game?

Okay yeah, I looked up how to do the Witch route. I am an absolute SUCKER for witches. So why not end the game on one? We enter the Cabin unarmed, but end up grabbing the mysterious knife. As we leave, we go in for the kill, she strikes back, killing us with her own nails. She seemingly meets her end soon enough, as we die.

THE BEST CHAPTER: II - THE WITCH!!! The cabin is grotesque this time, with roots of plants surrounding us, unarmed. Hey, wait a fucking second. THAT’S A CAT WOMAN! What a rip-off. The Witch is incredibly strong, distrusting of us, yet not hostile. I mean, after all, we did kill her. After some back and forth, we eventually get her to come with us for the rescue, not before telling her to go first, and with her subsequently sniffing us, insulting us in the process. Rude. But, not grabbing the knife was a mistake, as she reached it first. But, without warning, she closes the door on us, leaving us alone in our thoughts, with the void slowly consuming the world. As we gaze into the mirror for the final time, our reflection is blank, as the mirror cracks, and so does our reality. As the shards fall, the narrator’s true face is revealed, slowly fading away as we talk to him. What happened to these worlds, we ask. As he slowly dies, he begs us one final time, to kill the princess, once and for all. As we head to the cabin in this twisted Void, the hill bursts open and reveals…


The Princess! Every single version of her, united into one being. But, as The Princess reminds us of The Narrator’s final wishes, that leaves us with one. Last. Choice. As our playthrough comes to a close, The Princess expresses her wish for her own end, as each Princess comes back to remind us of our past killings and savings.

To slay or to not slay...? Every time we’ve come down, hostile or not, we’ve usually met our end, but that’s to be expected, no? After all, our goal is to kill the Princess, and of course she’d resist her own murder, right? Are we the ones at fault? But, we’re simply the player character in a game that FORCED us to choose to kill her. But, then again, we decided to buy the game that said “Slay The Princess”, install it, and play until the very end, out of our own will. We are the ones at fault. AND, with that revelation, I decide to SAVE The Princess, and free ourselves from this reality. But as the glass of this reality begins to crush us, the Princess and I unite into one self, as we spend the rest of eternity together, stepping into… the Infinite. We’ve finally made it back home, as the deceased Princess has wished.

While I know that my explanation of how Slay the Princess made me feel what I did was pretty beefy, it was mostly a journal of the game, as I had processed it in real time. In the end however, Slay The Princess reminds me of The End of Evangelion. Something that was definitely enjoyable on a first look, but when the journey’s all over, you think “Wow, that was actually kind of GOATed”. It's an intentionally deep and complex narrative, with multiple different choices to make, and gorgeous production values being present everywhere in its content. Each run feels different from the last, with the entire narrative changing to reflect your actions. Every variation of the Princess is an extension of your actions, and yes, while some paths felt underdeveloped (Damsel) unfortunately, I still think Slay the Princess is worth your time overall, and the visuals alone will stick with you for a very long time, much less the story and music. Every choice I made had significant meaning, and I can’t wait for my next playthrough of the next few routes. But for now, this is where Slay The Princess ends. And where MY bitching begins.

This was a bit of an experimental review style, one that I don’t plan on using much in the future, but for a game with as many paths as Slay the Princess, it really demanded this style. Hell if I know I’ll continue to use this style, but hey, it’s a thought. But speaking of reviews, I hate to announce so many things in a short time span, but I think I’m also looking into replaying the Bayonetta games soon. I absolutely LOVED Bayonetta 1 when I played it last year, but I never ended up finishing it, unfortunately. All that’s about to change, because I’ll be playing all three mainline titles, back to back, and I’ll also be including Cereza and the Lost Demon as a bonus. It’s been something I’ve always wanted to revisit. I really love Bayonetta, both as a character, and as a game as well. So, I hope you’re looking forward to that. But, that’s all for now. Until next time, my friends!