You’re on a path in the woods. And at the end of that path is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin in a princess. You’re here to slay her. If you don’t, it will be the end of the world.
As you play through Slay the Princess you’ll hear the above words a lot. It’s a simple and intriguing premise – after all, plenty of video games are about saving princesses, not slaying them – but exactly how you execute your task is up to you. Slay the Princess is a visual novel where you’ll find yourself on the above-mentioned path in the woods, with the words of The Narrator in your ear, informing you that the princess must be slain. From there, all your choices are entirely up to you.
Slay the Princess or Save the Princess?
Slay the Princess is a game about choices. Do you trust The Narrator and head to the cabin to slay the princess? Do you question why you’re being told to do this at all? Do you turn around and walk away from the cabin? All these choices, and more, are yours to make. Slay the Princess has layers upon layers of choices and dialogue options for you to pick from at every turn, cleverly molding its narrative to fit the way you’re playing. One thing nearly every route you can take has in common? It’s not over when you think it is.
Warning: There are spoilers for Slay the Princess’s unique narrative structure after this point
No matter what choices you make in Slay the Princess, you will die – a lot – and that’s okay! That’s how the game works. Early on in one playthrough where the princess was slain with no hesitation, I lingered to retrieve my knife from her chest, only to have her awaken and stab me in the side, killing me as the screen faded to black. This fade to black was followed by a screen announcing Chapter Two and I woke up on that same path in the woods, beginning the cycle again with small changes informed by choices I had made previously. The game continues on like this as you continue to make choices, cycle after cycle, but don’t worry! There is a definitive ending – quite a few of them actually, depending on your choices – and you’ll know it when you see it.
A Grim Choice
This narrative structure makes for an incredibly interesting visual novel, and it also allows for things to get really weird. Most paths you take will involve shocking or gruesome turns, while also offering some contemplative moments and witty humor as the cycle repeats and informs itself with your decisions over and over again. It’s all very up my alley and I’m very excited that Slay the Princess has made it to the Switch with The Pristine Cut. No matter which way you turn, Slay the Princess has an excellently grim atmosphere, elevated by the excellent full voice acting behind The Narrator, The Princess, and the many voices of the main character.
With this new release of Slay the Princess: The Pristine Cut, Black Tabby Games has updated their original 2023 release of Slay the Princess with some new art, tweaked scenarios, new route possibilities, and extra endings. It was a blast to dive in to see all the changes and additions since I first played Slay the Princess last year, and one of the new routes may be one of my favorite in the game due to its emotional impact and the way it turns the game’s entire premise on its head. The Pristine Cut also adds a gallery, referred to in-game as “Memories” that will unlock after you roll credits the first time, showing you exactly which scenarios you’ve encountered and offering vague hints on how to reach others. It’s a nifty feature that does take away some of the mystery of Slay the Princess, but it allows and encourages players to experience as much of the game as they can.
Almost Pristine
As for how well Slay the Princess: The Pristine Cut runs on the Nintendo Switch? I’m pleased to report that it runs nearly flawlessly. Only a very long initial loading sequence each time I booted the game and slight pauses after some dialogue choices marred my playthroughs of The Pristine Cut, and there was a bit of an issue with the game not loading back up properly from the main menu after an excellently-meta scripted game crash, but that was easily solved by closing and opening the game again.
The “Good” Ending
Slay the Princess is a phenomenal game, made more so by the additional content in The Pristine Cut. From straying from video game tradition by instructing you to slay a princess rather than save her, to the impressive amount of fully voiced content within, to the way the game adapts to your choices as you play through the cycle again and again, it’s clear that Slay the Princess was a labor of love by Black Tabby Games. With the release of this definitive edition of Slay the Princess, one of my favorite games of 2023 has gotten even better and has become one of my favorite games of 2024 as well.
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System: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: October 24, 2024
Categories: Action, Adventure, Role-playing
Publisher: Serenity Forge
Developer: Black Tabby Games
Written by Jaxson Tapp
As a lover of gaming and the written word, Jaxson currently fills his time not only with playing games, but also writing about them. Ready for anything, Jaxson’s passion for puzzle games, JRPGs, tough platformers, and whimsical indies helps him bring a well-rounded opinion to Nintendo Wire’s reporting.
