Title: Slay the Princes Medium: Video Game (Visual Novel) Approximate Length: According to HowLongToBeat.com, it takes 3 and a half hours to beat the main story of the game and 11 and a half hours for a completionist playthrough. Watching all of BAI GAMING's videos on YouTube (silent playthroughs/walkthroughs of all routes, most route variations, and all endings) would take 14 and a half hours.
For just the ship I'm asking for (Voice of the Cold/Voice of the Paranoid), to get pretty much all of their appearances (if not all of their dialogue) you would need to do two playthroughs and take six different paths. I have recommended playthrough choices here; there are minor (gameplay) spoilers but I try to avoid major (story) ones as much as possible. Where to (Legally) Find It: The full game is on Steam! It's currently $16.19 for the Winter Sale.
Brief Description: 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 is a princess.
You're here to slay her. If you don't, it will be the end of the world.
Get ready to hear those words a lot. That's the voice of your ever-present, unseen, questionably trustworthy Narrator, and Path in the Woods -> Cabin -> Basement -> Princess is going to be your reality for a while.
Slay the Princess is an intricate visual novel, fully voice acted by Jonathan Sims and Nichole Goodnight and with a beautiful soundtrack by Brandon Boone. The protagonist, your PC, is a weird humanoid bird-person whose personality is quite variable and who has a bunch of voices in his head; one of them is the Narrator, and the rest of them are... him? Sort of. The Princess (usually capitalized) is, as promised, chained up in the basement of the cabin. She always starts off the same -- sort of -- but your choices deeply affect both her and yourself.
You can slay her, or be killed by her. You can free her, or you can at least try. You can even try to just walk (or run) away from the whole situation. You will almost certainly die. A lot. Painfully and horrifically.
This is a love story.
What You Love About the Canon: Practically everything, honestly! The writing, the art, the voice acting, the characterization, the horror and the humor both...
It's a horror story. It's often a funny story. It also is legitimately a love story. It's even, in some ways, a mystery: What is the Princess? What is the... other being? What are you?Where are you? Who is responsible for any of this? And even as it becomes more obvious that the Narrator is manipulating you, it's more and more called into question... what, if anything, is he actually lying about?
The various forms the Princess takes and the various things you can do or say to get to them are wonderful. I have my personal favorites, but even the ones I wasn't as keen on at first only benefit from further visitation, exploration, and thought. The way each path gives you different hints about the overall story and the underlying truth of things is fascinating. The Narrator is a blast, smug and blatantly manipulative and sometimes surprisingly honest and a funny little bastard, and He is himself fascinating the more you put the story together. The parts before you go back to Chapter I again are beautiful and fascinating, and I know I keep saying fascanating but another part of what I love about this game is that my brain just wants to keep chewing on it and that feels rewarding!
I also deeply, deeply love the voices. The various voices that show up in the protagonist's head in each chapter are the characters I'm most fannish about by far; they are often charming, usually hilarious, also a fascinating look into what's going on and how things work (even if that's not obvious at first), and their banter was a huge high point of the game for me. They are named after certain specific personality traits and in large part that is exactly what they are, but at the same time quite a few of them go far beyond that in ways that can be very unexpected and completely delightful.
What You Love About Your Ship: I am planning on asking for my OTP, or at least variations of my OTP occasionally with other characters.
I love Voice of the Cold/Voice of the Paranoid.
It's hard for me to explain exactly why. They are opposites, but in a way that I think they could catch each others' attention, and they have some interesting things in common; I feel like they could actually work very well together in a team-up sense and that seeing how they could possibly work their way into a relationship... Well, it could be really interesting and take a lot of different paths and forms.
Cold is cold-hearted and cold-blooded, a casual killer but also unbothered by whatever you choose to do, really. Paranoid is, well, paranoid, highly-strung and on edge and honestly usually right, disinclined to trust anyone but "ourselves." Cold constantly talks about not feeling anything, physical or emotional; he claims not to feel anything and advises that no one else should either, that it's easier and more useful that way. (He is either fooling himself or lying, at least in part.) Paranoid has probably never not felt anything in his life and uses that to guide his choices -- and uses it to his, and yours, and the other voices' advantage -- and despite expectations he has a will of steel. (He is very open about things, and considers lying and hidden truths as a lack of trust and, in return, an indication that the person not trusting cannot themself be trusted.) Cold, despite his talk and his apparent trope, is one of the most passive voices in the entire game, and Paranoid is one of the most powerful ones.
Cold and Paranoid are both, in their own ways, very group-oriented. They are both snarky. They both hate the Narrator and want Him taken care of. All but that last thing may be more obvious on Paranoid's part, but they're all true. And you can reach the same Chapter III with them via both of their main Chapter IIs; The Wraith is in fact the only Chapter III that the Spectre (the form Cold's Princess takes) can lead into. In both cases, you can get Cold in Paranoid's route and vice-versa. This is only true of four voice combinations total, so it's pretty rare!
...In the interests of not making this section of my promo too long, you can also see what I wrote about them in a different exchange's letter here. (Some details of my likes and things will definitely change, but this intro section is still applicable!) But also have this:
(Why does this sum up their dynamic to me so well? I have no idea but I love it.)
Kinds of Things You're Planning to Ask For: TONS OF THINGS. Romance and/or smut both! Intense and maybe even violent but not hate-sex? Attempts at something more tender? Unusual feelings? Awkward get-togethers, humor, flirting, first times, weird little bird-like courtship behaviors/mating rituals whether either of them realize they're doing it or not? Stuff set during the game or after any of the endings... Maybe even total AUs. I am going to be into a lot so long as they are into each other!
Content Notes: Check out the content warnings on Black Tabby Games's website here.
Slay the Princess
Medium: Video Game (Visual Novel)
Approximate Length: According to HowLongToBeat.com, it takes 3 and a half hours to beat the main story of the game and 11 and a half hours for a completionist playthrough. Watching all of BAI GAMING's videos on YouTube (silent playthroughs/walkthroughs of all routes, most route variations, and all endings) would take 14 and a half hours.
For just the ship I'm asking for (Voice of the Cold/Voice of the Paranoid), to get pretty much all of their appearances (if not all of their dialogue) you would need to do two playthroughs and take six different paths. I have recommended playthrough choices here; there are minor (gameplay) spoilers but I try to avoid major (story) ones as much as possible.
Where to (Legally) Find It: The full game is on Steam! It's currently $16.19 for the Winter Sale.
Brief Description: 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 is a princess.
You're here to slay her. If you don't, it will be the end of the world.
Get ready to hear those words a lot. That's the voice of your ever-present, unseen, questionably trustworthy Narrator, and Path in the Woods -> Cabin -> Basement -> Princess is going to be your reality for a while.
Slay the Princess is an intricate visual novel, fully voice acted by Jonathan Sims and Nichole Goodnight and with a beautiful soundtrack by Brandon Boone. The protagonist, your PC, is a weird humanoid bird-person whose personality is quite variable and who has a bunch of voices in his head; one of them is the Narrator, and the rest of them are... him? Sort of. The Princess (usually capitalized) is, as promised, chained up in the basement of the cabin. She always starts off the same -- sort of -- but your choices deeply affect both her and yourself.
You can slay her, or be killed by her. You can free her, or you can at least try. You can even try to just walk (or run) away from the whole situation. You will almost certainly die. A lot. Painfully and horrifically.
This is a love story.
What You Love About the Canon: Practically everything, honestly! The writing, the art, the voice acting, the characterization, the horror and the humor both...
It's a horror story. It's often a funny story. It also is legitimately a love story. It's even, in some ways, a mystery: What is the Princess? What is the... other being? What are you? Where are you? Who is responsible for any of this? And even as it becomes more obvious that the Narrator is manipulating you, it's more and more called into question... what, if anything, is he actually lying about?
The various forms the Princess takes and the various things you can do or say to get to them are wonderful. I have my personal favorites, but even the ones I wasn't as keen on at first only benefit from further visitation, exploration, and thought. The way each path gives you different hints about the overall story and the underlying truth of things is fascinating. The Narrator is a blast, smug and blatantly manipulative and sometimes surprisingly honest and a funny little bastard, and He is himself fascinating the more you put the story together. The parts before you go back to Chapter I again are beautiful and fascinating, and I know I keep saying fascanating but another part of what I love about this game is that my brain just wants to keep chewing on it and that feels rewarding!
I also deeply, deeply love the voices. The various voices that show up in the protagonist's head in each chapter are the characters I'm most fannish about by far; they are often charming, usually hilarious, also a fascinating look into what's going on and how things work (even if that's not obvious at first), and their banter was a huge high point of the game for me. They are named after certain specific personality traits and in large part that is exactly what they are, but at the same time quite a few of them go far beyond that in ways that can be very unexpected and completely delightful.
What You Love About Your Ship: I am planning on asking for my OTP, or at least variations of my OTP occasionally with other characters.
I love Voice of the Cold/Voice of the Paranoid.
It's hard for me to explain exactly why. They are opposites, but in a way that I think they could catch each others' attention, and they have some interesting things in common; I feel like they could actually work very well together in a team-up sense and that seeing how they could possibly work their way into a relationship... Well, it could be really interesting and take a lot of different paths and forms.
Cold is cold-hearted and cold-blooded, a casual killer but also unbothered by whatever you choose to do, really. Paranoid is, well, paranoid, highly-strung and on edge and honestly usually right, disinclined to trust anyone but "ourselves." Cold constantly talks about not feeling anything, physical or emotional; he claims not to feel anything and advises that no one else should either, that it's easier and more useful that way. (He is either fooling himself or lying, at least in part.) Paranoid has probably never not felt anything in his life and uses that to guide his choices -- and uses it to his, and yours, and the other voices' advantage -- and despite expectations he has a will of steel. (He is very open about things, and considers lying and hidden truths as a lack of trust and, in return, an indication that the person not trusting cannot themself be trusted.) Cold, despite his talk and his apparent trope, is one of the most passive voices in the entire game, and Paranoid is one of the most powerful ones.
Cold and Paranoid are both, in their own ways, very group-oriented. They are both snarky. They both hate the Narrator and want Him taken care of. All but that last thing may be more obvious on Paranoid's part, but they're all true. And you can reach the same Chapter III with them via both of their main Chapter IIs; The Wraith is in fact the only Chapter III that the Spectre (the form Cold's Princess takes) can lead into. In both cases, you can get Cold in Paranoid's route and vice-versa. This is only true of four voice combinations total, so it's pretty rare!
...In the interests of not making this section of my promo too long, you can also see what I wrote about them in a different exchange's letter here. (Some details of my likes and things will definitely change, but this intro section is still applicable!) But also have this:
(Why does this sum up their dynamic to me so well? I have no idea but I love it.)
Kinds of Things You're Planning to Ask For: TONS OF THINGS. Romance and/or smut both! Intense and maybe even violent but not hate-sex? Attempts at something more tender? Unusual feelings? Awkward get-togethers, humor, flirting, first times, weird little bird-like courtship behaviors/mating rituals whether either of them realize they're doing it or not? Stuff set during the game or after any of the endings... Maybe even total AUs. I am going to be into a lot so long as they are into each other!
Content Notes: Check out the content warnings on Black Tabby Games's website here.