Slay the Princess Critic Reviews

Slay the Princess is a game all about perspectives, secrets, about scrutinizing the information you’re given. It’ll worm its way inside your mind, and sometimes you’ll even start second-guessing your own decisions. But that’s the whole fun of it; it asks you to examine your own preconceived notions and your own ideals, and that makes it enjoyable to the very end. For fans of visual novels, unique narrative adventures, and even those outside those circles, this is an essential indie visual novel that is well worth your time.

Compelling and strange, Slay the Princess is a unique, expertly-written visual novel.

No decision is a bad one; on the contrary, it opens up another layer of the story that delivers a serving of psychological horror, humor, romance, darkness and fun. The short play time doesn't hurt either, the game directly encourages you to play again.

Mostly lives up to the promises and hype built around the game. An all at once engaging, intriguing, funny, satisfying, and deep experience.

It’s one of those games you have to experience in order to understand. The developers insist early on that the title is a love story, and I can’t argue with that...Though, somehow through all the layers and twists, decisions and realizations, the game’s core really is as simple as the title suggests. I’m here to slay the princess. I can only awe at a team that can make something so simultaneously simple and complex.

Slay the Princess is a beautiful narrative of pain, death, love, and transformation. It has so many choices and routes that it's impossible to see them all in one playthrough. While some may come for the terrors of blood, bone, and the unknown, the tender core is what will keep the game in your mind.

Overall, Slay The Princess is a groundbreaking indie horror game. Choose-your-adventures often share the flaw of pointless choices and straight storylines, but Slay The Princess offers a unique story in a way that a choice-driven narrative should be played. With great characters and stunning visuals, it's important to detail how Black Tabby Games ensures a captivating narrative as well. This is a game you could play for hours and still discovers new scenes. A game that deserves to be played.

Slay the Princess is my first visual novel in my roughly thirty-five years as a gamer and I enjoyed every minute of it. With so many dialogue options to choose from, no two runs of the story are the same, and even when you get to the story’s finale there are still a few different ways it can ultimately end. The voice acting and soundtrack ties everything together beautifully and for someone who never got into visual novels, I can’t recommend this one enough. If you’re looking for a psychological horror story with quite a bit of comedic dialogue thrown in, then definitely prepare to Slay the Princess…that kind of came out weird.

While Slay the Princess comes in a deceptively simple package, it contains what feels like a whole universe of horror, humor and humanity; it takes the visual novel format and pushes it as far as it will go, with a story that changes and adapts to every decision you make without ever forsaking its central themes of identity, eternity, and the nature of life and death.

Slay the Princess is a deep narrative adventure with the sole goal of telling a story, in a sort of big, deep What If? which succeeds in the complex task of surprising. To reach total completionism, you could even need six hours of play. It's a rich, deep and literally flawless title. A big, small and unexpected evolution for graphic adventures.

If you have an itch for something that’s spooky but also morally confronting and you will be thinking about it for days to come, it’s impossible not to recommend this.

Slay the Princess is a horror meta-narrative visual novel about the choices we make, and how they change us and those around us. It’s about the interpersonal relationships that can wound us, make us versions of ourselves we never imagined, yet teach us. It is a damn good story, and one worth experiencing.

Devoid of traditional jumpscare but decidedly abundant from the point of view of graphic horror, Slay the Princess does not hesitate to bring into play all the tools of the craft of a good writer: eye-catching, brutal, mesmerizing and sometimes dismissive, but always able to recover on the hook, the writing of Black Tabby Games is one of the best we could appreciate in the gaming world in this 2023.

Canadian indie studio Black Tabby Games has already proven with Scarlet Hollow that it can tell very sophisticated, gripping horror stories with memorable characters. With Slay the Princess, Black Tabby Games has now surpassed itself: With every decision you make, the game draws you deeper into its plot loops and narrative levels.

Slay the Princess is a visual novel that surprises with its story and execution, giving us freedom to choose our path and subtly guiding us towards one of its multiple endings. It deals with philosophical and metaphysical themes that may appeal more or less, but the execution is fantastic, and keeps us hooked until the end.

A superbly written interactive novel that turns the classic damsel in distress narrative on its head. Slay the Princess raises more questions than answers but keeps you hooked until the very end.

It was one of the best games of 2023, and the new update has made it even better. It’s a game that everyone needs to play for themselves as each journey is unique, even though you will likely want to dive in for another unique journey straight afterwards.

While I by no means think Slay the Princess is for everyone—this is a distinctly indie game—the thoughtful, curious, and those hungry for an imaginative experience will be more than satisfied with what it has to offer. With some tweaks, improvements, or inclusion of quality-of-life features, Slay the Princess rises to the ranks of legendary indie status. As for me, I am going to keep my eye on Black Tabby Games, because it has another game in the works (Scarlet Hollow) that could be just as good, if not better than what’s been gifted to us here.

Slay the Princess takes the adventure game’s classic mechanics, including loads of dialogue and player choices, and uses them in cool new ways. It quickly becomes clear that killing the scion of royal blood is not what the experience is all about. And the story delivers interesting moments, tough choices, and satisfying revelations. These mix with the strong voice acting and engaging visual style to make the experience worth playing despite its limited gameplay. Fewer attempts at jump scares would have made it even easier to focus on the world's strangeness. Slay the Princess should appeal to fans of the uncanny who are interested a good story and solid twists.

Slay the Princess is an entertainingly dark and subversive visual novel with hidden depths that makes for a great few hours. For developer Black Tabby Games’ second title, it’s a very encouraging success indeed, and proves that its horror-telling chops in Scarlet Hollow wasn’t just a fluke. I will be keenly looking forward to its next title.