The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince

The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince is a 2D puzzle platform game about two small children making their way through a creepy murder forest. Unlike similar games (such as Limbo, which jumps immediately to mind), The Liar Princess might best be described as an interactive storybook. The game’s emphasis is not so much on puzzles or platforming, but rather on using the conventions of gaming to help deepen the player’s connection with the characters as they travel through the story together.

This game was created by Nippon Ichi Software, which has developed a reputation for cute horror games with titles like Yomawari: Night Alone and A Rose in the Twilight. Still, I think The Liar Princess isn’t so much horror as it is dark fantasy, or fantasy with a few creepy elements and a touch of dark humor. There’s nothing explicitly violent or disturbing in the story or imagery, and the game itself is quite easy. I probably wouldn’t give this game to a young child, but playing it was a relaxing experience for me as an adult horror fan.

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The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince isn’t a perfect game, and many people will probably think it’s too easy and too short. Playing it from start to finish took me about five hours, including the time I spent going back to earlier stages in order to pick up collectibles I missed and rewatch the cutscenes I unlocked. Despite a few frustrations with the gameplay mechanics, I loved The Liar Princess. I’m somewhat surprised that this game is considered to be a niche title, because it’s refreshingly accessible and a lot of fun. Although the most obvious comparison would seem to be something like Limbo, The Liar Princess actually feels much more like Journey – it’s a visually immersive and relatively chill game about loneliness and companionship that’s easy to dip into for fifteen minutes at a time when you want to relax and unwind.

Re: The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince

I want to add that I love this game so much. SO MUCH.

I just finished a clean sketch for a piece of fan art, and I would be writing the spiciest fic instead of this review if the characters weren't so clearly ten-year-old children.

I love werewolves to begin with, and probably my favorite variation on the standard tropes is when the werewolf is a wolf who considers themself to be only temporarily human. I also like lady werewolves kind of a lot.

And also - I know I'm always talking about being a shitty gamer, but it's really not a joke. This is the easiest game, and I still had to consult a walkthrough video at the beginning to figure out how one of the core mechanics is supposed to work. While I'm exposing my shame for everyone to see, allow me to admit that I also got really frustrated the first time I played Journey, when I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to be doing in the vertically-scrolling "Temple" level that gradually fills with water.

I will readily acknowledge that I'm not that smart to begin with, but I honestly have no idea how so many people seem to know exactly what to do in games that they've never played (or watched) before. I mean, if reading is like telepathy between the mind of the reader and the mind of the writer, then playing video games can sometimes feel like the universe-brain version of figuring out what the developers were thinking.