The Liar Princess and Blind Prince

There are a lot of games that have a dark story with depressing elements to their themes with lighthearted moments however not many have all that and a very artistic if somewhat cutesy art style with an engaging narrative that keeps up going and wanting for more and in The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince we get just that in a very compelling and heartfelt package.

The game starts off by introducing you to a singing wolf and a curious young boy who happens to be a prince that is fascinated by the singing that is emanating from the forest. He’s unaware that the beautiful singing is done by the wolf and over the span of several nights he goes and listens to and applauds the singing that comes from the creature and the wolf is in turn elated at being praised for her singing. This continues for a while until one day the prince becomes curious enough to venture into the forest to finally see the singer who’s grown so enamored by, the Wolf is surprised when the prince approaches her to see her face. In fear of the prince seeing what she looks like ends up she throws her paw out in the direction of the prince in hopes of blocking his field of view, unfortunately that ended with her slashing out his eyes and his tumbling backwards off of the cliff he climbed up. The wolf desperate to save him grabs his arm and in fear he struggles to get away from the beast as she tries to hold on to him. He falls and then a soldier comes along and scares away the wolf who looks on in horror at what she has done. Moving forward she goes to see the prince and sees that he has been locked away and is now blind and she becomes full of regret and wants to take the prince to see the witch of the forest in order to restore his sight thus beginning the journey of the Blind Prince and Liar Princess.

That was a lot to put here but its important to understand the set up of the story and the motivations of the Wolf who becomes the Liar Princess and the journey that they undergo along the way and while this may seem like a long and fantastical journey it is ultimately a very short journey that you will be undergoing that will be finished within 6-7 hours however don’t allow the short length to sway you from experiencing this amazing experience.

The gameplay of the game is centered around puzzle solving and platforming in an escort style format to help guide the prince along as well as use him to help you solve various puzzles. You will also have to keep him alive and safe from harm as along the journey there will be platforms that he can fall from that will lead to his death as well as enemies that exist that will attempt to attack you both of which you will need to stop escorting the prince and switch to your wolf form to attack the enemies and kill them.

You are given the ability to slash as the wolf of which she can combo or rather repeatedly slash in a standing position, other than that she doesn’t get more attacks than that’s the focus of the game isn’t about action but moreso the puzzle solving aspect of the game. The most taxing part of the game and the most fun, and frustrating, is the puzzles and platforming where you will have to guide the prince by having him either follow you by holding his hand and guiding him along or by having him stand on specific things or later on in the game where you are able to speak to him to have him go where yo tell him and more. For the compleionists you’re able to traverse back to previous levels and collect remaining flower petals and flowers, however, you cannot utilize skills that you gained at later points in the beginning or middle areas as they are level specific from where you gain the abilities.

The artwork, animation, music, and visual aesthetics are all very very well done. The art style is truly unique and well animated as there are small visual animations such as when you are standing next to the prince in your princess form you are frowning and the prince looks worried however when you grab his hand he will start smiling and so will you, when the prince dies you will weep in both forms and if the prince falls from a slightly higher than normal level he will fall on his face and then stand up and keep going. The animations, while subtle, are simply endearing and the ambient music perfectly sets the tone of the journey especially as you journey along and meet other monsters and are reminded that you are still a monster and one that the prince is terrified of.

All in all The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince is a terrific game that I highly recommend to people of all gaming tastes to give a try as it’s a very heartwarming tale of trust, friendship, fear, and love and shows how far the wolf will go to not only help the prince but moreso just to be with him even if that means lying and hiding who and what she really is. Are there any downs to the game? Not really as I was satisfied with the time I got ti spend in this fantasy world and it never felt too long although at times it did feel too short but that’s a minor gripe.