Saw a review claim this game's writing is as good as Disco Elysium, is that true?

[Maboi Laurence]

Title, if it is then it's an instabuy.

[Jackdaw Mask]

That's completely subjective.

Like... I loved Disco Elysium, but I also love writing in this and Scarlet Hollow and think black tabby games is one of best vn writers I've seen. But does that mean other people will agree? Well not necessarily, its completely different genre and tone from Disco Elysium

[Lucius Caesar]

I don't know if I'd say its as good.. but it has some similarities with you talking to different emotional aspects of yourself. I mean don't get me wrong, the writing is good, and the voice acting is great.

[GodfatherPlunger]

that might be a bit much, but disco elysium is one of my favourite games and its also a bit subjective... maybe for some, for some not. not sure

[Jackdaw Mask]

Originally posted by Lucius Caesar:

I don't know if I'd say its as good.. but it has some similarities with you talking to different emotional aspects of yourself. I mean don't get me wrong, the writing is good, and the voice acting is great.

Yeaaah its kinda apples and oranges situation to me. Disco Elysium is game I'd play while depressed due to game's subject matter and handling of it, Slay the Princess is kind of actually really sweet but twisted lovestory?

[Chrisme]

The dialogue is generally good and so is the voice acting. I don't really think that you can compare it to Disco Elysium though. The two games are vastly different in design and size already. There is just no point in comparing the two.

There are also just a handful of different characters in this game (each princess and each voice in your head). Spoken by the same two people they still feel quite distinct.

[Loudness]

I never heard of the dev or the game series, I thought the graphics are absolutely insane judging by the steam pictures and when I read that it's a choiced matter horror game I instantly became intrigued. Definitely going to give this one a try come Helloween. Also wow at the steam ratings, not too many "noname" devs who get such rave reviews.

Ramblings aside, I've played several games linked to Disco Elysium (GameDec for instance) and I always get..disappointed. I think Disco Elysium is to writing what From Software games (Bloodborne, Elden Ring, Dark Souls 1-3 etc) are to combat - the untouchable elite. I actually stopped drinking alochol for nearly two years after I finished Disco Elysium, the game felt like a mixture of a videogame and psychotherapy to me because it explored themes in a realistic way unlike any game I've ever played, which makes it the only game in history that I've rated 9/10. It went way beyond just "gaming" to me and changed my life for two years.

Although, if you want something really amazing, I can recommend Chicken Police, that game's story and voice acting was elite-tier IMHO.

If anybody can confirm that the writing is good, I'll pick this up for Helloween 100%.

One question: How long is it? Can it be finished during one evening? How party-friendly is it?

[Jackdaw Mask]

Originally posted by Loudness:

One question: How long is it? Can it be finished during one evening? How party-friendly is it?

Its visual novel, so don't think its super party friendly unless your friends are into listening audiodramas during halloween parties?

That said, first playthrough is like 2 hours maybe? Its very replayable game and subsequent playthroughs will be shorter if you use skip seen dialog button. I'm currently 8 hours in since I've been achievement hunting

[Chrisme]

Originally posted by Loudness:

One question: How long is it? Can it be finished during one evening? How party-friendly is it?

It is a very short game that took me three hours to complete on my first (real) attempt. Three hours is a number that you will see floating around often. You can of course play the game again afterwards and do things differently but replayability isn't super high in my opinion (I'm at 7 hours at the moment). The story is quite linear and is more about doing things the way you want. And in that regard the game is also quite good. It offers a lot of different dialogue choices but the outcome is usually the same.

I'm unsure what party-friendly means. It is a solo game probably mostly intended for a male audience as the story revolves around a princess and your relationship to her. It is family friendly in any case. No explicit nudity, though gore and guts are more commonplace. One very explicit gore scene can be skipped by closing your character's eyes.

[Loudness]

Originally posted by Jackdaw Mask:

Originally posted by Loudness:

One question: How long is it? Can it be finished during one evening? How party-friendly is it?

Its visual novel, so don't think its super party friendly unless your friends are into listening audiodramas during halloween parties?

That said, first playthrough is like 2 hours maybe? Its very replayable game and subsequent playthroughs will be shorter if you use skip seen dialog button. I'm currently 8 hours in since I've been achievement hunting

Originally posted by Chrisme:

Originally posted by Loudness:

One question: How long is it? Can it be finished during one evening? How party-friendly is it?

It is a very short game that took me three hours to complete on my first (real) attempt. Three hours is a number that you will see floating around often. You can of course play the game again afterwards and do things differently but replayability isn't super high in my opinion (I'm at 7 hours at the moment). The story is quite linear and is more about doing things the way you want. And in that regard the game is also quite good. It offers a lot of different dialogue choices but the outcome is usually the same.

I'm unsure what party-friendly means. It is a solo game probably mostly intended for a male audience as the story revolves around a princess and your relationship to her. It is family friendly in any case. No explicit nudity, though gore and guts are more commonplace. One very explicit gore scene can be skipped by closing your character's eyes.

The audience is an adult one in their 30s, male and female. Me, my sister, gf, sisters friends, so a lot of females, but from my experience they don't really mind male-driven stories at all (maybe the friends do, but serious doubt, pretty cool bunch and I've known some of them for 2 decades by now).

Party-friendly is an abstract term I agree. Last year, we played Amnesia:Rebirth during Halloween. The game was great, but I had to finish 80% of it myself as it was too long.

The year before, we played Man of Medan. Found it okish, but the length was relatively movie-like, so it fit our schedule. Obviously we're not going to just play video games 5 hours straight.

Since you mentioned it's a visual novel, I'm kinda on the side. I played a visual novel with my sister before (Chicken Police, noir-type detective story) and she found it ok. I guess I'll show her some videos and see if she likes the trailer.

The playlength sounds fine!

Thank you both for the answers, here's some remuneration for it .

[Chrisme]

Originally posted by Loudness:

The audience is an adult one in their 30s, male and female. Me, my sister, gf, sisters friends, so a lot of females, but from my experience they don't really mind male-driven stories at all (maybe the friends do, but serious doubt, pretty cool bunch and I've known some of them for 2 decades by now).

Heh, I only saw things from my perspective I guess. But it's true, I'm often surprised about the games some women play, my own sister included (well... not anymore now that she has her own family).

With that setup it may actually work out for you to turn this into a group activity. There is something cozy about watching other people play something and my impression has always been that women enjoy this in particular. It is also a curious thing to watch other people make decisions.

Showing her videos before coming to a conclusion sounds like a good idea.