We live in a fast-paced society. Everything is constantly in motion, everyone is in a hurry, and no one has any time for anything. We hurry from work to home to events to social gatherings and barely take a moment to sit and relax. Our non-stop lifestyles are one of the reasons that casual gaming is on the rise. Games that we can sit and play for a few minutes at a time, set down, and then come back to later. Simple puzzle games, level based platformers, story-based visual novels, and a plethora of other genres are permeating the gaming world in tiny bursts. And into that world step The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince.
The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince is a clean, articulate fairy tale told in a puzzle game format. Produced by the venerable Nippon Ichi Software and published domestically by NIS America, The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince tells the story of a singing wolf who comes to care about a prince. It’s not much of a giveaway to say that during the course of the story, the prince is blinded and a princess (of sorts) comes to his rescue. More than that will ruin what is honestly, one of the more touching stories in a game in quite some time. Suffice it to say that the story is excellent, the execution is overall quite good, and the game is well worth playing, whether you pick up the Switch or PS4 version of the game (the Vita version was unfortunately not ported domestically by NIS America).
One of the other things that The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince manages is to created a slow-paced, puzzle game that is both pleasant and relaxing. The artwork is hand-drawn with a unique and excellent style in the vein of Yomawari: Night Alone and A Rose in the Twilight, or even Okami. The dialogue is in spoken Japanese with English text onscreen. The music is a series of absolutely fantastic piano compositions. This combination results in a subdued gaming experience which is utterly enjoyable. The pacing, style, and music perfectly complement each other and fit well with the story and the whole game weaves a rich tapestry in which the characters come alive.
In terms of gameplay, The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince is a bit simplistic. As mentioned before, the game is puzzle based. You play the princess…and the wolf. You lead the blind prince through various platform-style levels with block puzzles, riddles, levers, and bouncy mushrooms, as well as a variety of enemies. In addition to basic jumping, attack, and movement, one button holds the prince’s hand, allowing you to guide him to places where he needs to stand to trigger various buttons. Later on in the game, you can use the prince to pick up objects and direct him verbally to different areas. Very few of the puzzles are challenging, but you might end up dying a time or two to get the techniques right. You simply restart at the last auto-saved checkpoint however, so this isn’t too burdensome. There is one level that has particularly challenging puzzles, but you’re given the option to bypass it entirely.
The game is particularly short, with even a casual intermittent playthrough taking under four hours. It’s definitely not a long game, but for the style, it really shouldn’t be anyway. Within that time, there are plenty of interesting events and you never find yourself getting too bored, even though the game is quite slow-paced. Managing all the achievements might take longer, of course, but in our fast-paced world, who has time for that?
If you’re looking for a relaxing, unique gameplay experience with an overabundance of style, The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince has what you want. If you’re looking for a challenge, definitely look elsewhere. The soundtrack, while not incredibly long, is particularly impressive and evokes the feeling of exploring an enchanted forest extremely well. The controls are slightly loose, but the gameplay is quite forgiving overall (excluding the final stage), and it’s hard to find a game with a more creative art style these days. The game could do with a few more actual bosses, but honestly, it’s enjoyable enough that that’s a very minor gripe.
Ultimately, The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince is the culmination of what casual gaming should be and represents yet another solid step in the right direction for NIS America as well as Nippon Ichi Software. At $40 for the physical copy, the MSRP is a bit high on this one, but it does come with a storybook and the soundtrack according to Amazon, so it’s hard to find much fault. If this is your style of game, you definitely won’t regret picking this one up! If you just need something different to decompress, it’s also worth a look. So don’t hesitate, just go check out The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince when it drops on February 12th!
This review was written based on a digital review copy of The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince provided by the publisher and played on a PS4 Pro running on a Sony 55” LED TV in 1080p. All images in this review are actual screen captures from the game.