The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince Review
Pants on fire
Several days agone, a question came across my Twitter feed request me to name an average game I absolutely adore. It was difficult for me to answer considering I don't very much consider any game I admire to be average. Breath of the Wild's not average, Overwatch is not boilerplate, hell, I even consider Delicate Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon to be an in a higher place-average feel, Metacritic score be damned.
I ended upward non answering the question because there just wasn't a game that came to heed. Cypher fit that criterion for me. Nothing…until now.
The Liar Princess and the Bullheaded Prince (PlayStation 4 [reviewed], Nintendo Switch)
Programmer: Nippon Ichi Software
Publisher NIS America
Released: February 12, 2019
MSRP: $39.99
The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince leans hard in the fairytale aesthetics right from its opening moments. It starts with a slow, though whimsical, text-driven cutscene that sets up the earth, the characters, and the building blocks of a story virtually growth and the lengths nosotros go to protect the people we care well-nigh. The story takes place in a shrouded forest overrun with monsters and ruled over past a witch. Virtually people don't cartel venture into the thicket, fearful of what lurks in the shadows, but the titular prince of this story doesn't fear the unknown. In fact, it's one unknown that lures him deep into the woods. A vocalism, singing its soul out straight to the moon, serenades him nightly. That vocalization belongs to a massive wolf, who comes to appreciate the prince as her audience. As monsters and humans are eternal enemies, she doesn't reveal her true form to him, keeping her effigy obscured by the cliff she perches on.
One night, after hearing her sing and then lovely, the prince decides its fourth dimension to meet this songstress and climbs up the cliff. The wolf, afraid of what he'll think, tries to cake his optics but ends up inadvertently blinding him instead. Seeking to brand right all she has done wrong, the wolf goes to the witch of the wood and asks to be given the grade of a human princess. The witch agrees, taking the wolf's voice as collateral, beginning a journey that volition see the princess guide the blind prince through the treacherous dangers of the forest.
Everything y'all just read is covered in the opening to Liar Princess. Before you fifty-fifty take command of a character, you're given well over 10 minutes of exposition and story, setting up the roughly five-hour chance at hand. It can feel overly long, as exercise many of the picturebook cutscenes that litter the campaign, but its verbosity is necessary as the story is the primary describe here. This is fantastic news if you're in the mood for a fanciful fairytale, simply not so much if you're looking for a challenging game.
Liar Princess is can best be described equally a puzzle-platformer escort mission. The princess, who can change from her human form to her wolf form with the press of a button, must take the hand of the prince and guide him through each stage, protecting him from other monsters and using his abilities to solve the puzzles that stand in their way. As a wolf, she tin can attack and fall from neat heights without worrying about impairment. As a human, she takes one hitting or falls from as well loftier and it's dorsum to the last checkpoint. The same goes for the prince. Let him get hit and you lot take to restart dorsum a chip in the level.
Initially, the prince is helpless and useless beyond standing on switches, but he somewhen adds the ability to carry objects to his repertoire every bit well as walk short distances on his own. Most significant is his ability to carry a torch, which allows the duo to light up darkened paths and clearly see the danger in front of them. In that location is a lot of potential for experimentation with this set-up, his talents and her shapeshifting ability, simply Liar Princess fails to adequately mix the two until the absolute last level.
Exterior of one baroque — and quite frankly, out of place — brainteaser, none of the puzzles plant in the levels present any sort of claiming. Near are just different variations of the same printing-the-switch puzzle. Combat is similarly simple, as the wolf is invincible and can kill nearly whatever monster in three hits. Liar Princess never quite makes for a compelling puzzle-platformer nor does it institute itself as a proper action-platformer. Information technology exists in a strange middle footing, ane that could be immediately forgettable if non for everything else that makes this game what it is.
Two years ago, I reviewed A Rose in the Twilight, another NIS joint, and chosen it visually spectacular. Liar Princess is another stunner. Its world is impeccably designed, the main characters are a delight, and some of the creatures that pitter-patter through the copses are drawn in means I've never seen before. Levels make extensive use of the foreground and groundwork as well every bit lighting for dramatic effect. Even if I didn't ever enjoy playing this game, and there were times I was just going through the motions, I never once took my eyes off the screen equally I was completely absorbed by the world Nihon Ichi Software created. That level of enthrallment extends to the soundtrack, which elegantly portrays the correct mood and emotions for every level and cutscene.
As wonderful as the fine art and soundtrack are, and for every bit much as I enjoy the story, they can't quite save what is otherwise a pretty standard puzzle-platformer. The Liar Princess and the Bullheaded Prince only ever comes close to coming together its potential in the terminal stage of the game, and that's not an exaggeration. Every time it flirts with some creative concepts, information technology quickly retreats to its quotidian comfort zone. I personally love this game considering I savor a skillful fairytale, just unlike the titular prince, I'1000 not so bullheaded I tin can't run into everything that's wrong with it.
[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]
Source: https://www.destructoid.com/reviews/review-the-liar-princess-and-the-blind-prince/
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