If you haven’t been playing the recent NIS games, you may not be familiar with their narrative/puzzle titles like htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary. It’s a mouthful, but quite an enjoyable romp if you give it a chance. If you have someone younger at home, the newest game in the genre is a sweet yet somewhat demented fairy tale, akin to Laika’s Coraline. But will this appeal to people unfamiliar with the NIS brand of games?
I’ve mentioned it before, but Nippon Ichi Software has a very distinct style and fan base. Either you embrace the crazy or reject it, dood. The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince is admittedly not the same as Disgaea or Criminal Girls, but it still has a bit of their flair with cute, essentially chibi characters, with very dark tendencies.
The narrative is portrayed through a picture book format, with the audio in Japanese as you read along. The parts you play mainly involve escorting a blind prince and utilizing him to progress through each level – don’t worry; he becomes more necessary later in the game. You are taking him to see a witch in order regain his eyesight. You play as a wolf that has fallen in love with the prince and have given up your singing voice, the very reason he has any interest in you, in exchange for becoming a human (that plot sounds familiar).
Aside from dragging the prince around levels making him stand on pressure plates and light plants, you’ll have the opportunity to collect flowers for him, as well as the optional flower petals in each level. This wouldn’t be as fun without enemies, all of which kill humans instantly, but have a much harder time with a wolf. For most of the game I found myself just exploring what I could alone as a wolf and then bringing the prince with as enemies don’t respawn, aside from certain sections.
In the event you ever get stuck in the game – maybe you don’t understand what a riddle is asking of you – the game has a skip function if you spend long enough in the level. Meet this threshold and you’ll be moving right along. Nothing is too hard to figure out though, and if the game does throw a hard puzzle your way, it’s typically optional (unless you are a completionist). There’s a level that takes about 3 seconds to complete if you decide to skip the riddle. If you ever want to head back, you can always use the chapter select, which also lets you know what you have and have not collected, should you be looking for the platinum.
The game’s biggest asset is its art direction. It’s very appealing, and as I mentioned, looks like it could be from a child’s picture book. The creatures all have a very unique look, and I was always looking forward to the next environment to see what new abomination laid in wait. The audio fits nicely as well, be it the OST or the voiceover, though the music becomes repetitive quickly and may end up being turned off by many.
If you’re looking for puzzle platformer that is mostly child friendly (depending on the kid), but will also appeal to someone that enjoys a dark love story of deceit, then you probably have overly specific tastes. But also, you’ve found the perfect game in The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince. If you’re expecting a 1,000 hour SRPG, then you will probably want to skip this NIS game – but you should give it a look anyway; its charm may win you over.
8 out of 10
Pros
- Beautiful Art Direction
- Picture Book Narrative
- Easy to Play
Cons
- Very Niche
- Repetitive OST
The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince was developed and published by Nippon Ichi Software. It will be made available on NS, PS4, and PS Vita February 12th, 2019 for $39.99. The game was provided to us for review on PS4. If you’d like to see more of The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince, check out the game’s official site.
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