The ending where you don't bring her any vessels goes through the 5 stages of grief. Denial. There is no problem. This is just a small setback. You'll find her a vessel next time. Anger. She doesn't understand. She hates it. She hates you. Bargaining. Won't you please listen to her? There could still be a good outcome if you can come to an agreement. Depression. She can't change your mind. Why does fate have to be so cruel? Acceptance. The decision is yours to make. She can be at peace with the outcome that you choose.
Now I'm curious what would happen if I did that but then gave her only one vessel at the end. Would it just go to straight to Shifty and the broken mirror? Edit: I'm stupid. He mentions it 5 min in the video later. I hope/wish it had unique lines for doing so. Maybe a "took you long enough" or a tearful thank you for not dooming you both. It's interesting what would come from Shifty experiencing the fear of death that the narrator mentioned.
People confuse love with romance.. I feel like this whole story IS about love. Many twists and turns that shape it. Fleeting hope, suffering, the beautiful feeling of release and betrayal. Every single story there feels like some alteration of a relationship and its parting. The grabby hands are like the representation of moving on and forgetting, or at least , wanting to forget, but no matter how hard you try, the person you hurt will never forget. Maybe its just me speaking from personal experience, but this game, what you see, is an abstract and grotesque portrayal of love.
Are you, like, using the greek concepts of Love here? bc, on that level, I think I kinda understand. But if it's just because it doesn't use the usual romantic tropes, doesn't mean it's not meant to be romantic. It's romantic to them, and alien to us, bc they're literal concepts, not normal people. Like how modern people try to assign morals to the ancient greeks god, when they were what people thought was *true,* not what was moral. I do agree that, from our perspective, it's weird, twisted, horrifying and abstract tho. And while I think we're never suppose to *fully* understand what the fuck their deal is, we can relate to certain abstract things, like how hard it can be to move on, to trust, etc...
The thorny princess is my favorite, she’s so sad but the ending where you two walk out of the cabin together, forgiving each other for the pain you’ve caused each other is just so heartwarming. Genuinely made me tear up when I first saw it.
agreed, the thorn princess is just the most humanlike imo while others mostly represent a single idea or theme she actually has a nuanced arc we need more routes like the thorn tbh
@@TheIndispensableOpposition The game is getting a free content update some time this year. There's a chance we will get another princess that is similar to thorn in some way.
@@candlestone5397I dunno. It feels more standalone and that's why it works so well and others also work equally well especially Witch to Wild and Adversary to Eye of the Needle and Nightmare to Moment of Clarity
actually the witch is the ebominent of the ">:3" instead of the ":3" Having the eyebrows there makes it more mischievous while the lack of them implies a more, playful and silly princess. I hope this clears things up
I love the Witch's face. I really wish Thorn hadn't become more human-looking as it totally ruins her. Witch has absolute Feral Cat energy and I love that.
Do people really think that the relationship Stubborn and Adversary have going on is somehow not one of the most romantic ones? They're literally perfect soulmates, it's just that they express their love through beating the hell out of each other.
Actually most of the voices like the princess, smitten is obvious, broken is SIMP, opportunist likes her after she get out of her shackles, broken is happy that the razor lakes him, because again he is a SIMP, hero is also obvious and even those who don’t express it basically are just your version of her in the routes, actually the only ones that don’t are the paranoid, the hunted and the contrarian
I find it ironic and a bit foreshadowing that the tower princess calls you a "little bird" and it turns out that you are some kind of bird monster thing
Remember that the narrator (or the hero?) comments how "there's no time to waste on you preening" when you check your reflection in the mirror to "see how handsome you are"? Preening? Like a bird? It's a bird pun. One of the princesses does call you a little fledgeling. And there are way more references to the player being a bird-like thing.
I gotta hand it to the VAs in this game. Jonathan Sims and Nichole Goodnight both did an absolutely impeccable job. They both had such range with all the voices and all the princesses. My favorite moment has to be bringing the Hunted to the Wild where he doesn't feel as small, and the Wild says that the Hunted (or the Player?) isn't small, even if he pretends to be. It's so oddly tender, and the performance there really elevates the script.
I just finished playing this game for the first time. I went into it completely blind because that’s what everyone recommended and boy it didn’t disappoint! My first life I took the knife just in case and was very indecisive about what to do because the princess sounded so hostile and untrustworthy. I tried to gather information to no avail but ultimately decided not to kill her. My experience playing Undertale taught me that in games like this the game holds up a mirror to your soul and reflects back at you what you show it. So I continued to play refusing to try to kill her, and in the end i managed to get to the best ending without having tried to kill her once, and man what a sweet ending that was. This really is a love story…if you want it to be. The worst nightmare I experienced was when I had doubt in my heart. Once I decided that I was going to show compassion, the game showed me compassion right back. What a beautiful game!
Which ending did you get? Did you accept godhood, leave with her, or destroy her. Personally, I can never destroy her because I don't agree with the Narrator that the universe should exist without death and change. I can sometimes accept godhood with her because I believe the old universe should end as nothing lasts forever. as the Narrator is kind of delusional imo. Leaving with her is the neutral ending, to me since, I think, the old universe continues on and they become part of it I think as individuals, not gods so sort of a happily ever after. Really none of the endings are "bad" but I think some are worse than others depending on how you end the journey. For example if you choose a lot of really meaningful chapter III and beyond princesses as vessels and then end up destroying her the ending feels a bit hollow and empty almost mirroring the "reward" the narrator set up for you
I find it awesome that you included every instance of the Princess during the final battle. Grabbing every perspective knowing you've made it to the end. Great video!
I think he's missing the regular Damsel. Instead of constantly asking her what she wants to do until she turns into a simple drawing, you instead go outside and escape the cabin where the mound gets her.
They could also be red anemones! They represent death or the act of forsaken love :) def not roses though, roses don’t look like that and have a yellow centre lmao
I rescued the Damsel I kissed the Thorn, Pledged myself to the Tower Gave the Adversary a good fight Told the Nightmare we could be friends Men of culture know how to sweep every princess of her feet
The Shifting Mound is so gorgeous. One of my absolute favorite body horror designs. The balance between being genuinely off-putting yet so gentle and elegant is incredible!
the forgiving thorn path is my favorite by far. Not only because of the enemy to lovers trope, but because it feels like a positive relationship dynamic. After a sever fight, you are still bitter, but because there is still affection deep down, you can force yourself to show the one who hurt you, and who you hurt in turn, a bit of trust... and having that trust reciprucated. It's a healing experience. It's the patching up after a brutal fight. It's the conflict that ends in a stronger relationship because of it. It's beautiful
Something that I loved about birdman's and princess's dynamic is how they kind of just easily fall for each other. My favorite part showing this is the nightmare, chapter 3. The part where he grabs her hand and helps her out of the hole, and the narrator reveals that the moment felt tender and nice, even after the crazy shutting down organs thing. It was also one of the times the narrator says he hates you. I think that only happens three times? I'm not sure.
This doesn’t feel like a horror game to me, it’s comforting in a way. We need more games that speak to the human soul like this more, as well has have wonderful artistic elements.
It's existential horror For some, it's introspective and comforting For others, it's the most terrifying thing their minds could ever conjure You're probably the former
It's very different from Slay the Princess in nearly every way, but another game that gave me a vibe like what you're describing is Death Palette, so definitely recommend checking that one out!
that's by design, i think. "there are no premature endings. there are no wrong decisions. there are only fresh perspectives and a new beggining. this is a love story" - loading screen.
From what I understood of the game, the princess and the long quiet weren't just a god, you were the personification of change. Without change, you can never die because to die would mean things change, it's why the narrator left you in a void forever, because to him, that is a paradise, when you fuse with the princess and are about to break out, he begs you not to harvest a single death or growing blade of grass. He was not only afraid of death but didn't want people to lose those closest to them. By locking you away, he turned the world outside into a static and unchanging situational freezeframe, where the status quo is preserved forever. This even goes as far as to be shown when you leave; if you leave with the princess, it's a shifting image of glowing colours and shapes, whereas, if you leave without her, all you see is a single, stagnant image. All of her dialogue during your faceoff revolves around change. Maybe I completely misread the signs and dialogue meanings in the game, but that's what I got out of it.
It's worth mentioning that the flowers you see in the Thorn Path (37:50) are actually poppie's not roses. Poppies grow well in soil that has had blood spilled on it (many WW1 and WW2 Battelfields). The poppies symbolise the blood that both you and the princess have spilt up to that point which is a pretty cool detail while also stickying to red being reserved for character blood.
Not just in places where blood is spilt but also contaminated soil. Around chemical plants you can see them often in the fields. So you know not to put your cows on there until you get the soil checked.
The "rare" Stranger ending they mention during the interview was the first ending I got. I had no idea it was unlikely to get that one, just happened to go the Stranger route for my first princess.
I'll say it now. Even though the narrator has the icon and form of a raven, a cunning avian, if you see closely during your philosophical debate with the shifting mount (The final form of the princess) you can notice that your character has 2 feathers popping out of his head. That means your character is an owl, a bird symbolized for wisdom and knowledge, you are not the cunning confined raven, you are the wise being that can make independent decisions, you always have the capacity to learn more.
@@SotiCoto The game is symbolic, not literal. Owls symbolize wisdom even though they aren't actually that smart, so a creature in the woods with the form of an owl would be wise.
A horror monster that changes in response to what you think it is and can do is a great idea. And hell yeah, Adversary best princess. I want to fight a strong lady for all eternity
exactly, i want a strong lady to beat me up and break my bones 😳😳 i want her to bite me to death 😳😳😳 like damn dude i played this game and finished both the game and in my pants
Towards the 1:05:09 mark this video hit me in Multiple spots, my fear of change, time passing what it means to be human and the humanity death brings me. This is the same way Madoka Magica hits with me, Madoka becoming a god and rewriting a world As someone who has struggled with feeling so small compounding on my thoughts of self harm and ending it all; thinking everything is meaningless sometimes. Remembering what makes me human and that is what breathes life into the world is...comforting
the flowers in the thorn chapter seem to be poppies and not roses - the poppy commonly symbolises peace and/or hope (more fitting to the theme in stp), as well as sleep or death (more general symbolism) - if that draws any clearer connections [:
They could also be red anemones! They represent death or the act of forsaken love :) def not roses though, roses don’t look like that and have a yellow centre lmao
that would make sense, the symbolism behind poppies (at least here in england) comes from how they grew in the battlefields of world war 1 and eventually became a symbol of remembrance and charity after the war, like the thorn herself the flowers gained meaning not just from the bloodshed that nurtured them but also how the people who survived came together and healed despite everything lost
Well MY personal favourite ending was the Bottom of the Mind Control Facility ending. So insightful of the developers to put such an unusual ending into the game, hehe.
@@SkibidiBonnie The player goes into the broom closet and remains there for an eternity, the narrator loses it and kills himself (there is no such ending, the comment is a joke about another amazing multiple endings game "The Stanley Parable")
I never thought I’d live to see a piece of art that represents a crossroads between meta-horror, psychological horror, cosmic horror, and.. _romantic comedy._
38:00 I dont think those flowers are roses. They are more likely poppies. Poppies are often used to resemble death and war, because in World War 1, those where the only flowers that grew on the battlefield (at least, that is what is said in the famous poem "In flanders fields"). (edit) I just googled and roses can bloom from spring all the way to fall, while poppies only bloom in spring. The narrator says: "beneath it lies the fresh smell of spring growth after rain." This concludes that it most likely are poppies
Not just that but if you got fields of poppies the soil is most likely contaminated. Considering the past of the princess and the player and their bitterness and struggles. It's a hope, but it also resembles the contamination at the same time. I love when they're used like that in games or other forms of entertainment.
One thing I would like to add, is that despite his fear of death and oblivion, the Narrator didn't wholly want all change gone from the world. He says as such, if you inquire. He left a little bit of her, with you, and a little bit of you, with her. When you slay her, not only does anihilation, permanent loss, and all those terrifying changes leave, but also sickly stagnation, the parts of the world which eternal life almost always inevitably brings with you, and what walks away from that cabin is a part of the world that can change and have events renew and spring up again. The Narrator knew that the Princess wasn't completely evil, but his messy tear between the two of you was just what he needed to cut things properly to have an ideal world. While, granted, I believe that leaving with the princess is the happiest ending, I feel like the Narrator was on to something, and slaying the princess probably leads to the best ending for the universe. But hey, the Smitten would beg to disagree, and we can't let down our homie.
What I liked about the game is that expressing a thought makes it a reality. When you ask the princess if she will end the world, that puts the thought into her head and it appears at the end. I think if you do a full set of iterations without mentioning that, she does not want to destroy the world because she did not have that thought.
First time you met Shifting mound and last time before final boss you can choose to not go back to the game and remain in the void with her. He say it will last forever and if you still agree the game will close itself. If you open the game again you will be back where you were with shifting mound. You can keep waiting (exit the game) again and again potentially last forever like she said or continue the game. I never see the game with impactful choice like this since the first Bioshock or Undertale. How did i miss this gem
Yes if you leave the game while with her in the long quiet and then come back she says something along the lines of "You were gone for a little bit. I've been here by your side."
If you liked this game for choices like that, I'd also recommend Stanley parable, Beginners Guide, One Shot, and Doki Doki Lit Club. All have an awesome story and great/ sad endings.
Saying this only like 6 minutes in because long video and I don't want to forget When I first heard "No noooooo I wouldn't stab you." she instantly became my favorite edition. The fact that unlike the others you actually can't see basically all of her dialogue before moving to the third stage because she gets bored and kills you if you ask too many questions made going through again to see it again a task in of itself. The edition after you betray her and stage 3 rose thorn princess are also favorites. Also, has anyone else considered that the least tragic ending is the one where you resist stabbing her and she can tell so she kills you quickly, then on run 2 you can end up imprisoned with her and you both just wait for the cabin to fall away into ruin with time to escape?
much further into the video now, and I must say, you have impeccable taste in princesses, the witch is in fact the source of the overwhelmingly positive reviews, and fighting the fury to her hearts content hit my "growing up wanting to be a shonen rival and romanticizing rivalries in my mind" ass right in the gut
I really didn't like the Razor routes. It took so long to unlock all the dialogue responses by reloading and doing everything in every possible order..... only to then have to do the whole thing all over again but without the knife.... just for a near-identical outcome.
@@Boomblox5896 yeah, the moment you're locked with her to wait for eternity, every attempt to speak is met with refusal to engage, you would think there would be SOMETHING that could get a little more out of her
@@ralonnetaph6450 i also wish that there was more dialogue there but i think it makes sense in a way, the prisoner princess feels almost ''cold'' in a way so, the second she realizes that you too are chained up with her, she loses all motivation to speak to you because it wouldnt lead to her escape regardless
As a Jonathan Sims fan, I'm very happy to see him in such an amazing work of art that is this game. I know that that's not the focus, but I wanted to just mention how wonderful he is for this game. It fits him well
watched the first lets play like "wow i really like the style of story telling and the voice acting. kind of reminds me of the magnus archives." then he said "i suppose" and i was like "WAIT A MINUTE"
@sophiehelena6737 feel that in my soul. Personally this was my first interaction with the game and I paused it after the voice line and was like "That sounds like Jon, haha hyperfixation brain" and then I Googled it and lost it lol
@@blazeismyname I was watching Monty Zander recap some of the games of 2023. He said that a "Jonathan Sims" did the voices and I had to go to the steam page to confirm that, yes, it was the very same Jonathan Sims I've listened to for hours on end. Definitely pushed me into buying the game lol
@minerman60101 it was the opposite for me, I heard some people refer to the narrator as "the magnus archives guy" and between that and my friend talking about it for the last few years, I figured it was worth a shot. I actually finished watching it a few hours ago.
YESSS FINALLY we get a long ass video essay on this game. also fun fact: the mirror's reflection at the end doesn't actually show the reality. If you look closely at the hand when "you've grown" the reflection and hand in real life are different.
@@jairdinh7563because you don't have a body, the mirror is showing your true self. As the facade of your avatar melts away, revealing who you truly are. Nothing.
@@jairdinh7563 which also plays into the fact the Long Quiet is a god of stagnation so it makes sense for him to not change physically even if the mirror does show a different reflection.
Excellent post/avatar combo. I'll admit at that moment I considered using the knife to end her because she was probably going to eat me. But my motivation at the time, which was "Screw with and resist the Narrator" won out on that decision.
Bums me out that you didn't mention the ACTUAL best ending and the other really awful one. The first being what happens if your first loop was a Stranger Loop, this will cause the Princess at the very end to be the Stranger that you never really got to know well and leaving the cabin with her feels super sweet. The other worst one is the one where you tell the voices that they are going to die at the end of every loop when you reach the mirror and then at the end you kill the Princess. You killed your other half and the other parts of you are fucking pissed at you for mocking their suffering.
I actually got the worse ending on my first playthrough and I had no idea why they all hated me cause I only told them they'd disappear like once or twice lol
My very first playthrough I did the stranger first and I was so confused lol. Leaving with her was absolutely adorable though and I'm kind of sad she is the only vessel to change the ending so much. Imagine being able to leave with the Thorne or the Spectre
Another reason (imo) that the ending with the stranger is the best one, is because you have two voices in your head, rather than one: the hero and the contrarian. In the same ending without the stranger, the hero tells you that he’ll stay in the cabin alone forever. But now he gets to stay with someone else (although the contrarian might not be the best company) and doesn’t have to be alone
Thanks for the reminder that I don’t actually have all of the routes done yet, and also for acknowledging the differing scales of fear. I’ll be back after I’ve completed the Drowned Grey, I trust you when you say it has two of the scariest moments. I’ll probably comment on this video multiple times, you have some wonderful insights. It’s odd, bc I think I had a lot of similar thoughts, but in more like… vibe-form, meanwhile you articulated it. Which I guess is one of the appeals of youtube deep-dives!! Someone saying what you noticed, but they took the time to articulate it. So thanks for that, as well. Not to say you don’t have unique takes- I wasn’t nearly as frightened of The Beast and The Den as you were, meanwhile you seemed less perturbed by The Nightmare routes than I was. I’m wondering if that’s due to chronic anxiety- I’m used to the feeling of a looming threat I can’t see, but the consequences of inaction terrify me. It’s cool to ponder.
Major kudos to Abby for choosing to go with a hand drawn art direction. In this current age it is wonderful to see someone decide "I am going to make the visuals for a whole game with a Bic pencil and paper". It's a treat to see all the art in-game, but even cooler to see Abby point to all 3,000+ assets on one shelf. If those were animation cells, that would be enough for a 2 minute long short on ones!
My friend decided to play this on a night I had off work. I had taken shrooms beforehand. He went the Damsel route, then the Prisoner Route. He simped HARD for the Prisoner and her sardonic, dismissive personality. He then went the Tower Route, and the Razor route. After hitting the Stranger, I was in awe at the Shifting Mound. It was strangely... comforting, seeing the endless mass of the same girl that you've been engaging with for hours on end. And after hitting the end, my friend chose to reset the loop.
Your assessment of the roses is really nice, but those are poppies not roses. Poppies are a flower symbolizing peace and comfort. Red poppies represent the hope of peace. It's actually incredibly touching that the Thorn is praying for peace.
Poppies also have connotations with sleep, death and remembrance. (Thanks WW1/ Flanders Fields) Being in the construct is like dreaming, two nascent gods sealed in their sleep. Containing the potential of Death and new life after the first two chapters saw both hurt and die.
For a Ren'Py game, this is VERY phenomenal. This is on par, if not past the greatness of Doki Doki Literature Club. The 4th Wall Breaks that don't make you cringe, the effort of the illustration, the lack of fear in adding gore, the contrast of gore, and roses compared to the rest of the game, the paths, and so on. It all congregates into a near perfect specimen. This game switches between so many genres, giving you feelings of power, fear, dread, arrogance, and so on. You go on an emotional rollercoaster, fighting against, complying with, or reasoning with the many characters, or characteristic of yourself. The sound design makes you feel, hear, smell, taste, and see things that may only be there in two of those senses. The story telling is absolutely phenomenal as well. I can't agree more with the points you made. Good work as usual, PakPak.
I'd say STP is even better than DDLC in a lot of places- not only in the writing, but also in terms of game design philosophy as well (not only as a visual novel, but as a game overall). It's great in character reactivity with the sheer number of options while also making use of the limits the devs have.
@oceanicGrimalkin Heavily disagree there. DDLC changes the story by you just playing with the files. That is gameshaking. No way is slay the princess better with design philosophy than that. It's writing is superior, but God did DDLC master it's player interactivity. It's a given that visual novels have dialog options. STP isn't breaking any records with that. But DDLC enters new realms and goes beyond that.
The amount of effort placed between the 50-67 minute mark is so palapable its admirable. Fantastic reading of the game, fantastic editing and story telling.
The “uncommon knowledge” ending was the first complete ending I had to the game and it was wild with the contrarian’s return like old friends standing up against a rabid god
32:42 ngl i can just imagine both of them lying down on the ground like "well fuck, i guess we're dying together. uhhh while we both wait to bleed out, what's your favourite color?"
25:15 “she hits you with the I dunno what do you wanna do?” And I swear I never looked away from my wife so fast. I could feel her eyes daring me to say something
I’m gonna be honest, as someone who hadn’t played the game before watching this I think your description of the ending where everything ceases to exist really struck a cord with me, especially as I watched the gameplay on screen and saw the line: ‘You made a decision. It was the wrong one. I love you,’ and I went on UA-cam to watch the full ending. My own two cents, the fact it’s completely unvoiced is brilliant since the whole game is. It feels like time is completely null, which fits nicely. And it’s a type of horror I’ve never seen before. The type of existential threat that humans cannot comprehend. It is not death, it is not pain, it is complete absence of existence. It’s even further than the Buddhist belief of returning back to the universe and not being reborn being the ultimate goal- as you aren’t just unconscious and part of the universe, you are existence itself and you are completely gone. I also love how the reaction every time you come back mimics the five stages of grief- how the reaction goes from denial that you’re trying to end everything to anger that you’re hurting them to bargaining to tell you that it doesn’t have to be like this to depression at your choices and then to acceptance even at their disappointment, knowing that there’s no point being upset as there’s no turning back and the final and repeated ‘I love you,’ and also just the concept that in humanity’s attempt to escape death, they achieved a nothingness more unnatural than their false paradise. The true hubris of man, indeed. Not to mention all the various types of horror explored with all the princesses! I just was so deeply moved by this particular concept that I was ranting about it to my friends for hours lmao.
Top 3 Princesses 3. Wraith. This is just a cool design and it taking over you without your consent make sense. 2. Adversary. A rival character is a good contrast from the princess killing you out of spite. She just wants to challenge herself in battle. 1. Razor. Princess that rips her forearm skin to reveal blades. Heck yeah! A giant amalgamation of blades hiding a heart. Even more heck yeah! This is just a meta route! Also, what was with the weird princess with the neck bulges? Is it a stranger route?
Yeah, Wraith is incredibly underrated from what I see, even though she has some of the best lines in the game (especially if you get her with Opportunist from the Nightmare route)
Here’s hoping that all the people genuinely annoyed in the comments of the four hour gameplay video that it wasn’t a fully edited, multi-month long video project are finally satisfied now this is out.
My first visit to The Long Quiet was on The Den so i didnt see the hands the first time. I was about to be mauled and then the threat was gone and i nodded off.
Coming from the past video. I didn't watch it but i did play the game, and I've played it once, just to see what outcome I would get. I followed the mirror path and honestly it was still an experience worth remembering. It probably isn't the true ending or something, but it's still one of the best visual novels I've ever played and witnessed
In the interview when someone said "Abby" i first thought "Abby? Like Abby Howard from the First Halloween? A beloved comic that never saw an ending? Surely not!" And sure the hell it is!!! Im ecstatic to have found that shes made something like this ❤
Something that I think the video missed (SPOILERS AHOY): The Damsel has a different ending if you tell her you want to go outside. In short, you don’t wait for her to tell you what she wants, you tell her what you want and she goes along with it. Once the two of you go outside, The Shifting Mound grabs her.
Interestingly, if you ask her what she wants, the only other desire she has aside from pleasing MC is to go outside just like most of the other Princesses. There's also that other option where you decide you two can just figure out what else she wants after escaping (before she got grabbed, unfortunately).
Yup! I was also wondering why this one was skipped in the video. But also, before watching the video I did not know about the Adversary and Thorn path, so here is that.
@@oceanicGrimalkin yeah, and I think this decision is significant because if you go that route, her design (and thus her agency) doesn't degrade. After seeing what happens if you humor her desire to please you, this feels extremely important.
i love the fact that the princess stays true to what you always think she is. if you take the blade, there is a use for it. if you don't take the blade there is none. if you think of the princess as a beast she is a beast. if you think of her as dainty and thin, she is that. the concept of change and transformation that she embodies in the story solely relies on how you view her and how you percieve her existence to be.
the flowers at 37:43 seem a lot like poppies which could be a hint to WWI as after the war ended poppies grew on the fields battles took place on which is very resemblent of their relationship given that after they both went through the pain of killing each other (the princess&MC), they found their true end in some sort of peace after realising what they'd done but also they could be random red plants like you mentioned
For me my favorite was either the voices forcing the narrator to describe the kiss more vividly or the narrator going "she skewers you. She skewers you. She skewers you. She skewers you. She skewers you. You skewer yoursef. She skewers you. She skewers you. You try to run away. She skewers you."
The video was really good i still need to watch the interview but i'll leave that for tm cos it's late keep up the good work can't wait for the next video
30:23 This one screen generally scared me and to be fair I don't get scared in horror games especially if I'm not playing it, but that foxy jump scare actually got me because of that atmosphere and guard being down.
The best thing about the last "best" ending is that it shows your first princess. For me it was The Stranger (Triple headed one) and it was truly the best because I loved her the most😊
Im not a fan of visual novel, but from the moment i saw this game, from this visuals to the tone, it got me. I don't regret following PakPak advise 0:40 and picking this game up, I just "finished" my first playthrough. I think (I "looped" at the end, if you know what i mean). Because i just ended wanting to experience more. I havent even watched the video in case i get spoiled for some of the routes and decisions, this visual novel has almost the same levels of replayability has a roguelike, I may watch this vid after 1 or 2 more runs. At the end of this rant i just want to thanks funny monster hunter's birdman for showing me this incredible game that, until now, I had never thought I would fall in love with a visual novel. Also Adversary Princess can beat the shit out of me whenever she wants...
The Nightmare Princess is possibly the most terrifying thing I've ever seen in any media (and it was just a demo). 9.5/10. I had to bring the dog in my room so that I could (barely) sleep that night.
No horror games or thoughts or literature or fucking anything ever scared me more than that bitch could. And then that fear like trippled with intrusive thoughts from OCD when I was left alone for like half an hour in a shower. I wholeheartedly thought I would either go daft or slip and fucking die before it ended, with every thought of mine filled with flashes from the game. Love her.
37:46 they could also be red anemones which represent death or the forsaken act of love :) they also look similar to poppies which represent peace and sleep but I think that the history behind red anemones being rooted in the story of agonis and Aphrodite makes them more thematically relevant here.
I played this game completely blind and i loved it. A few days ago i revisited it to 100% all achievements on Steam, meet all possible princesses and voices, etc. and all i have to say is that this game became one of my favorites games. It's just special. Great video, i love the amount of effort you put into this along with the mix of seriousness and comedy edits. Amazing stuff Pak!
I think purely regarding design and aesthetics, the prisoner looks the prettiest. Even more beautiful than the damsel or the princess in the ending. Her confidence shines bright and she looks hot when she's trying to defend herself when strangling you with chains. But also I feel that the shackle around her neck gives an illusion of warmth as it looks like a scarf.
Just wanted to say that after catching a live stream and following the story for 7 hours, this includes completing the game and a good amount of endings. It was a journey that started as a whimsical Groundhog Day game but became so much more by the end of it. My brain was absolutely mush by the end with how much that was said throughout the game. Regardless, it was an amazing journey of self-reflection and I am so happy that I stuck with them for those 7 hours. It's like one of those wonderful life experiences that you look back on fondly and feel like you've come away changed or still affect you every time you recall it. The developers did such an amazing job, from the voice work to the art style, down to the writing, it was like a beautiful poem to inspire people about life and choices. What a beautiful game and a wonderful experience.
the thorn and the prisoner have to be my favourites just because theyre the most relatable . the rest are so interesting and i love them all so much , but understanding the thorn and the prisoner makes me connect with them so much more . ill always love those two the most . and i think theyd be happy to know that , which makes me happy , too
this game is truly one of the best games when it comes to this genre of games it literally is full of emotions I imagine some people think of this game as just a horror game and a dating game combined but it's so much more! this game has amazing voice acting, amazing characters,, amazing personalities, quite literally you yourself have multiple personalities and all of them are amazing my favorite is the smitten. the game is amazing at making you love the characters specifically the princess this always love there yes some paths has less than others but there's always a connection in some way and I also appreciate narrator as a type of antagonist, me and probably many others start hating or disliking the narrator with good reason, they are basically forcing us to kill our other half, our beloved. because he is scared of death which makes sense? I guess? and he does make some good points, but if you actually go out of your way to actually do precisely what he want? you end up existing just in nothingness
I didn't now much about the game when I started playing it. Then I realized I was romancing an eldrich horror. I may have misundrstood the "Slay" in the Slay the Princess. I can save her. I can give her everything. Oi, reality! Stop your seizures. I can't have a proper date when you keep resetting everyting.
This game holds a special place in my heart where not many other pieces of media sit. I think the only other thing that sits in the same place would be Harry Nelson’s the point. It’s funny that the two pieces of media would seem so similar to me, considering that they are nothing alike. I’m talking about the album and not the video adaptation. I think it is because it feels like such a raw form of self expression. I always felt like the English language was a wall that kept people from being able to communicate anything to complex. The thing that those two pieces of media have in common is that they overcome the wall, without an excess of pompous ambition. They aren’t saying “ I am making a master piece” They are just making some thing that they love. I think CS Lewis said it best. (I can’t find the actual quote. I heard it in an interview with his son, so I’m not sure of the precise words.) “ I put more into it so people were able to get more out of it”
Not done yet but it seems like you finished the adversary and I’m so sad for you simping and missing the best ending where you fight her, refuse to die, and then fight each other for ever and ever as a love language. When the arms take her you stop fighting to ask if she’s okay after spending thousands of years murdering each other. True love babey
Genuinely one of my favorite games now! The writing and art is incredible and I can't wait to see more from the developers❤ Also, great analysis! you didn't have to include an interview of the developers and the different variations of the confrontation but im so glad you did!
There is technically another Razor Princess. If you refuse to take the knife before you meet her, the knife will be gone by the 4th time. She’s baffled by the fact that you’re dodging her every move, and eventually you just grab her heart.
I think _Scarlet Hollow_ benefits a huge amount from the limited narrative perspective because, on the one hand Tabby has to pick up a lot of what the narration would otherwise be able to show the player, it also makes the interactions feel more organic because you have less access to the thoughts and experiences of other characters -- which means the _player_ is then on the lookout for indications of what's going on and how the characters feel or what they might be thinking and you caan do a lot with very subtle things. Whereas something like _Dune_ would be the opposite because it has a third person omniscient perspective and uses it very extensivly to the point that the majority of the story is just the internal experiences of a panoply of different perspectives and hardly anythign is ever actually _done_ in the physical external world. It's really hard to, say, make a movie about people who mostly just think and feel things so _Dune_ is considered by many to be unfilmable.
This might be a top ten game for me. When I first played it I was CONFIDENT it was a top ten game, but as the recency bias wears off, it's harder to be sure. But still, considering I don't even like visual novels (even with DDLC I never actually played it, and almost always just "skip to the good parts) it's an achievement and a half that if got anywhere NEAR where it did. This is one of those very few games that made me feel _that_ emotion. Y'know, the one that can't really be named but always happens when you experience something truly unmatched in beauty? Or maybe that's just a me thing, idk. Only time I've ever felt it I can recall was during certain parts of my favorite show ever Bojack Horseman. And actually, that might mean it's the only other time it's happened because I feel like I'd remember every instance if this happening. You'd think OMORI would've made me feel this way too but I don't think it did. Anyway uhh sorry about the tangent in the second paragraph, but anyway, the game is phenomenal! (Also I haven't actually watched this video yet and I'm gonna have it up in another tab just in case there's stuff I've missed in this game (I have the distinct feeling that there's _one more route out there I've missed_ but it's probably irrational lol) so I can watch it after I'm confident there are no spoilers remaining so hopefully you didn't say something too similar to this lol)
I know that feeling and I’ve never seen anyone else describe it before, I didn’t even think anyone else could feel it for a while. Thank you for restoring my faith
I love this game and how you interpreted it. For me, I see the game as a brilliant way of depicting the concept of "a full universe" (I'm somewhat a creative writer myself and I've just made up this concept a while ago), where there are "nothingness", "everything" and " humanity". Basically, through endless cycles of rebirth into bodies of humanity, and under its perspective, making choices, creating and uncovering new understandings of its own (the universe) existence/non-existence, we are everyday getting closer to the final revelation of our true nature in this 4D plane. Like, us humans in the perspective of "the beast", concur to conquering and seeking out new horizon, but only with the help of another perspective, "the clever", like let say, as a scientist, we can look at the world through logics and true knowledge, but also, with the perspective of love and compassion, as a writer maybe, then we can understand things that we can not explain using logical sense, for example, why we exist or non-exist at all. I'm still developing this idea for my writings, hoping that I would come up with a good story someday to share with you guys. Anyways, love you videos. Keep up all the good works. ^^ Regards.
who up slaying they princess rn
Me!
Yep! We Slay!
I'm currently on a path in the woods.
@@jairdinh7563
I'm currently a path in the woods.
@@An_Entire_Lime Don't grow another blade of grass or harvest the remains of another dying creature so you can expand just that much further.
Wish you talked about the voice of the paranoid more. "Heart. Lungs. Liver. Nerves." Quite an intense moment.
My favorite boy! He was so scared and still tried so hard for our sake
voice of the paranoid was so real for that
Paranoid is best. Skeptic+hunted vs den beast is amazing too
He was honestly my favorite too! I sat and just listened to "Heart. Lung. Liver. Nerves." for some time before moving forward.
The paranoid is one of my favorite voices. Genuinely competent and has some clue what’s going on aside from the hero
Princess: (Turns into a mountain of swords)
Stubborn: "BEHOLD, THE PERFECT WOMAN!"
mood honestly
Must be British
Wasn't it the smitten who said that?
@@DarianTrinity Nope, it was the Stubbonr.
Contrarian: Do you think we can throw HER out the window?
The ending where you don't bring her any vessels goes through the 5 stages of grief.
Denial. There is no problem. This is just a small setback. You'll find her a vessel next time.
Anger. She doesn't understand. She hates it. She hates you.
Bargaining. Won't you please listen to her? There could still be a good outcome if you can come to an agreement.
Depression. She can't change your mind. Why does fate have to be so cruel?
Acceptance. The decision is yours to make. She can be at peace with the outcome that you choose.
Ye the achievements are also aptly named as such
Everything in this game is about death and dying
And how do you do that?
@@chicotedelaacera7937 complete any chapter 1 of your choice, when you get to chapter 2, keep turning back
Rinse and repeat
Now I'm curious what would happen if I did that but then gave her only one vessel at the end. Would it just go to straight to Shifty and the broken mirror?
Edit: I'm stupid. He mentions it 5 min in the video later. I hope/wish it had unique lines for doing so. Maybe a "took you long enough" or a tearful thank you for not dooming you both. It's interesting what would come from Shifty experiencing the fear of death that the narrator mentioned.
People confuse love with romance.. I feel like this whole story IS about love. Many twists and turns that shape it. Fleeting hope, suffering, the beautiful feeling of release and betrayal. Every single story there feels like some alteration of a relationship and its parting. The grabby hands are like the representation of moving on and forgetting, or at least , wanting to forget, but no matter how hard you try, the person you hurt will never forget. Maybe its just me speaking from personal experience, but this game, what you see, is an abstract and grotesque portrayal of love.
Each experience becomes a part of them, a part of you.
That first sentence is so true. There's a huge difference between a love story and a romance.
@@mospusthespider1246not really words become how we use them
Love story mostly means romance story
its the epitome of love. it isnt a fleeting thing, its two people making choices for each other
Are you, like, using the greek concepts of Love here? bc, on that level, I think I kinda understand. But if it's just because it doesn't use the usual romantic tropes, doesn't mean it's not meant to be romantic. It's romantic to them, and alien to us, bc they're literal concepts, not normal people. Like how modern people try to assign morals to the ancient greeks god, when they were what people thought was *true,* not what was moral.
I do agree that, from our perspective, it's weird, twisted, horrifying and abstract tho. And while I think we're never suppose to *fully* understand what the fuck their deal is, we can relate to certain abstract things, like how hard it can be to move on, to trust, etc...
The thorny princess is my favorite, she’s so sad but the ending where you two walk out of the cabin together, forgiving each other for the pain you’ve caused each other is just so heartwarming. Genuinely made me tear up when I first saw it.
agreed, the thorn princess is just the most humanlike imo while others mostly represent a single idea or theme she actually has a nuanced arc
we need more routes like the thorn tbh
@@TheIndispensableOpposition The game is getting a free content update some time this year. There's a chance we will get another princess that is similar to thorn in some way.
out of all of them, Thorn is the one that basically continues the previous iteration's... Everything the most.
@@candlestone5397I dunno. It feels more standalone and that's why it works so well and others also work equally well especially Witch to Wild and Adversary to Eye of the Needle and Nightmare to Moment of Clarity
@@TheIndispensableOppositionBut we already have Spectre and the Stranger ending
actually the witch is the ebominent of the ">:3" instead of the ":3" Having the eyebrows there makes it more mischievous while the lack of them implies a more, playful and silly princess. I hope this clears things up
literally 🤓
I love the Witch's face. I really wish Thorn hadn't become more human-looking as it totally ruins her. Witch has absolute Feral Cat energy and I love that.
The Witch princess is my personal favorite.
furry spotted @@SotiCoto
😮
Do people really think that the relationship Stubborn and Adversary have going on is somehow not one of the most romantic ones? They're literally perfect soulmates, it's just that they express their love through beating the hell out of each other.
Actually most of the voices like the princess, smitten is obvious, broken is SIMP, opportunist likes her after she get out of her shackles, broken is happy that the razor lakes him, because again he is a SIMP, hero is also obvious and even those who don’t express it basically are just your version of her in the routes, actually the only ones that don’t are the paranoid, the hunted and the contrarian
@@СтефаноНачевthe contrarian would simp after being told not to
@@larsthememelord3383that or just because enough of the other like her too
@@aweirdlookingcat3707 contrarian’s whole shtick is that he does the opposite of whatever he’s told to do because he thinks its funny
Best route,seeing the stubborn say "GET. UP" hypes me up
I find it ironic and a bit foreshadowing that the tower princess calls you a "little bird" and it turns out that you are some kind of bird monster thing
It's not really a secret, some of your voices mention your feathers and there are lots of parts where you see your talons
I also thought at first that it was some British slang, like a nickname to tease/belittle you.
I was too busy having Breath of the Wild flashbacks (I miss Urbosa)
Remember that the narrator (or the hero?) comments how "there's no time to waste on you preening" when you check your reflection in the mirror to "see how handsome you are"?
Preening? Like a bird? It's a bird pun.
One of the princesses does call you a little fledgeling.
And there are way more references to the player being a bird-like thing.
Any time your appearance is mentioned by any character it is either directly calling you a bird or using bird adjacent language.
I gotta hand it to the VAs in this game. Jonathan Sims and Nichole Goodnight both did an absolutely impeccable job. They both had such range with all the voices and all the princesses. My favorite moment has to be bringing the Hunted to the Wild where he doesn't feel as small, and the Wild says that the Hunted (or the Player?) isn't small, even if he pretends to be. It's so oddly tender, and the performance there really elevates the script.
I just finished playing this game for the first time. I went into it completely blind because that’s what everyone recommended and boy it didn’t disappoint! My first life I took the knife just in case and was very indecisive about what to do because the princess sounded so hostile and untrustworthy. I tried to gather information to no avail but ultimately decided not to kill her. My experience playing Undertale taught me that in games like this the game holds up a mirror to your soul and reflects back at you what you show it. So I continued to play refusing to try to kill her, and in the end i managed to get to the best ending without having tried to kill her once, and man what a sweet ending that was.
This really is a love story…if you want it to be. The worst nightmare I experienced was when I had doubt in my heart. Once I decided that I was going to show compassion, the game showed me compassion right back. What a beautiful game!
Which ending did you get? Did you accept godhood, leave with her, or destroy her. Personally, I can never destroy her because I don't agree with the Narrator that the universe should exist without death and change. I can sometimes accept godhood with her because I believe the old universe should end as nothing lasts forever. as the Narrator is kind of delusional imo. Leaving with her is the neutral ending, to me since, I think, the old universe continues on and they become part of it I think as individuals, not gods so sort of a happily ever after. Really none of the endings are "bad" but I think some are worse than others depending on how you end the journey. For example if you choose a lot of really meaningful chapter III and beyond princesses as vessels and then end up destroying her the ending feels a bit hollow and empty almost mirroring the "reward" the narrator set up for you
very good comment. btw the new DLC content is out for free i suppose.
I find it awesome that you included every instance of the Princess during the final battle. Grabbing every perspective knowing you've made it to the end. Great video!
I think he's missing the regular Damsel. Instead of constantly asking her what she wants to do until she turns into a simple drawing, you instead go outside and escape the cabin where the mound gets her.
KFC
also regular nightmare iirc@@ShamanMcLamie
The amount of shame that I feel for the fact that this jumpscare actually got me 30:22
oh my god fucking same
Me too man me too
Same
Y'all are weak. Now if it was a roach I'd understand but foxy? Nah
That actually got me and am watching this at 2 am -_-
theres a small correction about the thorn, the flowers arent actually roses, they're poppies
They could also be red anemones! They represent death or the act of forsaken love :) def not roses though, roses don’t look like that and have a yellow centre lmao
suspicious stew
And poppies symbolize remembrance
@@isabellairon8420 they're not anemones, there's no white ring around the black centre in any of them.
@@clutterbot7279 as far as I am aware, we are not in Bikini Bottom
You call it a psychological horror game. I call it visual novel dating sim.
We are not the same.
underrated comment
Truly a peculiar man of sorts
I rescued the Damsel
I kissed the Thorn,
Pledged myself to the Tower
Gave the Adversary a good fight
Told the Nightmare we could be friends
Men of culture know how to sweep every princess of her feet
@@RedShirtGuy96your my spirit animal
Yes, we are mate I got this after I finished ddlc so I'm down with both
The Shifting Mound is so gorgeous. One of my absolute favorite body horror designs. The balance between being genuinely off-putting yet so gentle and elegant is incredible!
Also props to this VN for being one of the most brutal yet optimistic stories ever written.
the forgiving thorn path is my favorite by far. Not only because of the enemy to lovers trope, but because it feels like a positive relationship dynamic. After a sever fight, you are still bitter, but because there is still affection deep down, you can force yourself to show the one who hurt you, and who you hurt in turn, a bit of trust... and having that trust reciprucated. It's a healing experience. It's the patching up after a brutal fight. It's the conflict that ends in a stronger relationship because of it. It's beautiful
Something that I loved about birdman's and princess's dynamic is how they kind of just easily fall for each other. My favorite part showing this is the nightmare, chapter 3. The part where he grabs her hand and helps her out of the hole, and the narrator reveals that the moment felt tender and nice, even after the crazy shutting down organs thing. It was also one of the times the narrator says he hates you. I think that only happens three times? I'm not sure.
That was the one path where I genuinely got angry and... dare I say heartbroken, when the hands yanked her away.
same- the beauty of mutual forgiveness.
This doesn’t feel like a horror game to me, it’s comforting in a way. We need more games that speak to the human soul like this more, as well has have wonderful artistic elements.
It's existential horror
For some, it's introspective and comforting
For others, it's the most terrifying thing their minds could ever conjure
You're probably the former
It's very different from Slay the Princess in nearly every way, but another game that gave me a vibe like what you're describing is Death Palette, so definitely recommend checking that one out!
@@starrysky8118 will do! Thank you!!
that's by design, i think. "there are no premature endings. there are no wrong decisions. there are only fresh perspectives and a new beggining. this is a love story" - loading screen.
@@zenos3080 says you. Proud 4d artist over here.
From what I understood of the game, the princess and the long quiet weren't just a god, you were the personification of change. Without change, you can never die because to die would mean things change, it's why the narrator left you in a void forever, because to him, that is a paradise, when you fuse with the princess and are about to break out, he begs you not to harvest a single death or growing blade of grass.
He was not only afraid of death but didn't want people to lose those closest to them. By locking you away, he turned the world outside into a static and unchanging situational freezeframe, where the status quo is preserved forever. This even goes as far as to be shown when you leave; if you leave with the princess, it's a shifting image of glowing colours and shapes, whereas, if you leave without her, all you see is a single, stagnant image. All of her dialogue during your faceoff revolves around change.
Maybe I completely misread the signs and dialogue meanings in the game, but that's what I got out of it.
Concept of change... Bird creature... Eldritch power, ffs we were playing as Tzeench the whole time.
@@thatguy6482 Just as planed.
@@thatguy6482 The Long Quiet represents stagnancy, not change. It's the Princess that represents change
@@screamingcactus1753 Aren't they the same being?
@@thatguy6482they cant truly exist without each other, but they're not the same being. She is separate from You
It's worth mentioning that the flowers you see in the Thorn Path (37:50) are actually poppie's not roses. Poppies grow well in soil that has had blood spilled on it (many WW1 and WW2 Battelfields). The poppies symbolise the blood that both you and the princess have spilt up to that point which is a pretty cool detail while also stickying to red being reserved for character blood.
That gives the poppy field in wizard of Oz a much darker bend
Not just in places where blood is spilt but also contaminated soil. Around chemical plants you can see them often in the fields. So you know not to put your cows on there until you get the soil checked.
The "rare" Stranger ending they mention during the interview was the first ending I got. I had no idea it was unlikely to get that one, just happened to go the Stranger route for my first princess.
I'll say it now. Even though the narrator has the icon and form of a raven, a cunning avian, if you see closely during your philosophical debate with the shifting mount (The final form of the princess) you can notice that your character has 2 feathers popping out of his head. That means your character is an owl, a bird symbolized for wisdom and knowledge, you are not the cunning confined raven, you are the wise being that can make independent decisions, you always have the capacity to learn more.
do you think the player character puffs up when scared or angry like an owl as well
@@spotlightanimation6719 Probably
Ravens are smarter than Owls.
@@SotiCoto The game is symbolic, not literal. Owls symbolize wisdom even though they aren't actually that smart, so a creature in the woods with the form of an owl would be wise.
from questions asked on reddit, i do believe the player is canonically a corvid - but this is a really nice observation
A horror monster that changes in response to what you think it is and can do is a great idea.
And hell yeah, Adversary best princess. I want to fight a strong lady for all eternity
exactly, i want a strong lady to beat me up and break my bones 😳😳
i want her to bite me to death 😳😳😳
like damn dude i played this game and finished both the game and in my pants
The Tower and the Witch are best princesses I want them both to fight me forever
I disagree, the Thorn is best princess
@@noobymooby-ty8gh Thorn is great, but I'm horny for violence
Damsel for sure. And the one that's a little goober. They're so cute
I will fix her.
Yyyyeeeeaaaa, sure you can dude. Go for it or whatever.............
You madlad.......
Shifting Mound or THE FUCKING MANIAC princess?
DO NOT FIX THE BLADE WOMEN 💀
I will _make her worse_
"I can fix her"s better, more determined cousin
Heart, Lungs, Liver, Nerves. That gave me actual chills when it happened.
Towards the 1:05:09 mark this video hit me in Multiple spots, my fear of change, time passing what it means to be human and the humanity death brings me.
This is the same way Madoka Magica hits with me, Madoka becoming a god and rewriting a world
As someone who has struggled with feeling so small compounding on my thoughts of self harm and ending it all; thinking everything is meaningless sometimes. Remembering what makes me human and that is what breathes life into the world is...comforting
the flowers in the thorn chapter seem to be poppies and not roses - the poppy commonly symbolises peace and/or hope (more fitting to the theme in stp), as well as sleep or death (more general symbolism) - if that draws any clearer connections [:
They could also be red anemones! They represent death or the act of forsaken love :) def not roses though, roses don’t look like that and have a yellow centre lmao
that would make sense, the symbolism behind poppies (at least here in england) comes from how they grew in the battlefields of world war 1 and eventually became a symbol of remembrance and charity after the war, like the thorn herself the flowers gained meaning not just from the bloodshed that nurtured them but also how the people who survived came together and healed despite everything lost
I was just about to comment that and the meaning even the battlefield meaning.
Poppies are the source of opium and a soporific
I can't believe you missed The Broom Closet Princess and her ending. The Broom Closet ending was my favorite!
Get out get out get out get out get out OF MY FUCKING HEAD
This is deeply concerning.
what.. happens in that ending.....................................
Well MY personal favourite ending was the Bottom of the Mind Control Facility ending.
So insightful of the developers to put such an unusual ending into the game, hehe.
@@SkibidiBonnie The player goes into the broom closet and remains there for an eternity, the narrator loses it and kills himself
(there is no such ending, the comment is a joke about another amazing multiple endings game "The Stanley Parable")
I never thought I’d live to see a piece of art that represents a crossroads between meta-horror, psychological horror, cosmic horror, and.. _romantic comedy._
Body horror too.
38:00 I dont think those flowers are roses. They are more likely poppies. Poppies are often used to resemble death and war, because in World War 1, those where the only flowers that grew on the battlefield (at least, that is what is said in the famous poem "In flanders fields").
(edit) I just googled and roses can bloom from spring all the way to fall, while poppies only bloom in spring. The narrator says: "beneath it lies the fresh smell of spring growth after rain." This concludes that it most likely are poppies
Not just that but if you got fields of poppies the soil is most likely contaminated. Considering the past of the princess and the player and their bitterness and struggles. It's a hope, but it also resembles the contamination at the same time. I love when they're used like that in games or other forms of entertainment.
One thing I would like to add, is that despite his fear of death and oblivion, the Narrator didn't wholly want all change gone from the world. He says as such, if you inquire. He left a little bit of her, with you, and a little bit of you, with her. When you slay her, not only does anihilation, permanent loss, and all those terrifying changes leave, but also sickly stagnation, the parts of the world which eternal life almost always inevitably brings with you, and what walks away from that cabin is a part of the world that can change and have events renew and spring up again.
The Narrator knew that the Princess wasn't completely evil, but his messy tear between the two of you was just what he needed to cut things properly to have an ideal world. While, granted, I believe that leaving with the princess is the happiest ending, I feel like the Narrator was on to something, and slaying the princess probably leads to the best ending for the universe.
But hey, the Smitten would beg to disagree, and we can't let down our homie.
What I liked about the game is that expressing a thought makes it a reality. When you ask the princess if she will end the world, that puts the thought into her head and it appears at the end. I think if you do a full set of iterations without mentioning that, she does not want to destroy the world because she did not have that thought.
First time you met Shifting mound and last time before final boss you can choose to not go back to the game and remain in the void with her. He say it will last forever and if you still agree the game will close itself. If you open the game again you will be back where you were with shifting mound. You can keep waiting (exit the game) again and again potentially last forever like she said or continue the game. I never see the game with impactful choice like this since the first Bioshock or Undertale. How did i miss this gem
you can do it every time you meet her tho? before the end i mean
Yes if you leave the game while with her in the long quiet and then come back she says something along the lines of "You were gone for a little bit. I've been here by your side."
If you liked this game for choices like that, I'd also recommend Stanley parable, Beginners Guide, One Shot, and Doki Doki Lit Club. All have an awesome story and great/ sad endings.
@@Justanidea5976 I liked doki doki lit club but I don't like how the fandom is calling these teenage girls sexy and what not.
@@kaazimsheikh9034 Yeh, understandable.
Saying this only like 6 minutes in because long video and I don't want to forget
When I first heard "No noooooo I wouldn't stab you." she instantly became my favorite edition. The fact that unlike the others you actually can't see basically all of her dialogue before moving to the third stage because she gets bored and kills you if you ask too many questions made going through again to see it again a task in of itself. The edition after you betray her and stage 3 rose thorn princess are also favorites.
Also, has anyone else considered that the least tragic ending is the one where you resist stabbing her and she can tell so she kills you quickly, then on run 2 you can end up imprisoned with her and you both just wait for the cabin to fall away into ruin with time to escape?
much further into the video now, and I must say, you have impeccable taste in princesses, the witch is in fact the source of the overwhelmingly positive reviews, and fighting the fury to her hearts content hit my "growing up wanting to be a shonen rival and romanticizing rivalries in my mind" ass right in the gut
I really didn't like the Razor routes. It took so long to unlock all the dialogue responses by reloading and doing everything in every possible order..... only to then have to do the whole thing all over again but without the knife.... just for a near-identical outcome.
I just kinda wish the Prisoner would be a little more talkative with you while you two wait for eternity to come along and crumble that prison.
@@Boomblox5896 yeah, the moment you're locked with her to wait for eternity, every attempt to speak is met with refusal to engage, you would think there would be SOMETHING that could get a little more out of her
@@ralonnetaph6450 i also wish that there was more dialogue there but i think it makes sense in a way, the prisoner princess feels almost ''cold'' in a way so, the second she realizes that you too are chained up with her, she loses all motivation to speak to you because it wouldnt lead to her escape regardless
Great video! And very cool interview. Thanks for going the extra mile for this.
Those "roses" on the thorn path look a whole lot like red poppies, the symbol of grieving for the dead.
As a Jonathan Sims fan, I'm very happy to see him in such an amazing work of art that is this game. I know that that's not the focus, but I wanted to just mention how wonderful he is for this game. It fits him well
Oh yeah absolutely easily I think one of my favorite aspects of this game is the voice acting is so great.
watched the first lets play like "wow i really like the style of story telling and the voice acting. kind of reminds me of the magnus archives." then he said "i suppose" and i was like "WAIT A MINUTE"
@sophiehelena6737 feel that in my soul. Personally this was my first interaction with the game and I paused it after the voice line and was like "That sounds like Jon, haha hyperfixation brain" and then I Googled it and lost it lol
@@blazeismyname I was watching Monty Zander recap some of the games of 2023. He said that a "Jonathan Sims" did the voices and I had to go to the steam page to confirm that, yes, it was the very same Jonathan Sims I've listened to for hours on end. Definitely pushed me into buying the game lol
@minerman60101 it was the opposite for me, I heard some people refer to the narrator as "the magnus archives guy" and between that and my friend talking about it for the last few years, I figured it was worth a shot. I actually finished watching it a few hours ago.
YESSS FINALLY we get a long ass video essay on this game.
also fun fact: the mirror's reflection at the end doesn't actually show the reality. If you look closely at the hand when "you've grown" the reflection and hand in real life are different.
The mirror shows varying states of decay, progressing from whole to rotted to bloated to desiccated to crumbled.
@@emmanuelj670 Yup what I'm saying is that you only see those states in the reflection of the mirror not your actual body.
@@jairdinh7563because you don't have a body, the mirror is showing your true self. As the facade of your avatar melts away, revealing who you truly are. Nothing.
@@X-SPONGED Yup
@@jairdinh7563 which also plays into the fact the Long Quiet is a god of stagnation so it makes sense for him to not change physically even if the mirror does show a different reflection.
16:33 our guy has more WINGS?!? wright that down, write that down!
me.. who first walks into the game: "so i CANT romance her?" *turns to Eldritch monster* "can i still romance her?"
Another day another princess to slay
Her chewing her own arm off NEVER FAILS TO FREAK ME OUT
... Amazing bite your arm
Excellent post/avatar combo. I'll admit at that moment I considered using the knife to end her because she was probably going to eat me. But my motivation at the time, which was "Screw with and resist the Narrator" won out on that decision.
Bums me out that you didn't mention the ACTUAL best ending and the other really awful one.
The first being what happens if your first loop was a Stranger Loop, this will cause the Princess at the very end to be the Stranger that you never really got to know well and leaving the cabin with her feels super sweet.
The other worst one is the one where you tell the voices that they are going to die at the end of every loop when you reach the mirror and then at the end you kill the Princess. You killed your other half and the other parts of you are fucking pissed at you for mocking their suffering.
Was mentioned in the interview.
I actually got the worse ending on my first playthrough and I had no idea why they all hated me cause I only told them they'd disappear like once or twice lol
My very first playthrough I did the stranger first and I was so confused lol. Leaving with her was absolutely adorable though and I'm kind of sad she is the only vessel to change the ending so much. Imagine being able to leave with the Thorne or the Spectre
I’d love to be able to leave with the Witch, she was my favourite
Another reason (imo) that the ending with the stranger is the best one, is because you have two voices in your head, rather than one: the hero and the contrarian. In the same ending without the stranger, the hero tells you that he’ll stay in the cabin alone forever. But now he gets to stay with someone else (although the contrarian might not be the best company) and doesn’t have to be alone
Thanks for the reminder that I don’t actually have all of the routes done yet, and also for acknowledging the differing scales of fear. I’ll be back after I’ve completed the Drowned Grey, I trust you when you say it has two of the scariest moments.
I’ll probably comment on this video multiple times, you have some wonderful insights. It’s odd, bc I think I had a lot of similar thoughts, but in more like… vibe-form, meanwhile you articulated it. Which I guess is one of the appeals of youtube deep-dives!! Someone saying what you noticed, but they took the time to articulate it. So thanks for that, as well.
Not to say you don’t have unique takes- I wasn’t nearly as frightened of The Beast and The Den as you were, meanwhile you seemed less perturbed by The Nightmare routes than I was. I’m wondering if that’s due to chronic anxiety- I’m used to the feeling of a looming threat I can’t see, but the consequences of inaction terrify me. It’s cool to ponder.
Major kudos to Abby for choosing to go with a hand drawn art direction. In this current age it is wonderful to see someone decide "I am going to make the visuals for a whole game with a Bic pencil and paper". It's a treat to see all the art in-game, but even cooler to see Abby point to all 3,000+ assets on one shelf. If those were animation cells, that would be enough for a 2 minute long short on ones!
My friend decided to play this on a night I had off work.
I had taken shrooms beforehand.
He went the Damsel route, then the Prisoner Route.
He simped HARD for the Prisoner and her sardonic, dismissive personality.
He then went the Tower Route, and the Razor route. After hitting the Stranger, I was in awe at the Shifting Mound. It was strangely... comforting, seeing the endless mass of the same girl that you've been engaging with for hours on end.
And after hitting the end, my friend chose to reset the loop.
Based
Your assessment of the roses is really nice, but those are poppies not roses.
Poppies are a flower symbolizing peace and comfort. Red poppies represent the hope of peace. It's actually incredibly touching that the Thorn is praying for peace.
I once had to draw like thirty poppies (for a very specific drawing) and those are definitely poppies.
Poppies also have connotations with sleep, death and remembrance. (Thanks WW1/ Flanders Fields)
Being in the construct is like dreaming, two nascent gods sealed in their sleep.
Containing the potential of Death and new life after the first two chapters saw both hurt and die.
@@CraftingGummi yeah you can just tell by the center- roses have spirals, and poppy's are just flat out open
I always associate Poppy's with sleep. Like this whole time you're deeply slumbering through this whole ordeal.
For a Ren'Py game, this is VERY phenomenal. This is on par, if not past the greatness of Doki Doki Literature Club. The 4th Wall Breaks that don't make you cringe, the effort of the illustration, the lack of fear in adding gore, the contrast of gore, and roses compared to the rest of the game, the paths, and so on. It all congregates into a near perfect specimen. This game switches between so many genres, giving you feelings of power, fear, dread, arrogance, and so on. You go on an emotional rollercoaster, fighting against, complying with, or reasoning with the many characters, or characteristic of yourself. The sound design makes you feel, hear, smell, taste, and see things that may only be there in two of those senses. The story telling is absolutely phenomenal as well. I can't agree more with the points you made. Good work as usual, PakPak.
"on par" LMAO doki doki WISHES it was anywhere NEAR this game's quality
@@trianglechichi The quality of the game? I dunno about that much. But the writing is definitely beyond DDLC level.
DDLC crawled so Slay the Princess could run
I'd say STP is even better than DDLC in a lot of places- not only in the writing, but also in terms of game design philosophy as well (not only as a visual novel, but as a game overall). It's great in character reactivity with the sheer number of options while also making use of the limits the devs have.
@oceanicGrimalkin Heavily disagree there. DDLC changes the story by you just playing with the files. That is gameshaking. No way is slay the princess better with design philosophy than that. It's writing is superior, but God did DDLC master it's player interactivity. It's a given that visual novels have dialog options. STP isn't breaking any records with that.
But DDLC enters new realms and goes beyond that.
The amount of effort placed between the 50-67 minute mark is so palapable its admirable. Fantastic reading of the game, fantastic editing and story telling.
Honestly, the most impressive thing about this is the sheer amount of HANDS. I would rather die then draw that many hands ever. Thats commitment.
I know right?! Detailed hands are so difficult to draw
The “uncommon knowledge” ending was the first complete ending I had to the game and it was wild with the contrarian’s return like old friends standing up against a rabid god
32:42 ngl i can just imagine both of them lying down on the ground like
"well fuck, i guess we're dying together. uhhh while we both wait to bleed out, what's your favourite color?"
The Adversary was my first princess and I gladly fought her to the death for the rest of eternity, an incredible first impression to the game
25:15 “she hits you with the I dunno what do you wanna do?” And I swear I never looked away from my wife so fast. I could feel her eyes daring me to say something
I’m gonna be honest, as someone who hadn’t played the game before watching this I think your description of the ending where everything ceases to exist really struck a cord with me, especially as I watched the gameplay on screen and saw the line: ‘You made a decision. It was the wrong one. I love you,’ and I went on UA-cam to watch the full ending.
My own two cents, the fact it’s completely unvoiced is brilliant since the whole game is. It feels like time is completely null, which fits nicely. And it’s a type of horror I’ve never seen before. The type of existential threat that humans cannot comprehend. It is not death, it is not pain, it is complete absence of existence. It’s even further than the Buddhist belief of returning back to the universe and not being reborn being the ultimate goal- as you aren’t just unconscious and part of the universe, you are existence itself and you are completely gone.
I also love how the reaction every time you come back mimics the five stages of grief- how the reaction goes from denial that you’re trying to end everything to anger that you’re hurting them to bargaining to tell you that it doesn’t have to be like this to depression at your choices and then to acceptance even at their disappointment, knowing that there’s no point being upset as there’s no turning back and the final and repeated ‘I love you,’ and also just the concept that in humanity’s attempt to escape death, they achieved a nothingness more unnatural than their false paradise. The true hubris of man, indeed.
Not to mention all the various types of horror explored with all the princesses! I just was so deeply moved by this particular concept that I was ranting about it to my friends for hours lmao.
Honestly, same. You said it better that I could of.
Top 3 Princesses
3. Wraith. This is just a cool design and it taking over you without your consent make sense.
2. Adversary. A rival character is a good contrast from the princess killing you out of spite. She just wants to challenge herself in battle.
1. Razor. Princess that rips her forearm skin to reveal blades. Heck yeah! A giant amalgamation of blades hiding a heart. Even more heck yeah! This is just a meta route!
Also, what was with the weird princess with the neck bulges? Is it a stranger route?
it's an early version of the stranger route !
Yeah, Wraith is incredibly underrated from what I see, even though she has some of the best lines in the game (especially if you get her with Opportunist from the Nightmare route)
"The Perfect Woman!"
-Voice of The Stubborn
RAZOR 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
(DUDE I MADE A DREADFUL MISTAKE, I THOUGHT APOTHEOSIS WAS ADVERSARY 😭😭)
there ain't NO WAY witch & thorn aren't on that list
Here’s hoping that all the people genuinely annoyed in the comments of the four hour gameplay video that it wasn’t a fully edited, multi-month long video project are finally satisfied now this is out.
Holy shit, a funny, well edited good audio quality video essay for a great game? How do you not have way more attention!
My first visit to The Long Quiet was on The Den so i didnt see the hands the first time. I was about to be mauled and then the threat was gone and i nodded off.
*THEY MADE AN INDIE GAME WITH THAT MUCH DIALOUGE AND HAND DRAWN ASSETS IN A YEAR?*
its really good the company is nice too hope we get more
Coming from the past video. I didn't watch it but i did play the game, and I've played it once, just to see what outcome I would get. I followed the mirror path and honestly it was still an experience worth remembering. It probably isn't the true ending or something, but it's still one of the best visual novels I've ever played and witnessed
In the interview when someone said "Abby" i first thought "Abby? Like Abby Howard from the First Halloween? A beloved comic that never saw an ending? Surely not!" And sure the hell it is!!! Im ecstatic to have found that shes made something like this ❤
Wait THAT Abby?! I loved the last Halloween!
Something that I think the video missed (SPOILERS AHOY):
The Damsel has a different ending if you tell her you want to go outside. In short, you don’t wait for her to tell you what she wants, you tell her what you want and she goes along with it. Once the two of you go outside, The Shifting Mound grabs her.
Interestingly, if you ask her what she wants, the only other desire she has aside from pleasing MC is to go outside just like most of the other Princesses. There's also that other option where you decide you two can just figure out what else she wants after escaping (before she got grabbed, unfortunately).
Yup! I was also wondering why this one was skipped in the video. But also, before watching the video I did not know about the Adversary and Thorn path, so here is that.
@@oceanicGrimalkin yeah, and I think this decision is significant because if you go that route, her design (and thus her agency) doesn't degrade. After seeing what happens if you humor her desire to please you, this feels extremely important.
i love the fact that the princess stays true to what you always think she is. if you take the blade, there is a use for it. if you don't take the blade there is none. if you think of the princess as a beast she is a beast. if you think of her as dainty and thin, she is that. the concept of change and transformation that she embodies in the story solely relies on how you view her and how you percieve her existence to be.
the flowers at 37:43 seem a lot like poppies which could be a hint to WWI as after the war ended poppies grew on the fields battles took place on which is very resemblent of their relationship given that after they both went through the pain of killing each other (the princess&MC), they found their true end in some sort of peace after realising what they'd done but also they could be random red plants like you mentioned
My favourite part, Adversary, " Get. Up." followed by "And then we get up"
Waffle gets up
For me my favorite was either the voices forcing the narrator to describe the kiss more vividly or the narrator going "she skewers you. She skewers you. She skewers you. She skewers you. She skewers you. You skewer yoursef. She skewers you. She skewers you. You try to run away. She skewers you."
The video was really good i still need to watch the interview but i'll leave that for tm cos it's late keep up the good work can't wait for the next video
Thanks homie :)
1:12:58 They have a portrait of our boy Kim Kitsuragi. So unbelievably based.
30:23 This one screen generally scared me and to be fair I don't get scared in horror games especially if I'm not playing it, but that foxy jump scare actually got me because of that atmosphere and guard being down.
The best thing about the last "best" ending is that it shows your first princess. For me it was The Stranger (Triple headed one) and it was truly the best because I loved her the most😊
Im not a fan of visual novel, but from the moment i saw this game, from this visuals to the tone, it got me.
I don't regret following PakPak advise 0:40 and picking this game up, I just "finished" my first playthrough. I think (I "looped" at the end, if you know what i mean). Because i just ended wanting to experience more.
I havent even watched the video in case i get spoiled for some of the routes and decisions, this visual novel has almost the same levels of replayability has a roguelike, I may watch this vid after 1 or 2 more runs.
At the end of this rant i just want to thanks funny monster hunter's birdman for showing me this incredible game that, until now, I had never thought I would fall in love with a visual novel.
Also Adversary Princess can beat the shit out of me whenever she wants...
The Nightmare Princess is possibly the most terrifying thing I've ever seen in any media (and it was just a demo). 9.5/10. I had to bring the dog in my room so that I could (barely) sleep that night.
yeah, i was pretty disappointed that she didn’t appear in the actual game
Rock PFP W
@@wtf-why-do-we-have-handles-now? She's mentioned in this video tho?
No horror games or thoughts or literature or fucking anything ever scared me more than that bitch could. And then that fear like trippled with intrusive thoughts from OCD when I was left alone for like half an hour in a shower. I wholeheartedly thought I would either go daft or slip and fucking die before it ended, with every thought of mine filled with flashes from the game. Love her.
37:46 they could also be red anemones which represent death or the forsaken act of love :) they also look similar to poppies which represent peace and sleep but I think that the history behind red anemones being rooted in the story of agonis and Aphrodite makes them more thematically relevant here.
As someone already said, poppies are commonly grown in places where blood has been spelt, like old battlegrounds. So yeah, they're poppies
14:12 at this "-and you die." sequence, i literally said to myself
"bro worse she can say is 'no'" and THEN- lmao
I played this game completely blind and i loved it. A few days ago i revisited it to 100% all achievements on Steam, meet all possible princesses and voices, etc. and all i have to say is that this game became one of my favorites games. It's just special.
Great video, i love the amount of effort you put into this along with the mix of seriousness and comedy edits. Amazing stuff Pak!
The Razor, aka "come closer I am a normal princess"
the witch and thorn route were my favorite man. the ending for them felt really deserved in the grand scheme of the game.
I think purely regarding design and aesthetics, the prisoner looks the prettiest. Even more beautiful than the damsel or the princess in the ending. Her confidence shines bright and she looks hot when she's trying to defend herself when strangling you with chains. But also I feel that the shackle around her neck gives an illusion of warmth as it looks like a scarf.
Bottom found.
And as the dude mentioned, her poker face is adorable
Probably a weird choice but I liked how The Nightmare looked the most..
@@sand_sand7304 No the true bottoms are the ones whose fav is the giant god-princess (me, it's me)
My poor heart when you put foxy on the drowned grey I swear I cussed you out faster than I can fall asleep.
I love imagining all of the voices just sitting in a room together like roommates
Awww, he didn't find the "Strange Beginnings Begets Strange Endings" or the "You're a god and everyone hates you" Endings.
Just wanted to say that after catching a live stream and following the story for 7 hours, this includes completing the game and a good amount of endings. It was a journey that started as a whimsical Groundhog Day game but became so much more by the end of it. My brain was absolutely mush by the end with how much that was said throughout the game. Regardless, it was an amazing journey of self-reflection and I am so happy that I stuck with them for those 7 hours. It's like one of those wonderful life experiences that you look back on fondly and feel like you've come away changed or still affect you every time you recall it.
The developers did such an amazing job, from the voice work to the art style, down to the writing, it was like a beautiful poem to inspire people about life and choices. What a beautiful game and a wonderful experience.
the thorn and the prisoner have to be my favourites just because theyre the most relatable . the rest are so interesting and i love them all so much , but understanding the thorn and the prisoner makes me connect with them so much more . ill always love those two the most . and i think theyd be happy to know that , which makes me happy , too
this game is truly one of the best games when it comes to this genre of games it literally is full of emotions I imagine some people think of this game as just a horror game and a dating game combined but it's so much more!
this game has amazing voice acting, amazing characters,, amazing personalities, quite literally you yourself have multiple personalities and all of them are amazing my favorite is the smitten.
the game is amazing at making you love the characters specifically the princess this always love there yes some paths has less than others but there's always a connection in some way
and I also appreciate narrator as a type of antagonist, me and probably many others start hating or disliking the narrator with good reason, they are basically forcing us to kill our other half, our beloved.
because he is scared of death which makes sense? I guess? and he does make some good points, but if you actually go out of your way to actually do precisely what he want? you end up existing just in nothingness
Can't wait for the second part of this talking about the pristine cut /j but if he makes it, well that's nice
THE FOXY JUMPSCARE SCARED THE SHIT AOUT OF ME. THANKS PAKPAK.
I love this video so much. The humorous descriptions of all the different princesses were incredible!
I didn't now much about the game when I started playing it. Then I realized I was romancing an eldrich horror. I may have misundrstood the "Slay" in the Slay the Princess.
I can save her. I can give her everything.
Oi, reality! Stop your seizures. I can't have a proper date when you keep resetting everyting.
Red roses have different meanings depending on if they are darkly colored or brightly colored- dark red roses are typically reserved for mourning.
0:11 YOOOOO I FOUND THE THING! PAKPAK REFERENCE! THAS SHI IZ CRAZY MAN!
This game holds a special place in my heart where not many other pieces of media sit. I think the only other thing that sits in the same place would be Harry Nelson’s the point. It’s funny that the two pieces of media would seem so similar to me, considering that they are nothing alike. I’m talking about the album and not the video adaptation.
I think it is because it feels like such a raw form of self expression. I always felt like the English language was a wall that kept people from being able to communicate anything to complex. The thing that those two pieces of media have in common is that they overcome the wall, without an excess of pompous ambition. They aren’t saying
“ I am making a master piece”
They are just making some thing that they love. I think CS Lewis said it best.
(I can’t find the actual quote. I heard it in an interview with his son, so I’m not sure of the precise words.)
“ I put more into it so people were able to get more out of it”
Not done yet but it seems like you finished the adversary and I’m so sad for you simping and missing the best ending where you fight her, refuse to die, and then fight each other for ever and ever as a love language. When the arms take her you stop fighting to ask if she’s okay after spending thousands of years murdering each other. True love babey
Genuinely one of my favorite games now! The writing and art is incredible and I can't wait to see more from the developers❤
Also, great analysis! you didn't have to include an interview of the developers and the different variations of the confrontation but im so glad you did!
Bro voice of the paranoid is the GOAT
There is technically another Razor Princess. If you refuse to take the knife before you meet her, the knife will be gone by the 4th time. She’s baffled by the fact that you’re dodging her every move, and eventually you just grab her heart.
It's less you're dodging her and more you're not even actually moving in first place, like you're not actually there.
I think _Scarlet Hollow_ benefits a huge amount from the limited narrative perspective because, on the one hand Tabby has to pick up a lot of what the narration would otherwise be able to show the player, it also makes the interactions feel more organic because you have less access to the thoughts and experiences of other characters -- which means the _player_ is then on the lookout for indications of what's going on and how the characters feel or what they might be thinking and you caan do a lot with very subtle things.
Whereas something like _Dune_ would be the opposite because it has a third person omniscient perspective and uses it very extensivly to the point that the majority of the story is just the internal experiences of a panoply of different perspectives and hardly anythign is ever actually _done_ in the physical external world. It's really hard to, say, make a movie about people who mostly just think and feel things so _Dune_ is considered by many to be unfilmable.
This might be a top ten game for me. When I first played it I was CONFIDENT it was a top ten game, but as the recency bias wears off, it's harder to be sure. But still, considering I don't even like visual novels (even with DDLC I never actually played it, and almost always just "skip to the good parts) it's an achievement and a half that if got anywhere NEAR where it did.
This is one of those very few games that made me feel _that_ emotion. Y'know, the one that can't really be named but always happens when you experience something truly unmatched in beauty? Or maybe that's just a me thing, idk. Only time I've ever felt it I can recall was during certain parts of my favorite show ever Bojack Horseman. And actually, that might mean it's the only other time it's happened because I feel like I'd remember every instance if this happening. You'd think OMORI would've made me feel this way too but I don't think it did.
Anyway uhh sorry about the tangent in the second paragraph, but anyway, the game is phenomenal!
(Also I haven't actually watched this video yet and I'm gonna have it up in another tab just in case there's stuff I've missed in this game (I have the distinct feeling that there's _one more route out there I've missed_ but it's probably irrational lol) so I can watch it after I'm confident there are no spoilers remaining so hopefully you didn't say something too similar to this lol)
I know that feeling and I’ve never seen anyone else describe it before, I didn’t even think anyone else could feel it for a while. Thank you for restoring my faith
I love this game and how you interpreted it. For me, I see the game as a brilliant way of depicting the concept of "a full universe" (I'm somewhat a creative writer myself and I've just made up this concept a while ago), where there are "nothingness", "everything" and " humanity". Basically, through endless cycles of rebirth into bodies of humanity, and under its perspective, making choices, creating and uncovering new understandings of its own (the universe) existence/non-existence, we are everyday getting closer to the final revelation of our true nature in this 4D plane. Like, us humans in the perspective of "the beast", concur to conquering and seeking out new horizon, but only with the help of another perspective, "the clever", like let say, as a scientist, we can look at the world through logics and true knowledge, but also, with the perspective of love and compassion, as a writer maybe, then we can understand things that we can not explain using logical sense, for example, why we exist or non-exist at all. I'm still developing this idea for my writings, hoping that I would come up with a good story someday to share with you guys.
Anyways, love you videos. Keep up all the good works. ^^ Regards.
From something simple to literal f*cking cosmic being
[EDIT] Damn never expected this game have such many variants of vessels.
I want a video like this one but with the new and updated routes